--- title: "Cursor: AI code editor, free tier and alternatives" canonical_url: https://cookiesforai.app/tools/cursor last_updated: 2026-10-03T15:11:25+02:00 type: tool summary: "Cursor is an AI code editor by Anysphere that pairs a desktop editor with an agent, a CLI and cloud agents, using models from several vendors plus its own Composer models." --- # Cursor Cursor is an AI code editor by Anysphere that pairs a desktop editor with an agent, a CLI and cloud agents, using models from several vendors plus its own Composer models. | Fact | Value | |---|---| | Made by | Anysphere | | Type | AI code editor | | License | Proprietary | | Runs on | macOS, Windows, Linux, CLI, Web, iOS, JetBrains, Slack | | Free tier | Free plan | | Website | https://cursor.com | | Page updated | 2026-10-03 | | Facts checked | 2026-10-01 | ## What it does Cursor is a desktop code editor built around an AI agent. You ask the agent to make a change, and it plans, edits files across the project, runs terminal commands and shows a diff to accept or reject. Tab completion predicts the next edit as you type. Cursor runs on macOS, Windows and Linux, and a CLI called agent brings the same agent to the terminal. Cursor also runs cloud agents in isolated virtual machines. You can start them from the desktop app, cursor.com/agents, the iOS app, Slack, GitHub, Linear or an API, and they work on a branch while you do something else. Subagents, hooks and skills are available in the editor, the CLI and cloud agents. Cursor offers models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others alongside its own Composer models. Paid plans include a monthly pool of usage, and going past it is billed at API rates or covered by upgrading. Cursor's docs say daily agent users typically spend well beyond the Pro plan's included usage. ## Who it is for - Developers who want an AI agent inside a full editor rather than in a terminal - People who want to switch between models from several vendors in one tool - Teams that want to start background cloud agents from Slack, GitHub or Linear - VS Code users who want a familiar editor with agent features built in ## Who should pick something else - Developers who want to stay in JetBrains IDEs without a paid plan: Cursor's JetBrains route needs a paid plan and the AI Assistant plugin - Light users on a tight budget who need predictable cost; Cursor's docs say daily agent users typically go well past the Pro plan's included usage - People who need an open source editor; Zed is GPL-3.0 and VS Code with Cline is Apache-2.0 Strength: Cursor reaches the agent from many places: desktop editor on three operating systems, a CLI, cloud agents in isolated VMs, iOS, Slack, GitHub, Linear and an API, all on one subscription. Limit: Cursor's usage-based pricing is hard to predict: Cursor's own docs say daily agent users typically spend well beyond the Pro plan's included usage, and power users spend more still. ## What it costs Free tier: Free plan. Free Hobby plan with limited Agent requests and no card; paid individual and team plans add more included usage, and usage past a plan is billed at API rates. Current prices: https://cursor.com/pricing (we do not list prices; vendors change them often). ## Agent skills and MCP Skills: Cursor supports Agent Skills natively since version 2.4 (2026-01-22), in the editor and the CLI. It reads project skills from .agents/skills and .cursor/skills, user skills from ~/.agents/skills and ~/.cursor/skills, and for compatibility also loads .claude/skills, .codex/skills and their home-folder versions. The open skills CLI installs Cursor skills into .agents/skills. Type / in Agent chat to call one. MCP: Cursor reads MCP servers from .cursor/mcp.json in a project or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for all projects, under the mcpServers key: command, args and env for a local server, or url and headers for a remote one. Servers can also be installed in one click from the Cursor Marketplace. The CLI uses the same file and manages servers with agent mcp list, agent mcp login and agent mcp enable. ## Alternatives - [Windsurf (now Devin Desktop)](https://cookiesforai.app/tools/windsurf): Windsurf is an AI code editor by Cognition, renamed Devin Desktop on 2026-06-02, that pairs a desktop editor and Tab completions with a local agent and handoff to Devin's cloud agents. - [GitHub Copilot](https://cookiesforai.app/tools/github-copilot): GitHub Copilot is an AI coding assistant by GitHub that works in VS Code, JetBrains and other editors, in a CLI, and as a cloud agent that opens pull requests on GitHub. - [Zed](https://cookiesforai.app/tools/zed): Zed is an open source code editor by Zed Industries, written in Rust, with a built-in AI agent, edit predictions, external agents over ACP and real-time collaboration. - [Google Antigravity](https://cookiesforai.app/tools/antigravity): Google Antigravity is an agentic development platform by Google that runs coding agents in a desktop command center, a standalone IDE, a CLI called agy and extensions for other editors. - [Cline](https://cookiesforai.app/tools/cline): Cline is an open source coding agent by Cline Bot Inc. that runs as a VS Code or JetBrains extension and a CLI, using your own model keys or local models. ## Questions people ask ### Is Cursor free? Cursor has a free Hobby plan with no credit card and limited Agent requests. Paid plans start at Pro, per cursor.com/pricing read on 2026-10-01. ### Can Cursor use agent skills and MCP servers? Yes. Cursor reads Agent Skills from .agents/skills or .cursor/skills (and also .claude/skills and .codex/skills) since version 2.4 in January 2026. MCP servers go in .cursor/mcp.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json.