Eight months ago our dev team ditched VS Code + GitHub Copilot and moved to Cursor. The short version: Cursor Pro at $20/month replaced a $19/month Copilot subscription AND cut our debugging time by roughly 40%. But the pricing has some non-obvious gotchas. Here is everything.
Cursor Plans (February 2026)
Hobby: Free
- 2,000 code completions per month (tab autocomplete)
- 50 premium model requests (GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet)
- 200 cursor-small requests (fast model for simple edits)
- All IDE features: multi-file editing, codebase search, terminal integration
- No usage of Claude Opus or o1 reasoning models
Honest take: 2,000 completions sounds generous until you realize that is about 2-3 hours of active coding. Tab completions fire constantly -- every time you pause between keystrokes. A full day of coding can burn 800-1,200 completions. Hobby is a trial, not a plan you can work on.
Pro: $20/month
- Unlimited code completions (the biggest upgrade)
- 500 premium model requests per month (GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet)
- Unlimited cursor-small requests
- 10 Claude Opus or o1 requests per day (for complex reasoning tasks)
- Bring your own API key option (use your own OpenAI/Anthropic key for unlimited premium)
Honest take: Pro is the plan. Unlimited completions remove the anxiety of running out mid-session. 500 premium requests is enough for most developers -- that is roughly 16-17 per working day. The 10 daily Opus/o1 requests are the secret weapon for debugging gnarly issues that Sonnet cannot figure out.
Business: $40/user/month
- Everything in Pro
- Centralized team billing and seat management
- Usage analytics per team member
- SSO/SAML (OpenID Connect)
- Admin dashboard with policy controls
- Privacy mode enforcement (code never stored on Cursor servers)
- Priority support
Honest take: The 2x price jump from Pro to Business is steep. But for teams, the centralized billing alone justifies it -- no more expensing 8 individual $20 subscriptions. The privacy mode enforcement matters if you work with client code or proprietary IP. Without Business, individual devs can toggle privacy mode off (and forget to turn it back on).
What "Premium Requests" Actually Means
This is the most confusing part of Cursor pricing. Premium requests include any interaction with the larger AI models:
- Chat: Each message in the side panel = 1 premium request
- Cmd+K inline edits: Each edit request = 1 premium request
- Composer (multi-file edits): Each generation = 1 premium request
- NOT counted: Tab completions use cursor-small, not premium models
In practice, 500 premium requests per month means you can ask the AI to help with about 25 tasks per working day. Heavy AI users -- devs who use chat and Composer constantly -- will bump into this limit around week 3. Light users who mainly rely on tab completions will never come close.
Cursor vs GitHub Copilot: Price Comparison
- Copilot Individual: $10/month or $100/year -- cheapest AI coding option
- Copilot Business: $19/user/month -- team features, policy controls
- Copilot Enterprise: $39/user/month -- codebase-aware completions
- Cursor Pro: $20/month -- more capable but slightly pricier than Copilot Individual
- Cursor Business: $40/user/month -- comparable to Copilot Enterprise
Copilot is cheaper at every tier. But Cursor is more capable -- especially for multi-file edits, codebase-aware reasoning, and complex refactoring. The question is whether that capability gap is worth $10/month more per developer. For our team, yes -- the time saved on debugging and refactoring pays for the difference many times over.
Read our full Cursor vs Claude Code comparison or GitHub Copilot vs Cursor comparison for detailed feature breakdowns.
Hidden Costs
- API key spending: If you bring your own key, monitor it closely. We had a developer accidentally run a large codebase indexing operation that cost $45 in one day on their personal API key.
- Learning curve: Cursor has a 1-2 week productivity dip while your team learns the new workflows (Composer, Cmd+K patterns, .cursorrules files). Factor in the lost productivity.
- Extension compatibility: Most VS Code extensions work, but some do not. If your team relies on niche extensions, test compatibility before committing to annual billing.
Our Recommendation
- Solo developer, budget-conscious: Start with Hobby to test, then upgrade to Pro when you hit limits (you will within a week).
- Solo developer or freelancer: Pro ($20/month). No question.
- Dev team (3-10 people): Business ($40/user/month) for centralized billing and privacy controls. Or Pro with individual billing if budget is tight.
- Enterprise (50+ devs): Contact Cursor for volume pricing. Or evaluate whether GitHub Copilot Enterprise at $39/user is a better fit for your stack.
We help development teams evaluate and implement AI coding tools. Whether it is Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot, or a custom setup, we can help you pick the right tool and configure it for your codebase. Book a consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cursor free?
Yes, the Hobby plan is free with 2,000 completions and 50 premium requests per month. It is enough to evaluate Cursor but not to use it as your daily driver.
Can I use Cursor with my own API key?
Yes, on the Pro and Business plans. You can add your OpenAI, Anthropic, or other API keys and use them for unlimited premium requests beyond the included 500. You pay the API provider directly per-token.
Is Cursor better than VS Code + Copilot?
For AI-assisted coding, yes. Cursor's multi-file editing (Composer), codebase-aware chat, and inline edit (Cmd+K) are more capable than Copilot's chat and completions. For pure autocomplete, the difference is smaller. Many developers keep Copilot for completions and add Cursor for complex tasks, but that means paying for both.
Does Cursor store my code?
By default, code snippets sent to AI models may be stored temporarily. Privacy mode (available on all plans, enforced on Business) ensures code is never stored on Cursor's servers or used for training. Enable this for any proprietary or client code.