Overview

Cursor is an AI-first code editor built on VS Code. It embeds AI throughout the development workflow — autocomplete, chat, agent mode, and background agents that work while you sleep. Founded in 2022, it's become the fastest-growing AI coding tool.

Key Capabilities

• Agent mode: AI takes over your cursor, executes multi-step coding tasks autonomously
• Background agents: Work on tasks while you're AFK — refactoring, tests, documentation
• Supermaven autocomplete: Next-generation code completion with 500k character context
• All frontier models: Claude Opus 4.6, GPT-5.1, Gemini 2.5, Grok — pick the best for each task
• Credit-based billing: Since June 2025, paid plans include monthly credit pools for API access
• Privacy mode: Code doesn't train on your data unless you opt in

Pricing Plans

• Free: 2,000 completions/month, 50 premium requests
• Pro ($20/mo): Unlimited completions, unlimited premium requests, all models, priority access
• Business ($40/seat/mo): Pro-equivalent AI access, admin controls, shared team rules, centralized billing

Who It's For

Developers who want AI to accelerate coding without replacing the creative problem-solving. Particularly strong for: debugging, refactoring, writing tests, generating boilerplate, understanding unfamiliar codebases.

Honest Assessment

Cursor is the best AI code editor for most developers. It's fast, the autocomplete is genuinely next-level, and agent mode actually works for real tasks — not just demos. The Business plan's team features (shared rules, admin controls) make it viable for enterprise adoption.

The credit-based pricing that launched in June 2025 was confusing, but the current model is clearer: Pro is $20/month for individuals, Business is $40/seat for teams.