Overview
Cursor is a fork of VS Code with deeply integrated AI that understands your entire codebase — not just the current file. Ask it to fix bugs, write features, or explain code in plain English. The tab completion, multi-line edits, and Composer agent mode set it clearly apart from GitHub Copilot.
Pricing
✅ When to use
- Full-stack feature development across multiple files simultaneously
- Refactoring existing codebases — it reads and understands full context
- Debugging complex issues — it reads the error and proposes the fix
- Learning a new framework or codebase quickly
- Writing boilerplate and repetitive code faster
❌ When NOT to use
- Simple one-file scripts — GitHub Copilot in VS Code is lighter-weight
- JetBrains IDE users (IntelliJ, PyCharm) — Cursor is VS Code only
- Security-sensitive environments where code cannot leave the machine
💡 Personal Tips
Cursor is the single tool that has most improved my development speed. Cmd+K for inline edits and Ctrl+L for full codebase chat are the core shortcuts. Composer mode for multi-file edits is where the real magic happens — describe a feature in plain English and it writes across 5 files simultaneously. Important caveat: review every suggestion before accepting. It's confident even when wrong. I use it with Claude Sonnet as the backend — noticeably better than GPT-4 for code.