---
title: Cursor
slug: cursor
url: "https://toolweight.com/options/cursor"
homepage: "https://cursor.com"
categories: coding-agents
last_verified: 2026-01-15
license: CC-BY-4.0
---

# Cursor

> VS Code fork with a real codebase index, background cloud agents and a CLI.

Cursor is a VS Code fork that treats agentic editing as the primary interaction rather than an extension bolted on. It maintains a genuine embeddings index of your codebase, which shows on large repos where grep-based harnesses flounder. Background agents run on Cursor's infrastructure and open pull requests, a CLI covers headless use, and an in-house model handles the fast path. Pricing is a subscription with usage-based spend above the included amount.

## Identity

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Name | Cursor |
| Company | Anysphere |
| One-liner | VS Code fork with a real codebase index, background cloud agents and a CLI. |
| Site | https://cursor.com |
| Docs | https://docs.cursor.com |
| Founded | 2022 |
| Funding | Series C+ |
| Open source | No |
| Licence | Proprietary |
| Brand | https://toolweight.com/vendors/Cursor |
| Compared in | 1 |

## Where it is compared

### [Coding agents](https://toolweight.com/compare/coding-agents)
Ranked **#5 of 17** on default weights.
| Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Surface | standalone editor, CLI, web, cloud delegate | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.cursor.com | - |
| Default model | Cursor's in-house Composer model, with frontier models selectable | Community-reported | - | - | - |
| Model breadth | multi-vendor | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and in-house models through Cursor's gateway. |
| Repo indexing | embeddings index | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.cursor.com/context/codebase-indexing | A genuine persistent vector index, and the reason it holds up on large repos. Not unique here: Windsurf and Kilo Code also index, and Copilot and Devin pair an index with live search, which this column ranks higher again. |
| Plan mode | ● | Community-reported | - | - | - |
| Checkpoint & undo | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - |
| Headless / CI | ● | Community-reported | - | - | The Cursor CLI supports non-interactive runs. |
| Local models | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Where it stops | 4 | Inferred | - | - | Background agents run on Cursor's infrastructure and open pull requests. |
| MCP | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - |
| Subagents | ◐ | Community-reported | - | - | - |
| Hooks | ● | Community-reported | - | - | Lifecycle hooks added during 2025. |
| Skills / commands | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Repo-scoped rules files and custom commands. |
| Background agents | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - |
| Opens PRs | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - |
| Permissions | allowlist + OS sandbox | Community-reported | - | - | Auto-run allowlist plus a sandboxed terminal mode; weaker than Codex's kernel-level containment. |
| BYOK | ◐ | Community-reported | - | - | You can supply provider keys, but several agent features assume Cursor's own gateway. |
| Licence | proprietary | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - |
| Pricing model | subscription + token overage | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://cursor.com/pricing | - |
| Entry price | $20 /seat/mo | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://cursor.com/pricing | - |
| Token markup | ◐ | Community-reported | - | - | Cursor states usage-based spend is billed at provider rates for most models; it has carried a margin in the past. Verify before budgeting. |
| GitHub stars | - | Unknown | - | - | Closed source. |
| Terminal-Bench | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| Bench model | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| Positioning | The AI code editor, built to make you extraordinarily productive. | Vendor-claimed | - | https://cursor.com | - |
| First release | 2023-03-01 | Community-reported | - | - | Approximate. |

**Verdict.** A real persistent codebase index inside the editor you review in, which is exactly what a million-line monorepo needs and what grep-based harnesses cannot fake. It is not the only index here, Windsurf and Kilo Code embed too, and Copilot and Devin read an index alongside live search, but it is the best-integrated one. You pay for it in lock-in: the index, the gateway and the agent identity are all Cursor's, and BYOK is a second-class path.

## Alternatives

- [Aider](https://toolweight.com/options/aider), Minimal terminal pair-programmer with a tree-sitter repo map and automatic git commits.
- [Amp](https://toolweight.com/options/amp), Sourcegraph's opinionated agent with no model picker and an ad-supported free tier.
- [Claude Code](https://toolweight.com/options/claude-code), Anthropic's terminal-first agent, with IDE, web and GitHub Action surfaces.
- [Cline](https://toolweight.com/options/cline), Open-source VS Code and JetBrains agent built around an explicit plan/act split.
- [Codex CLI](https://toolweight.com/options/codex-cli), OpenAI's open-source Rust agent, with the strongest local sandboxing on this page.
- [Devin](https://toolweight.com/options/devin), Fully delegated cloud engineer: file a task in Slack or the web app, get a PR back.
- [DIY harness](https://toolweight.com/options/diy-harness), Your own loop over a model API with an agent SDK, the build-it-yourself reference point.
- [Gemini CLI](https://toolweight.com/options/gemini-cli), Apache-2.0 terminal agent from Google with an unusually generous free tier.
- [GitHub Copilot (Agent HQ)](https://toolweight.com/options/github-copilot), Copilot's coding agent plus a control plane for running third-party agents on your repos.
- [Goose](https://toolweight.com/options/goose), Block's Apache-2.0 agent, MCP-native from the start, as both a CLI and a desktop app.
- [Grok Build](https://toolweight.com/options/grok-build), xAI's coding harness, launched July 2026, on this page but not yet verified.
- [Kilo Code](https://toolweight.com/options/kilo-code), Open-source VS Code agent in the Cline/Roo lineage, with an orchestrator mode and a CLI.

## Licence and attribution

Data from toolweight (https://toolweight.com), licensed CC-BY-4.0.

- Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
- Canonical HTML: https://toolweight.com/options/cursor
- Machine-readable: https://toolweight.com/options/cursor.md · https://toolweight.com/api/v1 · https://toolweight.com/mcp
- toolweight takes no affiliate revenue and sells no placements. Corrections: https://toolweight.com/suggest