Cursor
The AI code editor that understands your entire codebase — not just the file you're looking at.
Quick Specs
| Developer | Anysphere Inc. |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, USA |
| Category | Coding |
| Pricing | Freemium |
| Free Tier | 2,000 completions + 50 slow requests/month |
| Auth Method | Cursor account (email/GitHub) |
| API Available | ❌ No |
| Format | Desktop app (Windows, Mac, Linux) |
| China Access | 🚫 Blocked in China |
| Last checked | July 2026 |
What Is Cursor?
Cursor is a fork of VS Code with AI woven into the editing experience at a deeper level than any IDE extension can achieve. The key difference from GitHub Copilot or Codeium is codebase context: Cursor indexes your entire repository and makes it available to the AI model. Ask Cursor to 'add a dark mode toggle' and it will find all the relevant files, propose changes across them, and let you accept/reject diffs — something single-file autocomplete tools can't do.
Cursor Chat (Ctrl+L) opens a sidebar conversation where you can ask questions about your codebase with full context. Cursor Composer (Ctrl+I) takes it further: describe a feature and Cursor writes code across multiple files simultaneously. The Cursor Tab feature provides the most aggressive autocomplete on the market, predicting entire multi-line edits including the code you're about to delete.
Since it's a VS Code fork, all your existing extensions, keybindings, and settings transfer over. The migration cost is essentially zero for VS Code users. Cursor Pro ($20/month) unlocks unlimited fast requests with Claude 3.7 Sonnet, GPT-4o, and Cursor's own model.
Key Features
Cursor Pricing (2026)
Free (Hobby)
$0/mo- ✓ 2,000 completions/month
- ✓ 50 slow premium requests
- ✓ 50 cursor-small requests
- ✓ All VS Code extensions
Best for: Testing Cursor
Pro
$20/mo- ✓ Unlimited completions
- ✓ 500 fast premium requests/month
- ✓ Unlimited slow premium requests
- ✓ Claude 3.7, GPT-4o, o3-mini
- ✓ Background agents
Best for: Professional developers
Business
$40/user/mo- ✓ Enforced privacy mode
- ✓ Centralized billing
- ✓ Admin dashboard
- ✓ SSO
Best for: Teams needing admin controls
Cursor: Pros & Cons
+ Pros
- ✓Full codebase context — understands your entire project
- ✓Composer for multi-file AI edits in one shot
- ✓Drop-in VS Code replacement (all extensions work)
- ✓Cursor Tab is the best autocomplete on the market
- ✓Privacy mode available (code never leaves your machine)
− Cons
- ✗More expensive than Copilot ($20 vs $10/month)
- ✗Free tier limits are quite restrictive
- ✗Heavier than a pure VS Code with extension
- ✗Blocked in China
Best Use Cases for Cursor
Feature Implementation
Describe a feature in natural language → Cursor writes it across all necessary files. Best tool for 'build X from scratch' tasks.
Codebase Exploration
New to a codebase? Ask Cursor 'how does authentication work here?' and get an answer grounded in the actual code.
Refactoring
Rename a function used across 20 files, update an API signature, or extract a module — Cursor handles cross-file changes.
Bug Fixing
Paste an error message into Cursor Chat with codebase context — it finds the root cause and proposes a fix in the right file.
How to Get Started with Cursor
- 1
Download Cursor from cursor.com — available for Windows, Mac, Linux
- 2
Sign up with email or GitHub
- 3
Import your VS Code settings (one-click migration offered on first launch)
- 4
Open a project folder — Cursor indexes the codebase automatically
- 5
Press Ctrl+L for Chat, Ctrl+I for Composer (multi-file edits)
- 6
Press Tab to accept autocomplete suggestions, Esc to reject
🚫 Blocked in China: Cursor in China
Cursor is blocked in mainland China by the Great Firewall. DNS-level and IP-level blocks prevent direct access.
Solution: A VPN with obfuscation support is required. NordVPN (94% success rate) and ExpressVPN (91%) are the most reliable options for accessing Cursor from China.
Full China Access Guide →