Claude Code vs Cursor at a glance
| Claude Code | Cursor | |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | Anthropic | Cursor, part of SpaceX since August 2026 |
| What it is | A coding agent for terminal, IDEs, desktop, web and mobile | An AI code editor, plus a CLI (agent), cloud agents and code review |
| Main models | Claude Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Haiku 5.5, Fable 5.1 | Grok 4.5 to 4.7 and Composer 2.5; Claude, GPT, Gemini and others at API list price |
| Cheapest paid plan | Claude Pro, $20/month | Plus, $8/month, Grok models only |
| Claude models cost | Included in your Claude plan's limits | Billed separately by usage at API list price (Premium and up) |
| Project instructions | CLAUDE.md, .claude/rules/; reads AGENTS.md if there's no CLAUDE.md | .cursor/rules/*.mdc, AGENTS.md, user and team rules |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS, Windows, Linux |
Pricing: Claude plans vs Cursor plans
Monthly prices in US dollars, as listed on claude.com/pricing and cursor.com/pricing. Cursor's plans now also include X features, such as fewer timeline ads, and share one AI usage pool with Grok that refreshes weekly.
| Claude plan | Price | Cursor plan | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | No Claude Code | Free | $0, limited agent requests |
| Pro | $20 ($17 billed yearly) | Plus | $8, Grok models only |
| Max | $100 | Premium | $30: 4x Plus usage, cloud agents, automations, code review, third-party models at API price |
| Ultra | $200 | Super | $100: 15x Plus usage |
| Team | $25 per seat (Standard), $125 (Premium) | Ultra | $200: 50x Plus usage |
| Enterprise | $20 per seat billed yearly, plus usage at API rates | Teams, Enterprise | From $30 per user; Enterprise custom |
Features side by side
| Feature | Claude Code | Cursor |
|---|---|---|
| Agent in the terminal | claude, with headless -p | agent CLI, with print mode -p |
| Plan mode | Yes (Shift+Tab, /plan) | Yes (Shift+Tab, /plan) |
| Cloud agents | Claude Code on the web, cloud sessions | Cloud agents in VMs (Premium and up), started from web, iOS, GitHub, Slack, Linear or the API |
| Parallel work | --worktree, subagents, agent view | /worktree, /best-of-n across models |
| Automations | /loop, desktop and cloud scheduled tasks | Automations on cron, Git, Slack, Linear, webhooks, Sentry, PagerDuty (Premium and up) |
| MCP | Yes: claude mcp add, .mcp.json | Yes: .cursor/mcp.json |
| Hooks | Yes, 30+ events in settings.json | Yes, about 20 events in hooks.json; can load Claude Code hooks |
| Code review | /code-review locally; @claude review on Team and Enterprise | Bugbot on GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket and Azure DevOps |
How to choose between Claude Code and Cursor
Neither is better at everything, and published benchmarks favor whoever published them. Decide on the things that change your day.
Decide which models you want to pay for
If you want Claude models every day, a Claude plan includes them within its limits; in Cursor they're billed on top of the plan at API list price. If you're happy on Grok and Composer, Cursor's $8 and $30 plans are cheaper than Claude's.
Decide where you want to work
Cursor is an editor first: inline edits, tab completion and the agent in one window. Claude Code is an agent first: it works from any terminal and plugs into VS Code, JetBrains, the desktop app, the web and Slack.
Check how much should run without you
Both run in the cloud and on schedules. Cursor's cloud agents and automations need Premium or higher; Claude Code's scheduled tasks and cloud sessions come with Claude plans. See how to make Claude Code proactive.
Keep your setup portable
Write shared rules in AGENTS.md (both read it) and import it from CLAUDE.md; Cursor can also load Claude Code hooks. Switching or mixing then costs little. See the CLAUDE.md guide.
Or use both
Anthropic's VS Code docs include an install link for Cursor, so the Claude Code extension runs inside the Cursor editor, on your Claude plan.
If you use the Claude Code extension in Cursor
On October 29, 2026 Cursor reported that malicious versions 2.1.312 and 2.1.313 of the Anthropic.claude-code extension, not built by Anthropic, were available in Cursor's extension marketplace for about 11 hours, for Windows and macOS. Cursor removed them, rebuilt the marketplace and published a check: an SSH key labelled svc-telemetry in your authorized_keys means the machine was affected. If you installed or updated the extension that day, follow Cursor's security notice.
And Codex?
OpenAI's Codex is the third common choice, included with ChatGPT plans from the free tier up, and it runs inside Cursor too. Compare it in Claude Code vs Codex, and see the Claude Code orchestration tools for running several agents at once.
Whichever you pick, give it a job
Editors and agents still wait for your next prompt. Crewmark turns a Claude Code, Codex, DeepSeek Harness or OpenCode session into an AI employee with a role, a goal and working hours, and wakes it on a heartbeat to take the next issue from a board, on the subscription you already pay for.
Pick a role and a goal
Software engineer, reviewer, SEO writer: each has a goal written as a number. Read what an AI employee is.
Let the heartbeat start the work
During working hours the employee wakes every 15, 30 or 60 minutes in the same conversation and takes the next issue.
Review on the board
It comments as it works and messages you when it needs a decision.
Claude Code vs Cursor FAQ
Is Claude Code better than Cursor?
It depends on how you work. Claude Code suits people who want Claude models included in a subscription and an agent that works from any terminal or IDE. Cursor suits people who want an AI editor with inline edits, and who are fine with Grok models or paying API prices for others.
Can I use Claude models in Cursor?
Yes, on Premium ($30) and higher, but third-party models such as Claude are billed separately by usage at API list price. The $8 Plus plan offers Grok models only.
Which is cheaper, Claude Code or Cursor?
Cursor's entry plans are cheaper ($8 and $30 a month), but Claude usage in Cursor costs extra. If you mainly use Claude models, a Claude Pro ($20) or Max ($100) plan usually works out cheaper than paying API prices.
Does Cursor belong to SpaceX now?
Yes. Cursor announced on August 14, 2026 that it had been acquired by SpaceX, completing a process that started in April. Its plans now come with X features and Grok models.
Can I run Claude Code inside Cursor?
Yes. The Claude Code extension installs in Cursor through Anthropic's install link, and the claude CLI runs in Cursor's terminal. Use the official extension and check its version after Cursor's October 29 security notice.
Do Claude Code and Cursor share configuration?
Partly. Both read AGENTS.md, both support MCP (each with its own config file), and Cursor can load Claude Code hooks. Rules and settings files are otherwise separate.
What about usage limits?
Claude plans use a 5-hour window plus weekly limits shared with Claude chat. Cursor plans share one weekly-refreshing pool with Grok, sized as multiples of the Plus plan, with top-ups or API billing beyond it.
Checked against the Claude Code docs, claude.com/pricing and cursor.com (pricing, docs, changelog and blog) on November 6, 2026.