Best Cursor Alternatives of 2026
Seven coding agents and editors to consider instead of Cursor, ranked on price, included models, IDE support and limits.
By , research by the BestBots team ยท Updated Oct 18, 2026
Fact checked against each company's published pricing, documentation and verified user ratings. How we score
GitHub Copilot is the best Cursor alternative for most developers: Pro costs $10 a month, includes Claude, GPT, Gemini and Grok models, and works in the editor you already use. If you want a standalone AI editor like Cursor, Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) at $20 is closest, and Cline is the best free option.
Our top picks
Why look beyond Cursor
Cursor is still a capable AI editor, but its plans changed in 2026, and that is the main reason people search for alternatives.
The bundle. New customers buy Cursor as part of The X Subscription, which also covers Grok and X. Plans are Plus ($8), Premium ($30), Super ($100) and Ultra ($200).
The model split. The included usage pool covers Cursor's own models: Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5 and Composer 2.5. Claude, GPT and Gemini are available on Premium and above, but billed at API list price from prepaid credit, from the first request. Plus has no third party models at all.
The cost effect. A developer who used Cursor mainly for Claude now pays $30 plus Claude tokens. At Cursor's listed Claude Sonnet 5.5 rates ($2 per million input, $10 per million output), an illustrative month of 20M input and 2M output tokens adds $60, for about $90 total.
The reviews. Cursor's Trustpilot score is 1.5 from 348 reviews, mostly about billing, support and reduced model access.
Existing subscribers on legacy Pro ($20), Pro+ ($60) or Ultra keep their plans unless they switch, so if you are one of them, compare carefully before you leave.
How to choose an alternative
Keep your editor or switch? Copilot, Claude Code, Codex and Cline plug into VS Code (and Copilot and Claude Code into JetBrains). Windsurf (Devin Desktop) is the alternative if you want another dedicated AI editor.
Which models on the flat fee? Copilot and Devin Desktop include several labs' models. Claude Code includes Claude; Codex includes OpenAI's. Cline lets you pick any provider but bills tokens.
Hand off or pair? For tickets you want done end to end, Devin, Copilot's cloud agent and Codex cloud tasks fit. For line by line work, an editor or extension fits.
Our picks, in detail
- Starting price
- $10 per month
- Models
- Claude (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku, Fable), GPT 5 and 6 series, Gemini, Grok, Kimi, MAI
- IDE support
- VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Eclipse, Xcode, Neovim, Zed, GitHub.com
- Free plan
- Yes
Copilot Pro is $10 a month, a third of Cursor Premium, and its 1,500 monthly AI credits cover Claude, GPT, Gemini and Grok models. It runs agent mode inside VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Eclipse and Xcode, so you keep your editor, and the cloud agent turns issues into pull requests.
Pros
- Lowest paid entry among major agents at $10 a month, plus a usable free plan
- Agent mode in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Eclipse and Xcode, plus a CLI
- Model menu spans Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and xAI on every plan
- Cloud agent turns an issue into a pull request on GitHub
- Highest VS Code Marketplace rating in this group: 4.1 from 1,058 reviews
Cons
- Agent work draws down metered AI credits; heavy users will pay $0.01 per extra credit
- Delegating to third party agents such as Claude and Codex needs Pro+ at $39
- Per GitHub's FAQ, interaction data from individual plans may be used by GitHub, while Business and Enterprise data is not used to train models
Skip it if you want a dedicated AI editor; Copilot is an extension and a CLI, not its own app.
- Starting price
- $20 per month
- Models
- OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and SpaceXAI frontier models, SWE-2, open source models such as Kimi
- IDE support
- Devin Desktop editor (formerly Windsurf, macOS download), Windsurf for JetBrains, Windsurf Plugin for VS Code
- Free plan
- Yes
Windsurf, now Devin Desktop, is a full AI IDE with an agent command center, and its $20 Pro plan includes quota on frontier models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and SpaceXAI plus SWE-2. Tab completions and inline edits are unlimited even on Free.
Pros
- $20 Pro includes quota on frontier models from four labs, not just in house models
- Unlimited Tab completions and inline edits, even on Free
- Same subscription covers Devin Cloud agents
- Agent Client Protocol support to work across models and agents
Cons
- Quotas are described as generous but not published as numbers
- Windsurf URLs now redirect to Devin, so docs and plan names have moved
- Trustpilot 1.4 from 59 reviews, with pricing and quota complaints
- Teams pricing adds an $80 base fee on top of $40 per seat
Skip it if you need published quota numbers; Cognition describes them as generous but does not list them.
- Starting price
- $20 per month
- Models
- Claude Opus, Sonnet and Haiku; Fable via usage credits
- IDE support
- VS Code, Cursor (extension), JetBrains, desktop app, web
- Free plan
- No
If you bought Cursor to use Claude, Claude Code gets you Claude usage inside the $20 Pro plan instead of API list price on top of $30. It runs in the terminal, VS Code, JetBrains, a desktop app and the web, and you can even install it as an extension inside Cursor.
Pros
- Included with every paid Claude plan, so the $20 Pro seat also covers the Claude chat apps
- Runs in the terminal, VS Code, JetBrains, a desktop app and the web from one subscription
- Max plans at $100 and $200 add 5x or 20x Pro usage plus monthly API credits
- CLI, VS Code and JetBrains can also run on third party providers or an API key
Cons
- Not available on the free Claude plan
- Subscription use is limited to Claude models; no GPT or Gemini option
- Usage is metered per 5 hour session with no published message count
- VS Code Marketplace rating is 3.7 from 829 reviews, below GitHub Copilot's 4.1
Skip it if you want GPT or Gemini on the same subscription, or need a free plan.
- Starting price
- $20 per month
- Models
- GPT 6.1 Sol, GPT 6 Sol, GPT 6 Astra, GPT 6 Luna
- IDE support
- IDE extension, desktop app, web, iOS
- Free plan
- Yes
Codex is included with ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month and runs in the CLI, IDE extension, desktop app, web and iOS with GPT 6.1 Sol. Pro plans from $100 currently have no 5 hour limit.
Pros
- Bundled with ChatGPT Plus, so one $20 seat covers chat and coding
- Runs in the CLI, IDE, desktop app, web and iOS
- Pro plans currently have no 5 hour limit
- API key mode for CI and automation at API rates
Cons
- Usage per 5 hours varies widely by model and task, and weekly limits may apply
- Free and Go access is desktop only and subject to rollout
- Subscription use is limited to OpenAI models
- VS Code Marketplace rating 2.9 from 722 reviews
Skip it if you need steady, predictable limits; Plus usage varies from about 15 to 160 GPT 6.1 Sol messages per 5 hours.
- Starting price
- $0 per month plus model usage
- Models
- Any provider: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Bedrock, Vertex, Groq, DeepSeek and more
- IDE support
- VS Code, CLI, desktop app (beta), Cline Cloud in the browser; JetBrains on Enterprise
- Free plan
- Yes
Cline is open source and free in VS Code and the terminal; you pay only for model tokens through your own keys or at cost through Cline. You choose the model per task, from cheap open models to frontier ones.
Pros
- Free and open source, with about 71k GitHub stars shown on its site
- Bring your own keys from almost any model provider, so no vendor lock in
- Inference bought through Cline is sold at cost
- VS Code Marketplace rating 4.0 from 323 reviews
- Cline Cloud runs up to 10 parallel sessions in cloud sandboxes and pushes to a cline/ branch
Cons
- No plan cap: costs track tokens, so heavy agent use on frontier models can get expensive
- JetBrains extension, SSO and team management are Enterprise features
- Desktop app is still a beta (version 0.0.48 in October 2026)
Skip it if you want a capped monthly bill; there is no plan ceiling on token spend.
- Starting price
- $20 per month
- Models
- SWE-2 plus frontier models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and SpaceXAI
- IDE support
- Devin Desktop editor; works from Slack, Teams, Linear and Jira
- Free plan
- Yes
Devin takes tasks from Slack, Microsoft Teams, Linear or Jira, tests in its own browser and returns a pull request, starting at $20 a month on the same plan as Devin Desktop.
Pros
- Assign work from Slack, Microsoft Teams, Linear or Jira and get a pull request back
- Tests its changes in its own browser before handing back
- Works with GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket and custom git providers
- Enterprise option to deploy in your own VPC
- Cognition holds SOC 2 Type II; zero data retention is enforced with model providers
Cons
- Quotas are not published as numbers
- Concurrent sessions capped at 10 on Pro and Max
- Only 1 public review on Trustpilot, so no rating to show
- Team plan adds an $80 base fee
Skip it if you want to pair program line by line in an editor; Devin is built for hand offs.
- Starting price
- $20 per month
- Models
- Not itemized on the pricing page; credits go toward more powerful models
- IDE support
- Browser workspace; no desktop IDE plugin listed
- Free plan
- Yes
Replit Agent builds, hosts and publishes apps from one browser workspace with no local setup. Core is $20 a month and includes $20 of usage credits.
Pros
- Agent, database, storage and hosting in one browser workspace
- Core includes $20 of usage, so the plan fee doubles as credit
- Pro runs 10 parallel agents and supports 15 collaborators
- Free Starter plan lets you publish one app
Cons
- Effort based billing makes the monthly total hard to predict
- Free Starter is limited to Lite build and one app that expires after 30 days
- Trustpilot 2.8 from 1,560 reviews, with billing and agent reliability complaints
Skip it if you work in a large existing repo on your own machine.
Price comparison
| Tool | Main plan | Frontier third party models included | Team seat | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cursor | Premium $30 | No, API list price | $30, $100 or $200 | Limited |
| GitHub Copilot | Pro $10 | Yes, from AI credits | Business $19 | Yes |
| Windsurf (Devin Desktop) | Pro $20 | Yes, from quota | $80 plus $40 per seat | Yes |
| Claude Code | Claude Pro $20 | Claude only | $25, or $20 annually | No |
| OpenAI Codex | ChatGPT Plus $20 | OpenAI only | $25, or $20 annually | Limited |
| Cline | $0 plus tokens | Any, you pay the provider | Enterprise, custom | Yes |
| Devin | Pro $20 | Yes, from quota | $80 plus $40 per seat | Yes |
| Replit Agent | Core $20 with $20 credits | Not itemized | Enterprise, custom | Yes |
Prices are as listed on each vendor's pricing page or docs in October 2026, billed monthly.
A year for one developer. Cursor Premium: $360 monthly or $300 annually, plus third party usage. Copilot Pro: $120. Windsurf (Devin Desktop), Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus: $240 each.
A team of five. Cursor Teams at $30: $150. Copilot Business: $95. Claude Team or Codex Business: $125 monthly or $100 annually. Devin Teams: $80 + 5 x $40 = $280.
What you give up
Leaving Cursor is not free of tradeoffs. You lose Bugbot code review and Origin code hosting, Cursor's Automations, and a single editor where agent, completions and cloud runs share one weekly pool. Copilot has its own pull request reviews and cloud agent, and Devin Desktop has a comparable agent command center, so most of these have a counterpart, but none is a one to one copy.
How we picked
We compared tools that cover the same jobs as Cursor (editor agent, completions, terminal or cloud agents) on published facts only: vendor pricing pages and docs opened in October 2026, and public review listings with at least 10 reviews. We did not run benchmarks. The order is editorial, based on price, included models, IDE coverage and trust signals, and no vendor paid for placement. See how we score and our full best AI coding agents ranking.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Cursor?
GitHub Copilot, for most developers. Pro costs $10 a month against Cursor Premium's $30, includes Claude, GPT, Gemini and Grok models in its credits, and works in your existing IDE. If you want a standalone AI editor like Cursor, Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) at $20 is the closest match.
Is there a free alternative to Cursor?
Yes. Cline is free and open source for VS Code and the terminal; you only pay your model provider. GitHub Copilot Free includes 2,000 completions a month plus limited chat and agent use, and Devin Desktop Free includes unlimited Tab completions with a light agent quota.
Why are people leaving Cursor?
Cursor moved new customers to The X Subscription, where the included usage covers Cursor's own Grok and Composer models and third party models bill at API list price. Its Trustpilot page shows 1.5 from 348 reviews, with complaints about billing, support and reduced access to Claude and GPT. Legacy Pro and Pro+ plans keep working for existing subscribers.
Is Windsurf still available?
Windsurf's site now redirects to Devin Desktop from Cognition. The editor continues as Devin Desktop, with Free, Pro ($20), Max ($200) and Teams ($80 plus $40 per seat) plans shared with Devin.
Cursor vs Windsurf: which is cheaper?
Windsurf (Devin Desktop) Pro is $20 a month and includes frontier models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and SpaceXAI. Cursor Premium is $30 and bills those models extra. For teams, Cursor seats start at $30, while Devin Teams costs $80 a month plus $40 per full seat, so Cursor's $30 tier is cheaper for a team of any size.
Can I use Cursor's features in VS Code instead?
Most of them. Copilot adds agent mode, a cloud agent and pull request reviews to VS Code; Cline and Claude Code add agentic editing through extensions; Codex has an IDE extension too. What you lose is Cursor's single integrated editor and its Bugbot and Origin services.