Cursor AI
## what it does
Overview
Cursor is an AI-native code editor from Anysphere, forked from VS Code. The Sep 2026 product is built around always-on cloud agents (Origin repos, subscriptions, custom modes, /goal, subagents on isolated VMs) and a separate Grok line (Grok Bot, Grok Build). The editor talks to frontier models (Claude, GPT, Grok) plus Cursor’s own Composer model.
Key Strengths
| Capability | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud agents | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Origin repos, /goal, subscriptions, subagents on own VMs (changelog Sep 2 / Aug 19 2026) |
| Composer model | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Cursor’s own model; free Hobby tier includes it |
| Self-hosted execution | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Workers on your own infra; computer use on Linux/Mac (Sep 2 2026) |
| Origin code hosting | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Repos, PRs, GitHub sync, app extensions (Vercel, Depot, Buildkite) |
| Builds (env prep) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Cloud agents boot into ready environments; 10× faster boot, 3× faster TTFT |
| VS Code compatibility | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | All VS Code extensions work; Cursor ships its own marketplace layer |
Plans (fetched 2026-09-10)
Source: cursor.com/pricing. SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, AIUC-1 certified. Self-serve cards; invoice billing on Enterprise. Subscriptions sold direct only — Cursor explicitly disavows third-party resellers.
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby | Free | Limited Agent requests, Composer access, no card required |
| Individual — Pro | $20/mo | Extended Agent limits, generous Grok limits, frontier-model access, Grok Bot, MCPs/skills/hooks, cloud agents, Bugbot on usage-based billing |
| Individual — Pro+ | (pricing not listed on public pricing page; recommended for daily agent users per Cursor’s FAQ) | — |
| Individual — Ultra | (pricing not listed on public pricing page; for “agent power users”) | — |
| Teams — Standard | $40/user/mo | Centralized billing/admin, internal rules/skills/plugins marketplace, shared-team cloud agents, Bugbot code review, usage analytics, team privacy mode, SAML/OIDC SSO |
| Teams — Premium | $40/user/mo | Standard tier capabilities |
| Enterprise | Custom | Pooled usage, invoice/PO, SCIM, repo/model/MCP controls, auto-run + browser + network controls, audit logs + service accounts, AI-code-tracking API, Grok Bot access/audit controls, priority support |
Pro+ and Ultra pricing was not on the public pricing page in this fetch — Cursor’s own FAQ recommends them by usage profile, not by price. Sign in or contact Sales for those rates.
Cloud agents — what’s new
From cursor.com/changelog (latest 2026-09-02):
- Sep 2 2026 — Self-hosted machines. Tool execution stays on your network. My Machines (personal VM/team pool) with dynamic scheduling, hibernating idle workers, run on existing infra (AWS Lambda, Coder, Cloudflare, Daytona, Modal, Namespace, Vercel, E2B). Computer use now works on Linux and Mac self-hosted workers.
- Aug 27 2026 — Start from scratch. No GitHub needed; prompt into a Cursor Origin repo. Live preview in the browser, Vercel publish.
- Aug 19 2026 — Subscriptions + custom modes +
/goal+ subagents on own VMs. Cloud agents subscribe to events (PRs, Slack threads, scheduled tasks); subagents get isolated cloud environments. - Aug 17 2026 — Origin code hosting. Repos + PRs + GitHub sync + Vercel/Depot/Buildkite apps. Source of truth for Origin repos; mirrors for synced GitHub.
- Aug 13 2026 — Builds. Pre-baked environments so agents skip setup; bad commits don’t break the live pool.
Grok line
Cursor ships a parallel Grok product: Grok Bot, Grok Build, plus generous Grok usage on paid Cursor plans. Use it like another agent surface — different model, same Origin plumbing.
Cursor Rules
The secret to getting great output from Cursor is .cursorrules — instruction files that teach Cursor your project’s conventions.
Browse our rules library:
Comparisons
Related
- Vibe Coding Guide — The methodology Cursor enables
- Context Engineering — Optimize your Cursor context
- Cursor docs — First-party rules, skills, MCP, Agent
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