TL;DR
Cursor is a fork of VS Code with AI stitched into the core — not bolted on as an extension. If you spend 4+ hours a day writing code, the ROI is immediate. We earned back the Pro plan in under a week.
Final score: 4.8 / 5
What is Cursor?
Cursor is a VS Code-based IDE that replaces Copilot with something fundamentally deeper:
- Predictive tab: completes multiple lines ahead, not just where the cursor sits
- Composer: agent that understands the whole repo and applies multi-file edits
- Codebase chat: talk to your own indexed code
Hands-on test
We asked it to refactor a 320-line React component into a Server Component plus several sub-components. Result: 9 files modified, all coherent, tests still green. Total time including review: 6 minutes. By hand it would have been an hour.
Pricing
- Hobby: free, limited models
- Pro: $20/mo — unlimited premium model usage
- Business: $40/user/mo — hardened privacy posture
Verdict
If you live in VS Code, switch today. Migration is literally opening Cursor — it imports your settings and extensions automatically.