Our Cursor review
If you need refactoring, Cursor is one of the safest picks in AI coding — with the caveat that costs climb with heavy use.
We score Cursor 4.6 out of 5 — strong ease of use, excellent performance and strong value for money.
What Cursor is
Cursor is Anysphere's AI coding product, launched in 2023. An AI-first code editor with codebase-wide context, multi-file edits and background agents.
It is aimed at intermediate users — the learning curve is moderate. Day one you would use it for refactoring, feature building and legacy code exploration. It runs on macOS, Windows and Linux, with no mobile app, and there is no public API.
Where it shines
What you are really paying for here: fastest real coding workflow and excellent context handling. The feature set behind that is codebase context, multi-file edits, background agents and tab completion.
We rate performance 4.8/5 and answer accuracy around 92% for the tasks in this category, which is why it holds up for refactoring and feature building.
Where it falls short
It is not without cost or compromise: costs climb with heavy use.
Expect a real ramp-up — we rate the learning curve moderate. Budget time for it before judging the tool.
Pricing and value for money
Pricing is Hobby free · Individual $20/mo · Teams $40/user/mo. At $20 a month that is $240 a year per person, in line with the rest of the category (the category median is about $15). A free tier exists, so you can test it properly before paying.
If budget is the constraint, GitHub Copilot at $10/mo does much of the same work. Our cost calculator will show what adding Cursor does to your monthly stack before you commit.
Who should use Cursor
Cursor is the right call for refactoring, feature building and legacy code exploration. We would not recommend it if costs climb with heavy use is a bigger problem for you than fastest real coding workflow is a benefit.
The alternatives worth comparing are GitHub Copilot ($10/mo) and Windsurf ($15/mo). Put them side by side before you buy.
Recommended: Cursor at $20/mo is best used for refactoring and feature building, and it earns 4.6/5 from us.