Cursor Review [Updated for 2025] – AI Code Editor Built on VS Code

Key Takeaways

What is Cursor? Cursor is an AI-powered code editor built on Visual Studio Code that integrates advanced AI models like Claude 3.5 Sonnet directly into the development workflow to enhance programmer productivity.

• 🚀 Seamlessly combines familiar VSCode experience with powerful AI assistance, making the transition easy for existing VSCode users
• 🧠 Offers multi-file awareness through Composer Mode and Agent Mode, enabling complex refactoring across entire codebases using natural language
• 💬 Supports unique contextual control through .cursorrules files that guide AI behavior according to project-specific requirements
• ⚠️ Free tier imposes significant limitations, with the Pro plan ($20/month) capping fast AI completions at 500 per month
• ⚡ Occasionally applies incorrect code suggestions without clear accept/reject controls
• 🧩 Maintains full compatibility with VSCode extensions while adding AI-powered features for coding, debugging and documentation

This review covers: features, integrations, customization, debugging, pricing, pros and cons, and real-world use cases.

What is Cursor?

Cursor is a VSCode fork that integrates advanced AI capabilities directly into the code editor, using models like Claude 3.5 Sonnet to power features from code completion to multi-file refactoring through natural language prompts.

Use Cases

• 🏗️ Rapid Prototyping: Generate code frameworks and boilerplate in seconds to quickly validate concepts and ideas
  – Create initial project structure with appropriate files and dependencies
  – Scaffold entire applications including frontend interfaces and backend logic
• 🔄 Complex Refactoring:
  – Rename variables, functions, or classes across multiple files
  – Restructure code architecture with minimal manual intervention
  – Extract reusable components from existing code
• 🔀 Cross-Language Development:
  – Translate code between languages (e.g., Python to Go, JavaScript to TypeScript)
  – Generate equivalent functionality in different frameworks or paradigms
• 🐛 Bug Fixing and Debugging:
  – Automatically detect and suggest fixes for errors spotted in terminal outputs
  – Refactor problematic code sections with more robust implementations
  – Generate unit tests to verify fixes work as expected
• 📝 Documentation Generation:
  – Create comprehensive READMEs based on codebase analysis
  – Document functions and classes with appropriate comments and explanations
  – Generate usage examples for APIs or libraries

Overview

🎯 What exactly is Cursor? Cursor represents a new breed of development environments that deeply integrate AI capabilities into the coding workflow. Built as a fork of Visual Studio Code, Cursor aims to make developers “extraordinarily productive” by combining familiar IDE capabilities with AI-powered features that assist with everything from code completion to debugging.

👩‍💻 Who is it built for? Cursor primarily targets professional developers who already have coding experience and are looking to accelerate their workflow. The tool is especially valuable for those who work with large codebases or need to quickly prototype and implement features across multiple files. While the learning curve might be steeper for absolute beginners, experienced developers will find Cursor’s AI capabilities complement their existing skills and significantly reduce time spent on repetitive coding tasks.

Ease of Use

🔄 How smooth is the transition from VSCode? Cursor’s foundation as a VSCode fork provides a significant advantage for developers who are already familiar with that environment. Installation is straightforward, and users can immediately import their existing VSCode extensions, themes, and keyboard shortcuts, making the transition nearly seamless.

🖥️ Interface familiarity The basic interface will feel immediately familiar to VSCode users, with the same layout for editors, terminals, and sidebars. Where Cursor differs is in the addition of AI-specific interface elements like chat panels, AI buttons in various locations, and specialized keyboard shortcuts for invoking AI capabilities. These additions can sometimes make the interface feel cluttered, particularly when compared to more minimalist alternatives.

⚠️ Learning curve considerations While the core editing experience requires minimal adjustment for VSCode users, mastering Cursor’s advanced AI features does involve a learning curve. Some users report taking several days to discover important capabilities like the .cursorrules file for customizing AI behavior, or learning the optimal workflows for the multi-tabbing feature. The documentation, while helpful, doesn’t fully guide users through these more advanced features, meaning many discover them through trial and error or community discussions.

🔍 User experience challenges For new users, understanding when to use different AI modalities (tab completion vs. Composer vs. Agent Mode) takes time and experimentation to determine which is most effective for specific tasks. This learning investment ultimately pays off for power users but may feel intimidating during initial usage.

AI Assistance and Coding Features

✨ What makes Cursor different? Cursor’s AI capabilities are where the product truly differentiates itself from standard code editors. The AI features broadly fall into several distinct categories:

⌨️ Tab completion represents one of Cursor’s most impressive and useful features. Unlike typical autocomplete functionality, Cursor’s AI can predict not just the next few characters but entire blocks of code and even anticipate subsequent edits throughout a file. By simply pressing tab repeatedly, developers can accept these suggestions, dramatically accelerating repetitive coding tasks. Users report that in optimal conditions, these predictions are “occasionally so magic it defies reality,” correctly anticipating the developer’s intent about 25% of the time, which is remarkable considering the complexity of code prediction.

✏️ Inline editing capabilities The inline editing feature allows developers to select code and press Ctrl+K/Cmd+K to initiate a natural language conversation about modifying that code. The resulting changes are displayed in a git-style diff view that can be accepted or rejected. This approach feels natural and maintains developer control while still leveraging AI capabilities for faster editing.

📝 Composer Mode feature Composer Mode extends this concept to larger-scale edits. Developers can specify a set of files, describe the changes they want in natural language, and Cursor will generate appropriate modifications across all relevant files. This proves especially valuable for complex refactoring tasks that would otherwise require tedious manual edits across multiple locations.

🤖 Agent Mode capabilities Agent Mode takes automation a step further by allowing the AI to scan an entire project, identify relevant files, and make changes without requiring explicit selection of files. This mode is particularly useful for major feature additions or structural changes, though it requires clear instructions to avoid unintended modifications in unrelated parts of the codebase.

📋 Context management through the .cursorrules file offers a unique capability to guide the AI’s behavior. Developers can establish project-specific preferences or coding standards, and the AI will respect these rules when generating code. This feature helps maintain consistency and reduces the need to repeatedly specify the same requirements.

Performance and Speed

⚡ How responsive is the editor? Cursor maintains good responsiveness for its core editing functions, with most users reporting that basic navigation, search, and editing operations feel similar to standard VSCode. The editor launches reasonably quickly and handles large files competently, though performance will naturally vary based on system specifications.

🚀 AI response times The AI features show mixed performance characteristics. Tab completions appear almost instantaneously as users type, with minimal perceived delay that would otherwise break the coding flow. This responsiveness is crucial for the feature’s usability and represents an impressive technical achievement.

⏱️ Response latency Other AI-driven features like Composer Mode and Agent Mode typically involve more processing time, with responses taking anywhere from a few seconds to potentially a minute for more complex queries that require analyzing multiple files. This latency is expected given the computational demands of large language models but can occasionally interrupt workflow momentum when waiting for responses.

💻 Resource consumption Some users note that Cursor’s resource consumption is higher than standard VSCode, particularly when actively using AI features. The application’s memory footprint grows noticeably during extended sessions with heavy AI usage, which could impact performance on systems with limited resources.

Compatibility and Integration

🧩 Which languages and tools does Cursor support? As a VSCode fork, Cursor inherits strong compatibility with a wide range of programming languages and frameworks. The editor supports syntax highlighting, linting, and language-specific features for all major programming languages, with particularly strong support for JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Go, and other popular languages.

🔌 Extension ecosystem Cursor maintains compatibility with the vast VS Code extension ecosystem, allowing users to install their preferred tools for specific languages, frameworks, or utilities. This compatibility significantly expands Cursor’s capabilities beyond its core feature set and ensures developers don’t lose access to specialized tools they’ve come to rely on.

📊 Version control integration Integration with version control systems, primarily Git, works as expected with standard commands and UI for managing commits, branches, and viewing differences. Cursor adds an AI-powered commit message generation feature that automatically analyzes changes and suggests appropriate commit messages, which many users find saves time and improves commit quality.

💻 Terminal and workflow integration Terminal integration allows for running commands directly within the editor, with the added benefit of AI assistance for terminal errors and command suggestions. Some users note that Cursor’s hijacking of certain keyboard shortcuts like Command+K (typically used to clear the terminal) can cause friction for those with established habits.

Collaboration Tools

🤝 How does Cursor handle team collaboration? Cursor’s collaboration features are largely inherited from Visual Studio Code, offering standard capabilities for version control integration and asynchronous collaboration through repositories. The editor provides clear visualization of changes, conflicts, and commit history when working with Git repositories.

⚠️ Real-time collaboration limitations Cursor does not currently offer significant enhancements to real-time collaboration compared to standard VS Code. Features like live share or simultaneous editing are dependent on the same extensions available in the VS Code ecosystem rather than being native Cursor innovations.

📋 Team standardization benefits Where Cursor does enhance collaboration is through its AI-assisted features that help standardize code quality and approach across teams. The .cursorrules file provides a mechanism for teams to define shared coding standards that the AI will respect when generating or modifying code, helping maintain consistency across contributors.

💬 Enhanced commit messages The AI-generated commit messages feature also supports better team communication by automatically creating descriptive explanations of changes. These can be configured to follow team conventions through the .cursorrules file, ensuring consistency in the commit history.

Customization and Extensions

🛠️ How flexible is Cursor for personal workflows? Cursor offers extensive customization options, largely inherited from its VS Code foundation but extended with AI-specific settings. Users can customize the editor’s appearance with themes, adjust layout preferences, and configure keyboard shortcuts to match their preferred workflow.

🧩 Extension compatibility The editor maintains full compatibility with the VS Code extension marketplace, giving users access to thousands of plugins for language support, additional tools, themes, and productivity enhancements. This compatibility is a significant advantage, allowing developers to continue using their preferred extensions while gaining Cursor’s AI capabilities.

🤖 AI customization options AI-specific customization is available through several mechanisms. Users can select which AI models to use for different functions, with options including Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-4o for more complex tasks. The editor allows switching between these models on a per-request basis, giving users flexibility to use the most appropriate model for specific needs.

📝 .cursorrules power The .cursorrules file represents one of Cursor’s most powerful customization features. This project-level configuration allows developers to establish guidelines for the AI’s behavior, from coding style preferences to commit message formats. The file serves as persistent context that shapes all AI interactions within a project, reducing the need to repeatedly specify the same requirements.

Debugging and Testing Support

🐛 How effective is debugging with Cursor? Cursor provides robust debugging capabilities inherited from VS Code, with support for breakpoints, variable inspection, and step-through debugging for major programming languages. These core debugging features work as expected and should feel familiar to VS Code users.

🔍 AI-assisted debugging The editor enhances standard debugging workflows with AI assistance through the “Debug with AI” feature that appears when errors are encountered in the terminal. This capability analyzes error messages and suggests potential fixes, ranging from simple syntax corrections to more complex logic adjustments.

📝 Test generation and support Test support in Cursor works similarly to VS Code, with the ability to run tests directly from the editor and view results inline. The AI capabilities enhance testing workflows by helping generate test cases or suggesting improvements to existing tests based on code changes.

🔄 Cross-file debugging assistance Cursor’s multi-file awareness becomes particularly valuable during debugging sessions that require tracing issues across different components of an application. The AI can help identify related code in other files that might contribute to observed issues or need complementary changes when fixing bugs.

Security and Privacy

🔒 Is my code secure when using Cursor? Cursor offers configurable privacy options to address developer concerns about code security. The editor includes a Privacy Mode setting which, when enabled, ensures code is never stored remotely. This feature is important for developers working with sensitive or proprietary code who need to maintain strict control over where their code is processed and stored.

📊 Security certifications The company has obtained SOC 2 certification, indicating it maintains formal processes for handling user data securely. This certification provides some assurance about the company’s security practices, though specific details of their security measures aren’t extensively documented in public materials.

🤖 AI processing considerations When using AI features, code snippets are necessarily sent to language models for processing. Cursor attempts to balance functionality with privacy by allowing users to control which files are included in AI contexts and by supporting local execution for some features. However, the most advanced AI capabilities do require remote processing through API calls to models like Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4o.

⚠️ Enterprise security limitations For enterprise users with strict data governance requirements, Cursor’s privacy controls may need careful evaluation to ensure compliance with internal policies and regulatory requirements. The lack of a Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) option has been noted as a limitation for some enterprise security scenarios.

Pricing and Licensing

💰 What does Cursor cost? Cursor offers a tiered pricing structure with a free tier and paid subscription options. The free tier provides basic access to the editor and limited AI capabilities but restricts usage of premium model requests, which can lead to slower performance for AI features once the initial allocation is exhausted.

🔄 Pro plan details The Pro plan costs $20 per month and increases the allocation of fast model requests to 500 per month, allowing more consistent performance for AI features. For professional developers who rely heavily on these capabilities, this subscription represents the practical minimum tier.

👥 Team pricing A Teams plan is available at $40 per user per month, designed for collaborative development environments with additional administrative features and higher usage limits. This plan targets professional development teams that want to standardize on Cursor across multiple developers.

⚠️ Usage limitations The pricing structure has been criticized by some users who feel the limit of 500 fast autocompletions per month on the Pro plan is too restrictive, particularly for professional developers who may use the editor daily. Once this limit is reached, users experience degraded performance with slower model responses.

Summary

• 🔑 Cursor successfully combines the familiar VSCode environment with powerful AI assistance that can genuinely accelerate development workflows
• ⚙️ Multi-file awareness through Composer and Agent modes enables complex refactoring that simple code assistants can’t match
• 💡 Most valuable for experienced developers working with large codebases who can leverage AI to handle repetitive tasks and complex changes
• ✅ The .cursorrules file provides unique contextual control that guides AI behavior according to project-specific requirements
• ❌ Usage-based pricing model with restrictions even on paid plans can limit utility for power users who rely heavily on AI features

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Cursor compare to GitHub Copilot?

Cursor offers more extensive AI capabilities compared to GitHub Copilot. While Copilot primarily focuses on inline code suggestions, Cursor provides additional features like Composer Mode for multi-file editing, Agent Mode for codebase-wide changes, and natural language editing. Cursor also allows switching between different AI models (like Claude and GPT) and offers customization through .cursorrules files. However, Cursor costs $20/month for the Pro plan, while GitHub Copilot costs $10/month with fewer usage restrictions.

What programming languages does Cursor support?

Cursor supports all programming languages that Visual Studio Code supports, including but not limited to JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, C#, Go, Rust, PHP, Ruby, and many others. The AI features work across these languages, though performance may vary slightly based on how well the underlying models understand specific languages.

Can I use my existing VS Code extensions with Cursor?

Yes, Cursor is fully compatible with the VS Code extension marketplace. You can install and use most VS Code extensions directly within Cursor, including language support, themes, and additional tools. This compatibility is one of Cursor’s strengths, allowing you to maintain your existing workflow while gaining AI assistance.

How does the .cursorrules file work?

The .cursorrules file is a configuration file placed in your project’s root directory that provides persistent guidance to Cursor’s AI features. You can specify coding standards, naming conventions, architectural patterns, and other preferences that the AI should follow when generating or modifying code. This file is automatically included in the context for AI interactions, reducing the need to repeatedly specify the same requirements. The file uses a simple text format where you list rules and preferences that should guide AI behavior.

Is my code secure when using Cursor?

Cursor offers a Privacy Mode setting that, when enabled, ensures your code is never stored remotely. However, to use AI features, code snippets are necessarily sent to language models for processing. Cursor has SOC 2 certification, indicating formal security processes. For highly sensitive code, you should carefully configure which files are included in AI contexts and consider whether the privacy controls meet your security requirements. Currently, Cursor does not offer a Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) option for enterprises with strict security policies.

What happens when I reach my monthly limit of fast AI requests?

When you reach your monthly limit of fast AI requests (500 requests on the Pro plan), Cursor doesn’t stop working but switches to slower AI models for responses. This results in noticeably longer wait times for AI completions and suggestions. You can continue using the editor with these slower responses until your allocation refreshes the following month, or you can pay for additional usage if you need to maintain the faster response times.

How can I get the most value from Cursor’s AI features?

To maximize Cursor’s benefits, create a .cursorrules file to guide AI behavior according to your preferences, learn keyboard shortcuts for AI features (especially Cmd/Ctrl+K for inline editing), use Composer Mode for complex multi-file changes, and experiment with different prompting styles to find what works best. Additionally, consider using Agent Mode for broader codebase understanding when adding new features, and leverage the bug finder for identifying potential issues before committing code.

Ready to try Cursor? Visit the official site