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Yes, Cursor offers a Hobby tier that is completely free. The free plan includes 2,000 code completions per month via Cursor Tab and 50 premium model requests at slow speed, giving you enough usage to evaluate the tool on real projects before committing to a paid plan. You get access to the core AI features—Cursor Tab autocomplete, inline chat, and basic agent capabilities—but without the speed or volume that Pro users enjoy. For many developers doing lighter coding work or evaluating the tool, the free tier is genuinely usable rather than just a trial.
Not exactly. Cursor is a fork of VS Code, meaning it shares the same foundation, extension ecosystem, and interface conventions, but modifies the editor at the source level to integrate AI features more deeply than any plugin could. This fork approach allows Cursor to intercept editor events, modify the rendering pipeline, and embed AI into core workflows like tab completion, inline editing, and file navigation in ways that a VS Code extension cannot access. The tradeoff is that Cursor is a separate application rather than an addition to your existing VS Code installation.
Cursor and GitHub Copilot take fundamentally different approaches. Copilot works as an extension inside VS Code, JetBrains, or Neovim, offering inline completions and a chat panel. Cursor replaces your editor entirely, which lets it integrate AI more deeply—features like Agent mode, which autonomously edits multiple files and runs terminal commands, are not possible as a simple extension. Cursor also supports multiple AI models (Claude, GPT-4o, o1) while Copilot is primarily tied to OpenAI models. However, Copilot has the advantage of working within editors you already use without requiring a switch, and its GitHub ecosystem integration is tighter for repository-level features.
Yes, Cursor supports bring-your-own API key on paid plans. You can configure API keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and other providers directly in Cursor's settings, which lets you use models beyond what Cursor bundles and avoid the monthly fast request cap. When using your own keys, you pay the model providers directly at their API rates rather than consuming Cursor's bundled request quota. This is particularly useful for power users who regularly exceed the 500 fast requests included with the Pro plan.
Cursor offers a Privacy Mode that, when enabled, ensures none of your code is stored on Cursor's servers or used for training any AI models. With Privacy Mode on, code is transmitted to AI model providers for inference only and is not retained afterward. On the Business and Enterprise plans, Privacy Mode can be enforced across the entire organization by administrators. It is worth noting that Privacy Mode is opt-in on the free and Pro plans—by default, code snippets may be processed through Cursor's infrastructure, though Cursor states it does not use customer code for model training regardless of the mode.
Yes. Cursor provides a one-click import for VS Code settings, extensions, keybindings, and themes. The vast majority of VS Code extensions work without modification, though a small number with deep editor API dependencies may have compatibility issues in the forked environment. Most popular extensions—language servers, linters, formatters, Git tools, and theme packs—work identically to how they function in VS Code.
When fast premium requests are exhausted, Cursor automatically downgrades to slower model inference for the remainder of the billing period. You can still use the AI features, but responses will take longer. Users who need consistent fast responses can supplement with their own API keys to bypass the request cap entirely, paying the model provider directly at API rates.
Background agents are cloud-based autonomous coding agents that run on Cursor's infrastructure rather than on your local machine. You can assign tasks to a background agent—such as building a feature, running a test suite, or creating a demo—and it works independently while you continue coding on other tasks. When the agent finishes, you review the results and merge the changes. Background agents are available on Pro plans and above, and they enable parallel workflows where multiple tasks progress simultaneously without blocking the developer's local editor session.
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Tutorial updated March 2026