Cursor AI Pricing Guide: Free vs Pro vs Business (2026)

Cursor AI Pricing Guide: Free vs Pro vs Business in 2026

Cursor has established itself as one of the leading AI-powered code editors, forking VS Code and adding deep AI integration for code generation, editing, and chat. But with multiple pricing tiers and recent changes in early 2026, it can be confusing to figure out which plan actually gives you what you need.

This guide breaks down every Cursor plan, compares features and limits, and helps you decide whether the upgrade is worth your money.

Cursor Plans Overview (February 2026)

Feature	Free (Hobby)	Pro	Business
Monthly price	$0	$20/mo	$40/user/mo
Annual price	$0	$192/yr ($16/mo)	$384/user/yr ($32/mo)
Premium model requests	50/mo	500/mo	500/mo
Fast premium requests	50/mo	500/mo	500/mo
Slow premium requests	Unlimited (queued)	Unlimited (queued)	Unlimited (queued)
Claude Opus/GPT-4 requests	0	50/mo (slow)	50/mo (slow)
Tab completions	2,000/mo	Unlimited	Unlimited
AI chat	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cmd+K inline edits	Yes (limited)	Yes	Yes
Codebase indexing	Yes	Yes	Yes
MCP support	Yes	Yes	Yes
Custom API keys	No	Yes	Yes
Admin dashboard	No	No	Yes
SAML/SSO	No	No	Yes
Centralized billing	No	No	Yes
Usage analytics	No	No	Yes
Priority support	No	No	Yes
Enforce privacy mode	No	No	Yes

Understanding the Request System

Cursor uses a credit/request system that can be confusing. Here is how it works:

Premium requests are powered by the fast, high-quality models (currently Claude Sonnet 4, GPT-4o). These are the requests you use for:

• AI Chat conversations
• Cmd+K inline code edits
• Agent mode operations

Slow requests use the same models but with lower priority. When you run out of fast requests, you can still use AI features, but responses may take longer because you are in a lower-priority queue.

Tab completions are the autocomplete suggestions that appear as you type. The Free plan gives you 2,000 per month, which most developers will burn through in a few days of active coding.

Free Plan: What You Actually Get

The Free plan is designed for evaluation and light usage. Here is the honest truth about what works and what does not:

What works well:

• Full VS Code compatibility (extensions, themes, keybindings)
• Codebase indexing and semantic search
• 50 premium requests for trying out AI features
• MCP server support
• Basic AI chat for quick questions

Where it falls short:

• 50 premium requests runs out fast (about 1-2 hours of active AI use)
• 2,000 tab completions is roughly 2-3 days of coding
• Once limits are hit, the AI features are essentially disabled
• No access to the most powerful models (Opus, o1)
• No custom API key support (cannot bring your own key)

Verdict: Good for trying Cursor for a weekend. Not viable for daily use.

Pro Plan: The Sweet Spot for Individual Developers

At $20/month ($16/month annual), the Pro plan is where Cursor becomes genuinely useful:

What you get:

• 500 fast premium requests per month
• Unlimited slow premium requests (queued but functional)
• Unlimited tab completions (the biggest upgrade from Free)
• 50 slow requests with the most powerful models
• Custom API key support (bring your own OpenAI/Anthropic key)
• All AI features unlocked

Is 500 requests enough?

It depends on how you work. Here is a rough breakdown:

Usage Pattern	Requests/Day	Monthly Estimate
Light (occasional AI help)	5-10	100-200
Moderate (regular AI chat + edits)	15-25	300-500
Heavy (constant AI pair programming)	30-50	600-1,000
Power user (agent mode, full features)	50+	1,000+

If you are a moderate user, 500 requests is sufficient. Heavy users will exceed the limit mid-month and fall back to slow requests.

The custom API key escape hatch: Pro users can bring their own API keys. This means you can use your own OpenAI or Anthropic API key and bypass the request limits entirely. You pay per-token directly to the provider, but there is no monthly cap.

Verdict: Worth it for most professional developers. The unlimited tab completions alone justify the cost.

Business Plan: For Teams

At $40/user/month ($32/user/month annual), the Business plan adds team management features:

Additional features over Pro:

• Admin dashboard for team management
• Centralized billing
• SAML/SSO for enterprise authentication
• Usage analytics per team member
• Enforce privacy mode (code never stored on Cursor servers)
• Priority support
• Team-wide settings and configuration

Who needs it?

• Teams of 5+ developers who need centralized billing
• Companies with security/compliance requirements (SAML, privacy mode)
• Engineering managers who want usage visibility

Verdict: Only worth it if you need the admin/security features. The AI capabilities are identical to Pro.

Cursor Pro vs. Alternatives

Feature	Cursor Pro ($20/mo)	GitHub Copilot ($10/mo)	Claude Code (API pricing)	Windsurf Pro ($15/mo)
IDE	VS Code fork	VS Code extension	Terminal	VS Code fork
Chat	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Inline edits	Yes (Cmd+K)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Agent mode	Yes	Yes (Copilot Workspace)	Yes (native)	Yes
Tab completion	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Codebase awareness	Strong	Moderate	Strong	Strong
MCP support	Yes	Limited	Yes	Yes
Custom API keys	Yes (Pro)	No	N/A (direct API)	Yes
Model selection	Multiple	GitHub models	Claude only	Multiple

Hidden Costs to Consider

Overages with custom API keys: If you bring your own API key and use Claude Sonnet 4 heavily, you could spend $50-100+/month on API costs on top of the $20 subscription. Monitor your usage.

Tab completion costs: On the Free plan, hitting the 2,000 tab completion limit essentially breaks the autocomplete experience. This is the feature most developers miss when they go back to vanilla VS Code.

Context window usage: Cursor uses context window to index your codebase. Larger codebases consume more tokens per request, meaning your 500 requests do not all carry the same cost to Cursor.

Tips to Maximize Your Plan

1. Use /compact in chat to reduce context window usage in long conversations
2. Be specific in prompts to avoid wasted follow-up requests
3. Use agent mode sparingly on the free plan -- each step counts as a request
4. Index only relevant directories to reduce noise in AI responses
5. Use .cursorignore to exclude large files and build artifacts from indexing:

node_modules/
dist/
.next/
*.lock
*.map
coverage/

6. Bring your own API key on Pro to bypass limits for intensive sessions
7. Use keyboard shortcuts for faster workflows:

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+K	Inline edit with AI
Cmd+L	Open AI chat
Cmd+I	Open Composer (agent mode)
Cmd+Shift+I	Open Composer in background
Tab	Accept autocomplete
Esc	Dismiss autocomplete

Which Plan Should You Choose?

Choose Free if:

• You want to try Cursor for a weekend project
• You mostly code without AI assistance and want occasional help
• You are evaluating Cursor vs. other tools

Choose Pro if:

• You are a professional developer who codes daily
• You want unlimited tab completions
• You plan to use AI features regularly (15+ requests/day)
• You want the option to bring your own API key

Choose Business if:

• You are a team lead or engineering manager
• Your company requires SAML/SSO
• You need centralized billing and usage analytics
• Privacy mode is a compliance requirement

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I switch plans mid-month? Yes. Upgrading takes effect immediately, and you get a prorated credit. Downgrading takes effect at the next billing cycle.

Do unused requests roll over? No. Premium requests reset at the start of each billing cycle.

What happens when I hit the limit? You fall back to slow requests, which are the same models but with higher latency (10-30 seconds instead of 2-5 seconds). It is usable but noticeably slower.

Is the annual plan worth it? You save 20% ($48/year on Pro, $96/year on Business). If you plan to use Cursor for more than 3 months, annual is the better deal.

Can I use Cursor offline? The editor works offline (it is VS Code), but all AI features require an internet connection.

Conclusion

For most individual developers, Cursor Pro at $20/month is the right choice. The unlimited tab completions and 500 premium requests cover moderate daily use, and the custom API key option lets you scale beyond the limits when needed. The Free plan is too restrictive for daily use, and the Business plan is only justified by team management needs.

If you are building AI-powered applications and need media generation APIs for images, videos, lip sync, or talking avatars, check out Hypereal AI. Hypereal offers a unified API with transparent per-generation pricing -- no confusing credit systems -- and access to the latest AI models.