Cursor vs GitHub Copilot
Compare Cursor and GitHub Copilot on pricing, free tier, open source, API, self-host, verdict and momentum.
Both are coding tools. Cursor is freemium (Hobby free; Pro $20/mo; Pro+ $60/mo (3× Agent limits); Ultra $200/mo (20×); Teams from $40/user/mo) with a free tier; GitHub Copilot is freemium (Free $0 (2,000 completions/mo, 50 chat requests, CLI and limited agent mode); Pro $10/mo ($15 credits); Pro+ $39/mo ($70 credits); Max $100/mo ($200 credits)) with a free tier. The catalog stamp is ship for Cursor and ship for GitHub Copilot, last verified 2026-09-01 and 2026-08-24 respectively.
Cursor
AI-first code editor (VS Code fork) with agent mode and inline edits.
GitHub Copilot
Completions, chat, agents, and Copilot CLI — one GitHub Copilot seat, not a third CLI product.
| field | Cursor | GitHub Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| pricing | freemium · Hobby free; Pro $20/mo; Pro+ $60/mo (3× Agent limits); Ultra $200/mo (20×); Teams from $40/user/mo | freemium · Free $0 (2,000 completions/mo, 50 chat requests, CLI, limited agent mode); Pro $10/mo ($15 credits); Pro+ $39/mo ($70 credits); Max $100/mo ($200 credits) |
| free tier | yes | yes |
| open source | no | no |
| api | no | no |
| self-host | no | no |
| verdict | ship | ship |
| momentum | blueshift | steady |
| last verified | 2026-09-01 | 2026-08-24 |
| key limitation | Pro plan token limits throttle heavy agent sessions mid-month. | Agent mode still lags Cursor and Claude Code on multi-step tasks. |
The call
Pick Cursor for daily product coding where you want an IDE, not a terminal…
Pick GitHub Copilot for teams standardized on GitHub who want completions and light…
Cursor sources
GitHub Copilot sources
Open live compare →Cursor pageGitHub Copilot pageCursor.jsonGitHub Copilot.json