Cursor vs GitHub Copilot
Both put a frontier model inside your editor, and they are not the same kind of product. Cursor is an editor — a fork of VS Code that you install instead of VS Code — and the AI is the reason it exists. GitHub Copilot is an assistant that arrives inside whatever you already use: VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, Visual Studio, GitHub.com and the GitHub mobile app. That difference settles most of the choice before any feature comparison starts.
Which should you choose?
Choose Cursor if
- Developers who want an agent editing across files, not an autocomplete in the margin
- Existing VS Code users, who keep their extensions, keybindings and themes
- Small teams shipping fast enough that agent usage, not headcount, is the real cost
- Engineers who want to try frontier models from several vendors on the same task
Choose GitHub Copilot if
- Teams already hosting code on GitHub
- Individual developers who want completion, chat and an agent in one subscription
- Students and open-source maintainers eligible for free access
Cheapest to start
Not confirmed
Free plan
Cursor, GitHub Copilot
Highest editor rating
GitHub Copilot · 4.5
Key differences
- Listed for Cursor but not GitHub Copilot: Desktop app and SSO / SAML.
- Listed for GitHub Copilot but not Cursor: Audit logs and Mobile app.
- Only GitHub Copilot lists iOS and Android among its platforms.
| Compare | Cursor |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Free trial | No |
| Starting price | From $20/mo |
| Editor rating | 4.4 |
| Ease of use | Easy (4/5) |
| Category | Development |
| Pricing model | Hobby is free with limited Agent requests. Individual plans step by usage, not features: Pro $20 a month, Pro+ $60 and Ultra $200. Teams is $40 per user a month for Standard and $120 for Premium; Enterprise is custom-priced. Yearly billing saves 20 percent. |
| Plans |
|
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web, CLI |
| Integrations | GitHub, OpenAI, Slack |
| Best for |
|
| Pros |
|
| Cons |
|
| AI agents | Yes |
| AI assistant | Yes |
| Audit logs | No |
| Code completion | Yes |
| Code review | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes |
| Git integration | Yes |
| Mobile app | No |
| Roles & permissions | Yes |
| SSO / SAML | Yes |
Common questions
- Does Cursor or GitHub Copilot have a free plan?
- Both do. Cursor and GitHub Copilot each offer a free tier, so you can try either without paying.
- How long is the Cursor and GitHub Copilot free trial?
- GitHub Copilot offers a 30-day free trial. Cursor does not offer one.
Our verdict
Choose Cursor if you want the agent to be the default way you work. Tab predicts multi-line edits rather than the next token, the chat sidebar indexes the whole codebase, and Agent mode plans changes across files, runs terminal commands and iterates on its own errors. Because the editor was built around that loop it is tighter than a plugin can make it, and because it is a VS Code fork your extensions, keybindings and themes come with you.
Choose GitHub Copilot if the editor is not negotiable. It is the only one of the two that works in JetBrains, Neovim and Visual Studio, its coding agent can take an assigned issue and open a pull request without anyone driving it, and the Business and Enterprise plans carry IP indemnity and organisation-wide policy controls that legal teams ask about. If the code already lives on GitHub, it is also the shorter path to reviews, issues and Actions.
The bills are shaped differently, and that is the part worth modelling. Cursor's individual plans are a usage ladder — $20 Pro, $60 Pro+, $200 Ultra — buying the same editor with progressively higher agent limits, so heavy delegation moves you up a tier. Copilot meters premium requests beyond each plan's allowance and charges for the overflow, so the same heaviness shows up as a variable line rather than a bigger plan. Either way it is agent usage, not seat count, that sets the price.