List your tool

Head to head · 2026

Aide vs Cursor

Pricing, free plans, ratings, features, pros and cons, side by side. Where one comes out ahead, we mark it.

Aide

A fully open-source VS Code fork, not just an extension

4.1Free

Visit Aide (opens Aide in a new tab)

Cursor

The AI-native editor most competitors now get compared against

4.7$20/mo

Visit Cursor (opens Cursor in a new tab)

Who comes out ahead

Based only on the facts in our directory. The right pick still depends on the job you need done.

  • Lower starting price

    Not comparable

    Not comparable: Aide does not list a price

  • Free plan

    Tie

    Both have one

  • Higher rating

    Cursor

    4.1 against 4.7

  • Same job?

    Yes

    Both are Coding tools

Side by side

Compared onAideCursor
Our rating4.14.7Better
Starts atFree$20/mo
Free planYesYes
CategoryCodingCoding
PlansFree
  • HobbyFree
  • Pro$20/mo
  • Pro+$60/mo
  • Ultra$200/mo
  • Teams$40/user/mo
Key features
  • Full VS Code fork, not an extension
  • Fully open-source codebase
  • Proactive agents that iterate on linter errors automatically
  • AST-based code navigation across files
  • 62.2% reported score on SWE-bench Verified
  • Multi-line Tab autocomplete predicting full edits
  • Composer agent mode for multi-file changes
  • Choice of multiple underlying AI models
  • Built as a full VS Code fork, not a plugin
  • Free tier with limited usage
Pros
  • Genuinely open source, unlike most competing AI-native editors
  • Deep editor-level integration rather than extension-level access
  • Strong reported benchmark performance on real-world coding tasks
  • Widely regarded as the category's leading AI-native editor by adoption
  • Composer handles genuinely complex, multi-file tasks well
  • Model choice avoids lock-in to a single AI provider
Cons
  • Smaller team and community than venture-scale competitors
  • Fork-based editors require migrating away from existing VS Code extensions and settings
  • Less enterprise support infrastructure than commercial alternatives
  • Higher usage requires a paid subscription fairly quickly
  • Popularity has driven pricing changes some long-time users have pushed back on
  • Fork-based editor requires migrating settings from plain VS Code
CompanyCodestory, founded 2024Anysphere, founded 2022

Prices come from each vendor's pricing page, last checked 20260703. Check the vendor before you buy.

FAQ

Questions people ask

Is Aide better than Cursor?

In our reviews Aide scores 4.1 and Cursor scores 4.7. The better pick depends on the job. Aide: A fully open-source VS Code fork, not just an extension. Cursor: The AI-native editor most competitors now get compared against.

Which is cheaper, Aide or Cursor?

Aide: free. Cursor: from $20/mo.

Do Aide and Cursor have free plans?

Yes, both have a free plan.

More comparisons

Aide compared with

All Aide alternatives

Cursor compared with

All Cursor alternatives