Head-to-head · verified Nov 2, 2026

Cursor vs GitHub Copilot

Verdict: Pick Copilot for the cheapest paid plan ($10/mo), free student access and deep GitHub integration. Pick Cursor for an AI-first editor with cloud agents and Bugbot (Premium $30/mo), and you get Grok and X benefits too. On Cursor, Claude and GPT models cost extra at API prices.

Side by side

	Cursor	GitHub Copilot
Maker	Cursor (a SpaceX company)	GitHub (Microsoft)
Best for	An AI-first code editor for everyday work, with local and cloud agents.	Teams already on GitHub who want agent mode, cloud agents and code review in their existing IDE.
Free tier	Yes, limited agent and chat requests.	Yes. Copilot Free (2,000 completions/mo, auto model selection). Copilot Student is free for verified students.
Paid	Plus $8/mo (Grok models only), Premium $30/mo, Super $100/mo, Ultra $200/mo. Third-party models (Claude, GPT) are billed separately at API list price on Premium and above. Legacy Cursor plans keep working.	Pro $10/mo (1,500 AI credits), Pro+ $39/mo (7,000), Max $100/mo (20,000). Business $19/seat, Enterprise $39/seat.
Open source	No	No
Pros	Free plan available Premium adds cloud agents, automations, Bugbot reviews and Origin code hosting Bundle includes Grok and X Premium benefits	Cheapest paid entry point here ($10/mo) Free for verified students; free Pro for some teachers and OSS maintainers Works in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains and on github.com
Cons	Plus plan runs Grok models only Claude/GPT usage costs extra at API rates Plan structure changed in 2026; check which plan you're on	AI-credit billing takes some learning Free and Student plans get auto model selection only
Sources	pricing (verified 2026-11-02)	pricing (verified 2026-11-02)

Visit Cursor ↗ Visit GitHub Copilot ↗

FAQ

Cursor or GitHub Copilot: which should I use?

Pick Copilot for the cheapest paid plan ($10/mo), free student access and deep GitHub integration. Pick Cursor for an AI-first editor with cloud agents and Bugbot (Premium $30/mo), and you get Grok and X benefits too. On Cursor, Claude and GPT models cost extra at API prices.

Which is cheaper?

Copilot Pro is $10/mo. Cursor Plus is $8/mo but runs Grok models only; Cursor Premium is $30/mo.

Do both have free plans?

Yes, both list limited free plans.