Cursor Pricing 2026: Every Plan Compared, and Where Startups Actually Save
Every Cursor plan after the October 2026 switch to Grok-bundled tiers, how the shared usage pool and third-party model billing work, and where a startup can actually save.
What you can actually get
Startup programs that cover the bill instead of you.
-
Anthropic
Up to $100,000
Claude for Startups: a free year of Claude Team, $1,000 in Claude API credits, higher rate…
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OpenAI
Varies
OpenAI has no public self-serve credit application
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GitHub
Up to $10,000
$10,000 in GitHub platform credits for 12 months, usable on GitHub Enterprise, Copilot, Advanced…
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Google Cloud
Up to $350,000
Up to $200,000 in Google Cloud credits over 2 years for Seed to Series A startups, up to…
Cursor plans and prices (October 2026)
Prices are what Cursor lists on cursor.com/pricing for US customers before tax. In October 2026 Cursor replaced its Hobby, Pro, Pro+ and Teams Standard plans with tiers bundled into the X Subscription, so guides quoting "Pro at $20" are out of date.
| Plan | Price | Usage | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Limited | Agent and Chat with limited usage. Third-party models such as Claude and GPT are not available. |
| Plus | $8 / month ($80 / year) | Base pool | Shared Cursor and Grok usage pool, Grok chat, voice and image tools, Grok API access. Only Grok and Cursor models; no third-party models, no Auto, cloud agents, Bugbot or your own API keys. |
| Premium | $30 / month ($300 / year) | 4x Plus | Latest Grok models, cloud agents and automations, code hosting and AI code reviews, Grok Bot, and third-party models (Claude, GPT, Gemini) billed at API list price. |
| Super | $100 / month ($1,000 / year) | 15x Plus | Everything in Premium plus priority model access at peak times. |
| Ultra | $200 / month ($2,000 / year) | 50x Plus | Everything in Super plus earliest access to new products and models. |
| Teams | $30, $100 or $200 / seat / month | Per seat tier | Premium, Super or Ultra seats you can mix on one team. Centralized billing and admin, usage analytics, team privacy settings, SAML/OIDC SSO, team marketplace. Plus seats are not available for teams. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Invoice and PO billing, SCIM, granular and group spend limits, model and MCP access controls, audit logs, service accounts, priority support. |
Usage is shown as a multiple of Plus rather than a dollar amount, and the pool refreshes weekly. When it runs out you can add prepaid credit, manually or with Auto Top-up.
How Cursor usage and model billing work now
The biggest change in the new plans is what your subscription actually pays for. There are now two kinds of usage, billed differently.
- Included usage: Grok and Cursor models. Every paid plan gets a weekly pool that covers Cursor's own models (Composer) and Grok, shared across Cursor and the Grok apps. Premium has 4x the Plus pool, Super 15x and Ultra 50x. Because it refreshes weekly, one heavy day does not wipe out your month.
- Third-party models: pay as you go. Claude, GPT and Gemini are not in the pool. On Premium, Super and Ultra they bill at the provider's API list price from prepaid credit, and you can set a spending cap. On Teams and Enterprise, Cursor adds a Cursor Token Rate of $0.25 per million tokens on top of API pricing, including for usage on your own API keys. Free and Plus cannot use third-party models.
That means the bill now depends more on your model habits than on your plan. A developer happy with Grok and Composer can live inside the pool. A developer who reaches for Claude Opus on every agent run will pay API rates on top of the seat, so it is worth knowing those rates: see Claude API pricing and OpenAI API pricing.
If you routinely run out of the included pool before the weekly reset, move up a tier. If your spend is mostly third-party model usage, a bigger tier does not help, because that usage is billed separately either way.
Which Cursor plan should you pick?
Free if…
You want to try the editor. It includes limited Agent and Chat usage on Cursor's own models, which is enough to decide whether the workflow fits.
Plus if…
You are happy working only with Grok and Composer and do not need cloud agents or code review. At $8 it is the cheapest paid AI editor seat around, but the lack of Claude and GPT rules it out for many developers.
Premium if…
You write code most days and want access to every model. It is the lowest plan with third-party models, cloud agents and AI code reviews, and the default for most individual developers.
Super or Ultra if…
Agentic coding on the included models is your primary way of working and you exhaust Premium's pool regularly. Compare against Claude Code on Max before committing: if most of your agent work is on Claude models, a Claude subscription includes that usage, while in Cursor it bills at API rates on top of the seat.
Teams if…
You have more than a couple of engineers and want one invoice, SSO, team privacy settings and usage analytics. Seats start at $30, the same as individual Premium, and you can put heavy users on Super or Ultra seats without upgrading everyone.
Enterprise if…
You need SCIM, audit logs, model access controls or PO billing. Everyone else should stay on Teams.
What stage are you at?
Most of these tools come with startup credits. See what you qualify for in 60 seconds.
Four quick questions. Free, and your matches land in your inbox.
For founders
Where startups actually save on Cursor
Cursor does not run a startup credit program and there is no Cursor listing in our directory that gives you free seats. Treat the seat price as a fixed cost and focus on the two things that move the bill.
- Stage
- Pre-seed to Series A
- Equity
- None taken
- Referral
- Not needed
The fine print
Model choice. Under the new plans, Grok and Cursor's Composer models are included in the seat and Claude, GPT and Gemini are billed per token. Defaulting to included models for routine edits and saving Claude or GPT for the hard tasks is now the single biggest lever on a Cursor bill.
Credits that cover the third-party usage. On Teams and Enterprise, Cursor's docs describe usage on your own API keys (with the $0.25 per million token Cursor Token Rate on top), which lets model usage bill to provider accounts funded by startup credits:
Caveat: Cursor's docs do not say whether individual Premium, Super and Ultra seats accept your own API keys, so if that matters to you, confirm in Cursor's settings before you plan around it.
Claude for Startups
Up to $100,000
- 1 year of Claude Team free for up to five Premium seats (if new to Team)
- $1,000 in Claude API credits, plus higher API rate limits
- Up to $45,000 in partner offers (Claude Startup Stack)
Step by step: cutting your Cursor bill as a startup
Most of these take minutes. Start with the settings, then the seats.
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1
Set a spending cap on third-party models
Claude, GPT and Gemini usage bills at API list price from prepaid credit. Set a cap and decide whether Auto Top-up should be on before anyone runs an all-day agent on Opus. -
2
Default to included models for routine work
Grok and Composer usage comes out of the weekly pool you already pay for. Switch to Claude or GPT per task when the included models are not good enough, rather than globally. -
3
Mix seat tiers on Teams
Put most engineers on $30 Premium seats and only your heaviest agent users on Super or Ultra. Teams analytics show per-user usage, so revisit seat tiers every quarter. -
4
Fund third-party usage with startup credits where you can
On Teams, connect provider API keys funded by credits from Microsoft for Startups or a partner VC route such as OpenAI for Startups. Remember the $0.25 per million token Cursor Token Rate still applies. -
5
Check GitHub for Startups eligibility
If you are partner-affiliated and funded up to Series B, the $10,000 GitHub Enterprise Cloud credit covers Copilot and the rest of your GitHub stack. See our GitHub for Startups page.
Cursor vs Claude Code vs GitHub Copilot: the math
For a three-engineer startup doing agentic coding daily, here is roughly what a year of seats costs on each route at monthly list prices. Cursor rows exclude third-party model usage, which bills separately at API rates.
| Route | Year-one cost (3 seats) | What it covers | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cursor Teams, Premium seats x3 | $1,080 | Editor, agent, included Grok and Composer usage, admin and SSO | Claude and GPT usage is extra at API list price plus $0.25 per million tokens. |
| Cursor Teams, 1 Ultra + 2 Premium | $3,120 | Same, with one heavy agent user on 50x Plus usage | Only helps if the heavy user's work fits the included models. |
| Cursor Ultra x3 | $7,200 | Highest included usage for everyone | Expensive unless all three live in agents on included models. |
| Claude Code on Max 5x x3 | $3,600 | Terminal agent with Claude usage included | No editor. Pair with any IDE. See Claude Code pricing. |
| GitHub Copilot Business x3 | $684 | Completions, chat and agent mode in VS Code or JetBrains, 1,900 AI credits per user per month | Weaker for large refactors. See GitHub Copilot pricing. |
The right stack for most funded startups: Premium seats on Cursor Teams with a spending cap on third-party models, Claude or GPT reserved for hard tasks, and GitHub for Startups credits for the repo, CI and Copilot if you qualify.
Questions founders ask
How much does Cursor cost per month?
Is Cursor free?
What happened to Cursor Pro?
Does Cursor still include Claude and GPT?
Does Cursor have a student discount?
Does Cursor have a startup program?
Is Cursor Ultra worth $200?
Related guides
Claude Code pricing
The closest alternative for agentic coding, on every plan.
GitHub Copilot pricing
Free, Pro, Pro+, Max and Business plans and AI credits.
Claude API pricing
What Claude usage in Cursor costs at API list price.
OpenAI API pricing
GPT model rates, billed at list price in Cursor.
Cursor student discount
What students can currently get from Cursor.
GitHub for Startups
$10,000 in GitHub Enterprise Cloud credits for eligible startups.
All AI startup credits
Every AI credit program in the directory.