Aider vs Cursor

In short

• Both: Chat about your code, Agent that edits files, Knows the whole codebase, Runs commands, Reviews pull requests, Command line, Choice of models, API
• Only Aider states: Self-hosted
• Only Cursor states: Inline completion, JetBrains IDEs, No code retained

Aider

Aider is an open-source terminal tool for pair programming with language models and editing code in local repositories.

Plans

Not read from the maker’s page yet.

Prices checked 2026-09-25 on the maker’s page.

Capabilities

• Chat about your code — “Chat modes — Using the code, architect, ask and help chat modes.” source
• Agent that edits files — “Usage — How to use aider to pair program with AI and edit code in your local git repo.” source
• Knows the whole codebase — “Aider makes a map of your entire codebase, which helps it work well in larger projects.” source
• Runs commands — “Automatically lint and test your code every time aider makes changes.” source
• Reviews pull requests — “You can also use aider to review PR branches:” source
• Command line — “Aider is AI pair programming in your terminal.” source
• Choice of models — “In-chat commands — Control aider with in-chat commands like /add, /model, etc.” source
• Self-hosted — “To run the project locally, follow these steps:” source
• API — “Yes. You can script aider via the command line or python.” source

Cursor

Cursor is an AI code editor that helps developers understand, write, test, review, and manage software.

Plans

Hobby

Free

• No credit card required
• Limited Agent requests
• Access to Composer

Pro

• $20 / mo.
• $16

• Extended limits on Agent
• Generous limits for Grok
• Access to frontier models
• Grok Bot access
• MCPs, skills, and hooks
• Cloud agents

Pro+

• 60 USD

• Extended limits on Agent
• Generous limits for Grok
• Access to frontier models
• Grok Bot access
• MCPs, skills, and hooks
• Cloud agents

Ultra

• 200 USD

• Extended limits on Agent
• Generous limits for Grok
• Access to frontier models
• Grok Bot access
• MCPs, skills, and hooks
• Cloud agents

Teams

• $40 / user / mo.
• $32

• Centralized team billing and administration
• Team marketplace for internal rules, skills, and plugins
• Cloud agents and automations with shared team context
• Grok Bot access
• Agentic code reviews with Bugbot
• Usage analytics to understand team behavior

Enterprise

Price on request

• Pooled usage
• Invoice/PO billing
• SCIM seat management
• Repository, model, and MCP access controls
• Auto-run, browser, and network controls
• Audit logs and service accounts

Prices checked 2026-09-24 on the maker’s page.

Capabilities

• Inline completion — “autocompletes when and where you need it to” source
• Chat about your code — “How does the payment flow handle failed transactions?” source
• Agent that edits files — “For complex tasks, Cursor asks clarifying questions, builds a plan, then executes in the background.” source
• Knows the whole codebase — “Designed for large codebases, Cursor uses Instant Grep to search millions of files in milliseconds.” source
• Runs commands — “Run shell commands directly from Cursor, from builds to tests to installs.” source
• Reviews pull requests — “Agentic code reviews with Bugbot” source
• JetBrains IDEs — “Start agents from GitHub, Slack, Linear, JetBrains IDEs, and more.” source
• Command line — “Run agents in any terminal, script, or editor.” source
• Choice of models — “Choose between every cutting-edge model from OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, SpaceXAI, and Cursor.” source
• No code retained — “Privacy mode can be enabled in settings or by a team admin.” source
• API — “AI code tracking API” source

Security

• SOC 2 Type II — “Cursor holds AIUC-1, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certifications, along with a SOC 2 Type II attestation.” source
• SOC 2 — “Cursor holds AIUC-1, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certifications, along with a SOC 2 Type II attestation.” source
• ISO 27001 — “Cursor holds AIUC-1, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certifications, along with a SOC 2 Type II attestation.” source
• ISO 42001 — “Cursor holds AIUC-1, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certifications, along with a SOC 2 Type II attestation.” source
• Not trained on your data — “When enabled, we will not train on your data.” source

Latest updates

• 2026-09-23 Rollouts and Security Review

  Rollouts watches every change as it deploys and reports its health per environment; Security Review reports bugs on every pull request.

• 2026-09-10 Cursor Projects

  Projects maintains context over months of work, delegates tasks to subagents, and performs recurring work without being prompted.

• 2026-09-02 Self-hosted machines

  Self-hosted machines keep tool execution entirely in your own network; cloud agents can execute on infrastructure you already use.