Cursor vs GitHub Copilot in 2026

SpaceX bought Cursor in August 2026 and replaced its Pro/Business plans with Grok-bundled Plus/Premium/Super/Ultra tiers, while GitHub moved Copilot to usage-based AI Credits in June 2026 and added Pro+ and Max plans.

Updated Oct 26, 2026 · 7 sources checked

The short answer

Copilot is the safer default for most teams: it starts at $10/mo, works in almost every editor, and its model picker includes Claude, GPT, Gemini and Grok under one bill.

Pick Cursor for developers who want an AI-first editor with fast tab completion and are happy to use Grok models, or to pay extra for Claude and GPT

Pick GitHub Copilot for teams already on GitHub who want completions in many IDEs plus a background agent that turns issues into pull requests

At a glance

	Cursor	GitHub Copilot
Made by	SpaceX (acquired Cursor's maker Anysphere in August 2026)	GitHub (Microsoft)
Starts at	$8/moFree plan	$10/moFree plan
All plans	Free; Plus $8/mo (Grok models only); Premium $30/mo; Super $100/mo; Ultra $200/mo; Teams from $30/user/mo; Enterprise custom. Claude, GPT and Gemini are not in the included usage: on Premium and above they are billed separately at API list price.	Free (limited); Pro $10/mo; Pro+ $39/mo; Max $100/mo; Business $19/seat/mo; Enterprise $39/seat/mo. Since June 2026 chat and agent use draws on monthly GitHub AI Credits (1 credit = $0.01); Pro includes $15 of credits a month.
Best for	Developers who want an AI-first editor with fast tab completion and are happy to use Grok models, or to pay extra for Claude and GPT	Teams already on GitHub who want completions in many IDEs plus a background agent that turns issues into pull requests

How they score

CursorGitHub Copilot

Coding

8.5

Writing

Reasoning

8.5

Speed

Context Window

8.5

Privacy

7.5

Scores out of 10: our judgment from hands-on use and each vendor's published limits.

Cursor

by SpaceX (acquired Cursor's maker Anysphere in August 2026)

AI code editor built on VS Code, with tab completion, an agent, cloud agents and AI code review (Bugbot). Since SpaceX bought it in August 2026, its plans are bundled with Grok and X features, and its included models are xAI's Grok and Cursor's own Composer models.

Good

Full VS Code-style editor with strong tab completion and inline edits
Included usage covers Grok 4.7 (256k context, with a 500k long-context option) and Cursor's Composer 2.5
Premium and above add cloud agents, automations, code hosting and Bugbot code review
Can still use Claude, GPT, Gemini and other third-party models at API list price
Runs VS Code extensions, including the Claude Code and Codex extensions

Watch out

The $8 Plus plan only runs Grok models
Claude and GPT usage is billed on top of the subscription, so costs are harder to predict
Plans now mix in X social-network perks, which can be confusing if you only want the editor
Teams and Enterprise add a $0.25 per million token Cursor rate on eligible third-party model use

Visit Cursor ↗

GitHub Copilot

by GitHub (Microsoft)

GitHub's AI assistant for code completion, chat, agent mode in the editor, a cloud coding agent you assign issues to, code review and a CLI. It works in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, Neovim, Eclipse and on github.com, and lets you pick models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI and others.

Good

Cheapest paid entry point at $10/mo, plus a free tier
Works in the widest range of editors, including Visual Studio, Xcode, JetBrains, Neovim and Eclipse
Model picker includes Claude Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5, GPT-6.1 Sol, Gemini and Grok
Cloud agent and code review built into GitHub issues and pull requests
You can assign tasks to third-party agents such as Claude and OpenAI Codex from GitHub

Watch out

Usage-based AI Credits make heavy agent use harder to budget than a flat plan
The Copilot Free tier caps completions at 2,000 a month
Business and Enterprise admins must set usage limits and decide on extra paid usage
Agent quality depends on which model you choose and how many credits it burns

Visit GitHub Copilot ↗

Our verdict

Copilot is the safer default for most teams: it starts at $10/mo, works in almost every editor, and its model picker includes Claude, GPT, Gemini and Grok under one bill. Cursor is the better editor if you live in a VS Code-style IDE and want the fastest tab completion and cloud agents, but since the SpaceX deal its included models are Grok and Composer, and Claude or GPT cost extra at API prices.

Questions people ask

Is Cursor still worth it after the SpaceX acquisition?

It depends on which models you want. Cursor's included usage now covers Grok and Cursor's own Composer models. If you mainly use Claude or GPT, you pay for them separately at API list price on Premium ($30/mo) and above, so Copilot or a direct Claude or ChatGPT plan can be cheaper.

Which is cheaper, Cursor or GitHub Copilot?

Copilot. Copilot Pro is $10/mo and includes $15 of AI Credits a month. Cursor's cheapest paid plan is Plus at $8/mo, but it only runs Grok models; Premium, which unlocks cloud agents and third-party models, is $30/mo.

Can I use Claude models in Cursor and Copilot?

Yes in both. Copilot includes Claude Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5 in its model picker, billed from your AI Credits. Cursor offers Claude on Premium and above, billed at Anthropic's API list price on top of your subscription.

Can I use both Cursor and Copilot?

Yes. Copilot has extensions for VS Code-based editors, but running two completion engines at once causes conflicting suggestions, so most people turn off one for completions.

Sources (7), checked Oct 26, 2026