Continue vs Cursor
A side-by-side comparison of Continue and Cursor — pricing, free tiers, and who each tool is genuinely best for.
| Tagline | Open-source AI coding assistant for VS Code and JetBrains | The AI-first code editor built for working at the speed of thought |
| Category | AI Coding | AI Coding |
| Pricing | Free and open-source (self-hosted with your own API keys); hosted plans reportedly from ~$10/mo — check continue.dev | Free Hobby tier; Pro ~$20/user/mo; Business ~$40/user/mo |
| Free tier | ||
| Best for | Developers who want a fully open-source, self-hosted AI assistant with control over which models and data leave their machine. | Professional developers who want a full AI-native IDE with strong multi-file agentic editing and model choice. |
| Not for | Developers who prefer a fully managed, no-configuration coding assistant out of the box. | Developers unwilling to switch away from their current editor or who only need lightweight inline suggestions. |
| Use cases | Bring-your-own-model AI chat Inline autocomplete with local LLMs Codebase-aware Q&A Custom AI workflows | Multi-file refactoring Codebase-wide chat Agentic feature building Predictive multi-line autocomplete Debugging with context |
| Visit Continue | Visit Cursor |