Cursor vs GitHub Copilot
Short answer. The two ladders sell different things. Every paid Copilot tier is mostly a prepaid balance: its GitHub AI Credits are worth more than its price at the $0.01 overage rate (GitHub Copilot Pro 1.5×, GitHub Copilot Pro+ 1.8× and GitHub Copilot Max 2×), consumed at each model's token rates on Claude, GPT and Gemini models. Cursor's paid tiers buy multiples of Plus usage on its own models and Grok, with a volume discount: Cursor Ultra works out at $4 per Plus unit against $8 on Plus. Claude, GPT and other third-party models cost extra on Cursor, at API list price. If you want Claude or GPT in your editor, Copilot includes them; if you run Grok and Composer all day, Cursor's upper tiers are the cheaper volume.
Choose Cursor if
- You want the Cursor editor and work mostly on Grok 4.7 and Composer.
- You need a lot of volume: Cursor Ultra gives 50× Plus usage for $200 a month.
- You want the cheapest paid tier: Cursor Plus at $8 a month, with Cursor's own models only.
Choose GitHub Copilot if
- You want Claude, GPT or Gemini included in the price, from GitHub Copilot Pro at $10 a month.
- You want the strongest models: GitHub Copilot Pro+ adds Claude Opus 5.5, GPT-6 Astra and Gemini 4 Argon for $39 a month.
- You want to stay in the editor you use now: Copilot is an extension, not a separate editor.
Cursor: 5 tiers
| Tier | Monthly | Annual billing | Usage limit | Main limitation | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cursor Free | $0 | — (free tier) | Limited Agent and Chat usage; limited Tab completions | No third-party models and no bring-your-own-key | Vendor pricing2026-10-24 |
| Cursor Plus | $8/mo | $6.67/mo | Base weekly usage pool shared across Cursor and Grok | Cursor models only; no third-party models or cloud agents | Vendor pricing2026-10-24 |
| Cursor Premium | $30/mo | $25/mo | 4x Plus weekly usage; cloud agents, Bugbot and Origin | Third-party model usage is billed separately at API list price | Vendor pricing2026-10-24 |
| Cursor Super | $100/mo | $83.33/mo | 15x Plus weekly usage; priority model access at peak times | Third-party model spend is still separate from the subscription | Vendor pricing2026-10-24 |
| Cursor Ultra | $200/mo | $166.67/mo | 50x Plus weekly usage; earliest access to new models and products | Highest individual price; no included third-party API credit | Vendor pricing2026-10-24 |
GitHub Copilot: 4 tiers
| Tier | Monthly | Annual billing | Usage limit | Main limitation | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot Free | $0 | — (free tier) | 2,000 code completions/mo; limited chat and agent usage | Auto model selection only; no premium-model choice | Vendor pricing2026-10-24 |
| GitHub Copilot Pro | $10/mo | — (monthly billing only) | Unlimited code completions; 1,500 GitHub AI Credits/mo | Premium-model requests draw down the shared AI-credit pool | Vendor pricing2026-11-02 |
| GitHub Copilot Pro+ | $39/mo | — (monthly billing only) | 7,000 GitHub AI Credits/mo; full premium-model access | Credits are consumed at each model's token rates | Vendor pricing2026-10-24 |
| GitHub Copilot Max | $100/mo | — (monthly billing only) | 20,000 GitHub AI Credits/mo; priority access to new features | Most expensive individual tier; still metered by token usage | Vendor pricing2026-10-24 |
Which tier includes which model
| Model | AA Intelligence | AA Cost / Task | Cursor | GitHub Copilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 5.5 | 58 | $10.04 | Not listed | From GitHub Copilot Pro+ |
| GPT-6 Astra | 57 | $6.24 | Not listed | From GitHub Copilot Pro+ |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | 54 | $10.02 | Not listed | From GitHub Copilot Pro |
| GPT-6.1 Terra | 51 | $0.96 | Not listed | From GitHub Copilot Pro |
| Gemini 4 Argon | 50 | $3.84 | Not listed | From GitHub Copilot Pro+ |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | 36 | $0.41 | Not listed | From GitHub Copilot Pro |
| Grok 4.7 | 35 | $6.18 | From Cursor Free | From GitHub Copilot Pro |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | 31 | $7.77 | Not listed | From GitHub Copilot Pro |
| GPT-6 Luna | 28 | $0.15 | Not listed | From GitHub Copilot Pro |
| GPT-5.3 Codex | — | — | Not listed | From GitHub Copilot Pro |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | — | — | Not listed | From GitHub Copilot Pro |
| Kimi K3 | — | — | Not listed | From GitHub Copilot Pro |
Also listed, without an AA score: Composer 2.5 (from Cursor Free), Grok 4.6 (from Cursor Free), Grok 4.5 (from Cursor Free), Third-party models at API list price (from Cursor Premium), Claude Haiku 4.5 (from GitHub Copilot Free), GPT-5 mini (from GitHub Copilot Free), Auto model selection (from GitHub Copilot Free), Claude Sonnet 5 (from GitHub Copilot Pro), Claude Sonnet 4.6 (from GitHub Copilot Pro), GPT-5.6 Luna (from GitHub Copilot Pro), Grok 4.6 (from GitHub Copilot Pro), Grok 4.5 (from GitHub Copilot Pro), MAI-Code-1.1-Flash (from GitHub Copilot Pro), All Pro+ models (from GitHub Copilot Max).
Scores and cost per task are from the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, at API list prices. A subscription meters usage its own way, so treat them as a guide to model strength, not to your bill. All models →