Cursor vs GitHub Copilot: Which AI Agent Is Better?
An in-depth comparison of Cursor and GitHub Copilot across output quality, autonomy, reliability, speed, value, and ease of use. Vote for your favorite.
An in-depth comparison of Cursor and GitHub Copilot across output quality, autonomy, reliability, speed, value, and ease of use. Vote for your favorite.
Comparing the subscriptions instead?Cursor Premium / Ultra vs GitHub Copilot Pro / Pro+ / Max →
Either way, you pay for the model calls. A median coding-agent day on our gateway is 95 requests and 8.6 million tokens. The table prices every step at one model’s rate.
Both run on Standard Compute, where each step goes to the cheapest model that can do it: routine steps go to efficient open models, hard ones to frontier models such as Claude Fable 5.1 or GPT-6 Astra.
| Model | Typical day | Busy day |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 5.5 | $7.34 | $59.10 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | $3.67 | $29.55 |
| GPT-6 Luna | $0.23 | $2.43 |
Fixed monthly plans from $19. Eligible new accounts can try $0.25 of compute first, no card. Trial terms
Pick a winner in each category. You can change your vote anytime.
CursorCopilotChoose Cursor if you are developers who want the most polished AI-integrated editor experience. Choose GitHub Copilot if you are teams already in the GitHub ecosystem who want seamless AI integration.
In our editorial scoring, Cursor leads in 4 of six categories (output quality, autonomy, speed and ease of use), while GitHub Copilot leads in 1 (value). On price, Cursor runs free tier / $8–200/mo and is proprietary; GitHub Copilot runs free tier / $10–100/mo (ai credits) and is proprietary.
What it costs to run Cursor or Copilot
Best API for Cursor →
4 options compared, with prices and limits
Best API for Copilot →
5 options compared, with prices and limits
Standard Compute sends each step to the cheapest model that can do it, on providers we vet for price, uptime and speed. Plans start at $19 a month, and eligible new accounts can try $0.25 of compute with no card. Choose your agent below to connect.
See the trial and activation steps →
More on Cursor: How much does Cursor cost now? · Can I use Cursor with my own API key on a fixed monthly budget?
More on Copilot: Copilot AI Credits Ran Out: What Changed and What to Do · Copilot retires Claude Opus 5, Opus 4.8 and GPT-5.6 Terra on November 16: what changes and how to keep using them
Cursor is a fork of VS Code redesigned from the ground up for AI-powered development. It features tab completions, natural language code editing, codebase-wide chat, and multi-file editing. Its deep editor integration makes it one of the most polished AI coding tools available.
GitHub Copilot is the most widely-adopted AI coding assistant. It offers inline code suggestions, chat-based assistance, and tight integration with the GitHub ecosystem including pull requests, issues, and Actions. Available in VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, and more.
Cursor and Copilot both run on Standard Compute
