Different surfaces: Max buys the strongest terminal agent, Cursor buys the strongest AI editor. If you want delegation — hand a task over and review the diff — Claude Code on Max is ahead. If you want to stay hands-on-keyboard with Tab completions and inline agents, Cursor is the better daily experience. Cursor's value meter runs out quietly; Max's windows interrupt loudly.
This comparison is maintained by Standard Compute — we sell a third thing entirely (unlimited tokens at a flat price, paced under sustained load, from $9/mo), so we have no horse in this particular race and keep both sides honest. If neither plan above fits because the meter itself is your problem: the full comparison including us →