Short answer
Pick GitHub Copilot if you want AI in the editor you already use, on a small budget: it works in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, Neovim and more, has a free plan, and Pro is $10 a month with unlimited completions and a cloud agent on GitHub. Pick Cursor if you will switch editors for a tighter agent experience: its own models from a weekly pool, Automations that start agents on events, and plans that scale to $200 a month. Copilot has the wider model list, with Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok and Kimi models.
Cursor vs GitHub Copilot at a glance
| Cursor | GitHub Copilot | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI code editor with its own agent, CLI and cloud agents | AI assistant and agents inside your editor, your terminal and GitHub |
| Price to start | Free; Plus is $8 a month | Free; Pro is $10 a month |
| Editors | Cursor itself; integrations for JetBrains and Xcode | VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, Vim, Neovim, Zed, Eclipse |
| Models | Grok 4.7 and Composer 2.5 from the plan's weekly pool; Claude, GPT, Gemini and others at API list price on Premium and up | Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, Kimi and Microsoft models, paid from the plan's AI credits |
| How use is counted | A weekly pool for Cursor's models; third-party models per token | AI credits at one cent each: $15 a month on Pro, $70 on Pro+, $200 on Max |
| Completions | Tab | 2,000 a month on Free; unlimited, with next edit suggestions, on Pro |
| Cloud agents | Cloud agents on Premium ($30) and up; Projects; Bugbot reviews pull requests | Copilot cloud agent on paid plans; it works on GitHub and opens pull requests |
| Code review | Bugbot and Security Agents on pull requests | Copilot code review on pull requests and local changes, on paid plans |
| Terminal agent | Cursor CLI (agent) | Copilot CLI, in every plan, Free included |
| Scheduling and triggers | Automations: a cron schedule, or events from GitHub, GitLab, Slack, Linear, Sentry, PagerDuty or a webhook | Local automations in VS Code; cloud automations in preview |
| Other vendors' agents | The Claude Code and Codex extensions install in Cursor | Claude and Codex as third-party agents, on Pro+ and Max in GitHub's plan table |
Pricing
Cursor
- Free$0Limited agent and chat requests.
- Plus$8/moGrok models only, from a weekly usage pool shared with Grok.
- Premium$30/mo4x Plus usage; cloud agents and Automations; third-party models at API list price.
- Super$100/mo15x Plus usage; priority at peak times.
- Ultra$200/mo50x Plus usage.
- TeamsFrom $30 per user/moCentral billing, SSO, shared rules, skills and plugins.
Checked Nov 11, 2026 on cursor.com
GitHub Copilot
- Free$02,000 completions a month; limited chat and agent use; Copilot CLI.
- Pro$10/moUnlimited completions; $15 of AI credits a month; cloud agent and code review.
- Pro+$39/mo$70 of AI credits a month; Claude and Codex as third-party agents.
- Max$100/mo$200 of AI credits a month.
- Business$19 per seat/mo1,900 AI credits per user a month, pooled.
- Enterprise$39 per seat/mo3,900 AI credits per user a month, pooled.
Checked Nov 11, 2026 on github.com
Copilot counts chat and agent use in GitHub AI Credits, one cent each. Pro's $10 buys 1,000 base credits and 500 flex credits a month, and paid plans can buy more. Cursor counts its own models against a weekly pool that grows with the plan (4x, 15x and 50x Plus) and bills other vendors' models at API list price from Premium up. For a team, Copilot Business is $19 a seat and Cursor Teams starts at $30.
An editor, or AI in your editor
Cursor is a whole editor. You move into it, and in return the agent is everywhere: inline edits, the Agents Window, Design Mode for UI work, and Tab as you type. It imports VS Code settings, keybindings and extensions, so the move is quick for VS Code users. For JetBrains and Xcode there are integrations.
GitHub Copilot comes to you. It runs in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, Vim, Neovim, Zed and Eclipse, on GitHub.com, in the Copilot CLI and in a desktop app. If your team is spread across editors, or you are not willing to leave yours, that settles it.
Credits against a weekly pool
Copilot counts chat and agent use in GitHub AI Credits, one cent each:
- Free: 2,000 completions a month and limited chat and agent use.
- Pro, $10: unlimited completions and next edit suggestions, and 1,500 credits a month.
- Pro+, $39: 7,000 credits a month.
- Max, $100: 20,000 credits a month.
Paid plans can buy more credits, and Business and Enterprise seats pool 1,900 and 3,900 credits per user.
Cursor's paid plans share a weekly usage pool for Cursor's own models, Grok 4.7 and Composer 2.5. Premium has four times the pool of Plus, Super 15 times and Ultra 50 times. Models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and others are not in the pool. From Premium ($30) they are billed at the provider's list price, for example $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens for Claude Opus 5.5.
So Copilot is the cheaper way to use many vendors' models a little. Cursor is built for heavy use of its own models.
Agents in the cloud
- Copilot cloud agent, on paid plans, works on GitHub and opens a pull request for you to review. Copilot code review covers pull requests and local changes. In VS Code, automations run a saved prompt on a schedule, and cloud automations (in preview) run scheduled or event-triggered work while your computer is off.
- Cursor cloud agents start from the editor, the CLI, Slack or your phone, on Premium and up. Automations start one on a cron schedule or on an event: a pull request, a finished CI run, a Slack message, a Linear issue, a Sentry or PagerDuty alert, or a webhook. Bugbot and Security Agents review pull requests.
Terminal agents and customizing
Both have a terminal agent. The Copilot CLI is in every Copilot plan, Free included, which makes it the cheapest way to try one. Cursor's is agent, with agent -p for scripts and CI.
Both are customized with instructions or rules, skills, MCP servers, hooks and plugins. Cursor documents 21 hook events in hooks.json, with command or prompt handlers.
Neither locks you out of other agents. The Claude Code and Codex extensions install in Cursor, and GitHub's plan table lists Claude and Codex as third-party agents on Copilot Pro+ and Max. If one of those is your real question, see Cursor vs Claude Code or Copilot vs Claude Code.
Which to pick
Pick Cursor if
- You want the editor built around the agent, and will switch for it.
- You want agents that start on events from GitHub, Slack, Linear, Sentry or PagerDuty.
- Cursor's own Grok and Composer models are enough for you.
- You want headroom: plans up to 50x the Plus pool.
Pick GitHub Copilot if
- You want to stay in VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, Xcode or Neovim.
- You want unlimited completions and some agent use for $10 a month.
- Your team works in GitHub issues and pull requests all day.
- You want many vendors' models under one bill.
Also consider
- BriefkinWe make thisUsing Cursor at your desk and the Copilot CLI or another agent in a terminal? Briefkin's installer adds a hook to Cursor, Claude Code, Codex and Copilot CLI, shows their sessions on one board (working, needs you, done or failed), and pings you on Telegram when a Claude Code or Codex session stops for a permission.See how it works
- Claude CodeAnthropic's agent, for long autonomous tasks on a flat plan. See Copilot vs Claude Code.
- VS CodeThe editor Copilot is most at home in, compared on its own. See Cursor vs VS Code.
- CodexOpenAI's agent, included in ChatGPT plans. See Codex vs Cursor.
Questions
Is GitHub Copilot cheaper than Cursor?
At the first paid step they are close: Copilot Pro is $10 a month and Cursor Plus is $8. Copilot Pro includes unlimited completions and $15 of AI credits that work with models from several vendors. Cursor Plus includes Cursor's own Grok models only; other vendors' models start at Premium, $30 a month, plus tokens.
Is there a free version of Copilot or Cursor?
Both. Copilot Free has 2,000 completions a month and limited chat and agent use. Cursor Free has limited agent and chat requests.
What are GitHub AI credits?
Copilot's unit for chat and agent usage. One credit is one cent: Pro includes 1,500 a month ($15), Pro+ 7,000 and Max 20,000, and paid plans can buy more. Completions do not use credits on paid plans.
Can I use Copilot inside Cursor?
Cursor has its own Tab completions and agent, and it installs extensions from Open VSX, not Microsoft's Marketplace, so Copilot is meant for VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, Vim, Neovim, Zed and Eclipse. The Copilot CLI runs in any terminal, including Cursor's.
Does Copilot have a cloud agent like Cursor's?
Yes, on paid plans. The Copilot cloud agent works on GitHub and opens pull requests. Cursor's cloud agents need Premium ($30 a month) or higher, and its Automations can start them on a schedule or on events.