Cursor Agent
Cursor is a VS Code fork built around an in-IDE agent (Cursor Agent and the Composer multi-file editor) plus a hosted Background Agent that runs longer tasks asynchronously. Cursor has the largest paid install base of any AI IDE, which gives it real signal on prompt patterns and tool use that smaller harnesses do not have.
Leaderboard Placements
| Benchmark | Best base model | Score | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | GPT-5.5 | 70.1 | #5 / 15 |
| Terminal-Bench | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | 42.0 | #4 / 13 |
| Aider Polyglot | - | - | - |
| SWE-Lancer | - | - | - |
Distribution
Standalone IDE (VS Code fork) for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Model Story
Multi-model with bring-your-own-key. Default routes through Cursor's own infra; users can pick Sonnet 4.6, GPT-5.5, Opus 4.7, Gemini 2.5, or smaller open models per task.
Pricing
Per-seat subscription with included usage credits; overage billed per request.
Who It's For
Teams that want a polished IDE-native agent and are willing to trade open-source flexibility for tighter UX and a hosted background agent.
Notable Features
- Composer for multi-file edits
- Background Agent for async long-running tasks
- In-line diff review across the workspace
- Per-task model routing
- Repo-aware embedding index