I just ended my Cursor subscription today, and upgraded from Claude's Pro to Max plan to reduce my Claude Code costs. They now include a healthy Claude Code allowance in the Max plans.
If one has already set up Claude Code with metered API use, one toggles between plans using the /login command. Once to start using Max, then whenever one hits a five hour rate limit and wants to keep working.
I've tried many platforms. I kept Cursor long after Windsurf, but Claude Code is a clear winner, as most people report who don't bristle at the cost.
When Cursor or Windsurf forks VS Code, they have a reason. Their chat panes always felt like periscopes; one has better control over Claude Code in a terminal, and this frees up one's choice of editor. I now use Sublime Text, fast and lean.
Cursor is not about vibe coding. Vibe coding means you don't care about the AI's code output as long as it works. Cursor is all about efficiently reviewing the AI-proposed changes and hitting Tab only when you approve them. Much of the editing process is hitting Esc because the proposed change is not good.
Any IDE based editor feels like a stopgap to me. We may not be there yet, but I feel that in the future a "vibe coder" isn't even going to look at much code at all. Much of what developers who are relying on Cursor, Windmill, Replit, etc etc are doing is performative as it relates to code. There is just a lot of copy/pasting of console errors and asking for things one way or another.
Casual or "vibe" coding is all about the output. Doesn't work? Roll back. Works well? Keep going. Feeling gutsy? Single shot.
WARNING for Cursor users:
Cursor is currently stuck using an outdated snapshot of the VSCode Marketplace, meaning several extensions within Cursor remain affected by high-severity CVEs that have already been patched upstream in VSCode. As a result, Cursor users unknowingly remain vulnerable to known security issues. This issue has been acknowledged but remains unresolved: https://github.com/getcursor/cursor/issues/1602#issuecomment...
Given Cursor's rising popularity, users should be aware of this gap in security updates. Until the Cursor team resolves the marketplace sync issue, caution is advised when using certain extensions.
Good for them. IMO they should ditch the editor though. I see no reason that they should tie themselves to one editor. It seems like a waste of time. If Claude code let me use me subscription I'd be off cursor pretty quick.
Are different coding agents better at different languages? Like if I’m trying to write in python vs Golang vs PHP vs C#, am I going to want a different agent for each? Or is one agent going to be more or less consistent among all languages?
I'm not sure that Andrej envisioned this when he tweeted out his Vibe Coding take what seems like forever ago now.
I applaud anybody who jumps into Cursor (or other AI Assisted Coding Tools) to build a new product. I think that a way to express ideas is awesome, and allowing for these ideas to materialize is valuable for society and users will determine what is valuable/usable.
However, it's well documented that the expression of these tools is limited. I think that the bet here is that LLMs will continue to get better and better, paving the way for these tools to become more valuable: which I haven't been convinced with yet.
At it's core you can list out the primary functionality of an AI Assisted Coding platform and how these components interact. Their prompts have been dumped, and the tools have been replicated, plus the big LLM providers are in this space as well and understand more nuances around the models and how they interact with the different components.
$9B seems bonkers, but time will tell. There are a few outcomes here: pop, life changes incredibly, or this is the stagnation period that seems to happen with AI/ML. LLMs have changed the way I work already, the question is "what is next". I am hoping that I am ahead of others on the Hype cycle, but only time will tell (from heavy use of AI tools).
This is similar to the sort of hype which happened with Clubhouse app ($4B valuation, then the users stopped signing up.), Hopin ($9BN until the pandemic ended) and finally Inflection AI ($4B and almost no-one uses it after the initial AI hype).
One of biggest risks is Microsoft who can further lower prices with Copilot (and they can afford to do that for years) for longer and rapidly copy Cursor just like they destroyed Slack with Teams.
There really is no lock-in case for Cursor (unless they acquire something else) as users can easily cancel and switch back to VS Code and Cursor can lose that ARR very quickly and the cost is the entire company.
For Microsoft? Costs them nothing.
This $9B valuation is peak euphoria and this is the best time for Cursor to sell as they are getting very greedy after rejecting a buyout from OpenAI (twice).
It's pretty clear given the post Liberation Day recovery in stonks that there's way too much cash floating about for any general retreat in asset prices regardless of news and fundmentals. Just give M2 a gander.
The entire workflow for "AI coding agents" boils down to:
1. You write a prompt
2. The agent wraps it in a system prompt and sends it to the LLM
3. The LLM sends back a response
4. The agent performs specific actions based on that response (editing files, creating new ones, etc.)
I don't see why anyone would ditch their current (non-AI) IDE for Cursor just to get this functionality (especially if you're getting hit with a monthly subscription fee on top of it.)
P.S. I maintain a VS Code extension that does the 4 steps above as a baseline[1]
If you're using Cursor (as I do), but find it tends to struggle once your project reaches a certain size, and you're ok with something CLI-based, you might find the open source CLI coding agent I've built interesting: https://github.com/plandex-ai/plandex
- It can handle up to 2M tokens of context directly, and can index/work with/chat with projects up to 20M tokens (1M+ lines). Here's an example of chatting with with SQLite codebase to learn about how transactions are implemented: https://plandex.ai/_next/static/media/plandex-sqlite.0ee6cb2...
- All changes are committed to a version-controlled sandbox by default, preventing the problem of stray changes that you don't notice being left behind in the project.
- Being terminal-based allows for more seamless and powerful execution control and automated debugging. Here's an example of automatically debugging a browser app (via redirection of console logs/errors to the terminal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-_76U_nK0Y&embeds_referring...
https://archive.ph/yQlLu
I just ended my Cursor subscription today, and upgraded from Claude's Pro to Max plan to reduce my Claude Code costs. They now include a healthy Claude Code allowance in the Max plans.
If one has already set up Claude Code with metered API use, one toggles between plans using the /login command. Once to start using Max, then whenever one hits a five hour rate limit and wants to keep working.
I've tried many platforms. I kept Cursor long after Windsurf, but Claude Code is a clear winner, as most people report who don't bristle at the cost.
When Cursor or Windsurf forks VS Code, they have a reason. Their chat panes always felt like periscopes; one has better control over Claude Code in a terminal, and this frees up one's choice of editor. I now use Sublime Text, fast and lean.
Cursor is not about vibe coding. Vibe coding means you don't care about the AI's code output as long as it works. Cursor is all about efficiently reviewing the AI-proposed changes and hitting Tab only when you approve them. Much of the editing process is hitting Esc because the proposed change is not good.
Any IDE based editor feels like a stopgap to me. We may not be there yet, but I feel that in the future a "vibe coder" isn't even going to look at much code at all. Much of what developers who are relying on Cursor, Windmill, Replit, etc etc are doing is performative as it relates to code. There is just a lot of copy/pasting of console errors and asking for things one way or another.
Casual or "vibe" coding is all about the output. Doesn't work? Roll back. Works well? Keep going. Feeling gutsy? Single shot.
WARNING for Cursor users: Cursor is currently stuck using an outdated snapshot of the VSCode Marketplace, meaning several extensions within Cursor remain affected by high-severity CVEs that have already been patched upstream in VSCode. As a result, Cursor users unknowingly remain vulnerable to known security issues. This issue has been acknowledged but remains unresolved: https://github.com/getcursor/cursor/issues/1602#issuecomment...
Given Cursor's rising popularity, users should be aware of this gap in security updates. Until the Cursor team resolves the marketplace sync issue, caution is advised when using certain extensions.
I've flagged it here, apologies for the repost: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43609572
Cursor may be $9B but Aider is priceless
I use both and I'm amazed at how poor the VSCode proposal is compared to Cursor.
Good for them. IMO they should ditch the editor though. I see no reason that they should tie themselves to one editor. It seems like a waste of time. If Claude code let me use me subscription I'd be off cursor pretty quick.
Didn’t they reject $20B from OpenAI? This seems like a 50% haircut.
Calling Cursor a vibe coding app is just wild. The journalists and influencers are so out of touch with the software engineering world.
Are different coding agents better at different languages? Like if I’m trying to write in python vs Golang vs PHP vs C#, am I going to want a different agent for each? Or is one agent going to be more or less consistent among all languages?
I'm not sure that Andrej envisioned this when he tweeted out his Vibe Coding take what seems like forever ago now.
I applaud anybody who jumps into Cursor (or other AI Assisted Coding Tools) to build a new product. I think that a way to express ideas is awesome, and allowing for these ideas to materialize is valuable for society and users will determine what is valuable/usable.
However, it's well documented that the expression of these tools is limited. I think that the bet here is that LLMs will continue to get better and better, paving the way for these tools to become more valuable: which I haven't been convinced with yet.
At it's core you can list out the primary functionality of an AI Assisted Coding platform and how these components interact. Their prompts have been dumped, and the tools have been replicated, plus the big LLM providers are in this space as well and understand more nuances around the models and how they interact with the different components.
$9B seems bonkers, but time will tell. There are a few outcomes here: pop, life changes incredibly, or this is the stagnation period that seems to happen with AI/ML. LLMs have changed the way I work already, the question is "what is next". I am hoping that I am ahead of others on the Hype cycle, but only time will tell (from heavy use of AI tools).
Does this fundraising only make sense if cursor is planning to jump into the infrastructure side too? To do application hosting layer like Replit.
$200M ARR so that’s a 45x multiple. Wow.
Why not go public?
Cursor isn’t very good. It aggressively limits context I assume to save money. Augment runs circles around it.
This is similar to the sort of hype which happened with Clubhouse app ($4B valuation, then the users stopped signing up.), Hopin ($9BN until the pandemic ended) and finally Inflection AI ($4B and almost no-one uses it after the initial AI hype).
One of biggest risks is Microsoft who can further lower prices with Copilot (and they can afford to do that for years) for longer and rapidly copy Cursor just like they destroyed Slack with Teams.
There really is no lock-in case for Cursor (unless they acquire something else) as users can easily cancel and switch back to VS Code and Cursor can lose that ARR very quickly and the cost is the entire company.
For Microsoft? Costs them nothing.
This $9B valuation is peak euphoria and this is the best time for Cursor to sell as they are getting very greedy after rejecting a buyout from OpenAI (twice).
It's pretty clear given the post Liberation Day recovery in stonks that there's way too much cash floating about for any general retreat in asset prices regardless of news and fundmentals. Just give M2 a gander.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WM2NS
it's vscode with chatgpt
This is crack smoking. This company is going to get wiped out by GitHub Copilot in short order.
Quite a valuation for a VSCode fork. They have no moat.
No need to change your IDE to AI/vibe code.
There are already a few good VS Code extensions like Cline and Kilo Code which do 80/20 of the job.
It may come back to be relevant "Here Comes Another Bubble v1.1 - The Richter Scales" but some lingo needs update (but other parts are still spot on).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6IQ_FOCE6I
Why do we need a new IDE for "AI/vibe coding"?
The entire workflow for "AI coding agents" boils down to:
1. You write a prompt
2. The agent wraps it in a system prompt and sends it to the LLM
3. The LLM sends back a response
4. The agent performs specific actions based on that response (editing files, creating new ones, etc.)
I don't see why anyone would ditch their current (non-AI) IDE for Cursor just to get this functionality (especially if you're getting hit with a monthly subscription fee on top of it.)
P.S. I maintain a VS Code extension that does the 4 steps above as a baseline[1]
[1] https://github.com/Kilo-Org/kilocode
Wow, AI 'vibe coding' app? What a reductive statement on what Cursor is.
9B, no moat, it’s bubble time!
Better sell fast, then enjoy life.
I mean... it's a little disingenuous to call it a "vibe coding" app.
If you're using Cursor (as I do), but find it tends to struggle once your project reaches a certain size, and you're ok with something CLI-based, you might find the open source CLI coding agent I've built interesting: https://github.com/plandex-ai/plandex
- It can handle up to 2M tokens of context directly, and can index/work with/chat with projects up to 20M tokens (1M+ lines). Here's an example of chatting with with SQLite codebase to learn about how transactions are implemented: https://plandex.ai/_next/static/media/plandex-sqlite.0ee6cb2...
- All changes are committed to a version-controlled sandbox by default, preventing the problem of stray changes that you don't notice being left behind in the project.
- Being terminal-based allows for more seamless and powerful execution control and automated debugging. Here's an example of automatically debugging a browser app (via redirection of console logs/errors to the terminal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-_76U_nK0Y&embeds_referring...