Cursor pricing in October 2026 has five individual tiers inside The X Subscription. Free is $0 with limited Agent and Chat usage. Plus is $8 per month and runs only Cursor's own models: Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5, and Composer 2.5. Premium is $30 with 4x Plus usage, and it is the cheapest plan that unlocks Claude, GPT, and Gemini, Cloud Agents, Automations, and Bugbot. Super is $100 with 15x Plus usage. Ultra is $200 with 50x. The included pool refreshes weekly and is shared with Grok. Third-party models never draw from it: they bill at API list price from prepaid credit, so Claude Opus 5.5 costs $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens in Cursor, the same as Anthropic charges. Teams seats cost $30, $100, or $200 and add a $0.25 per million token Cursor Token Rate on third-party calls. Legacy Pro plans keep working.
Updated October 16, 2026 from cursor.com/pricing and the Cursor Models & Pricing docs. The March 2026 version of this page described the old $20 Pro credit pool, which is now a legacy plan.
Cursor Plans Overview
| Plan | Price | What You Get | Third-party models |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Agent and Chat with limited usage | Not available |
| Plus | $8/mo ($80/yr) | Base weekly pool; Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5 and Composer 2.5 at fixed settings; Grok Chat, Voice, Imagine, Build, Grok API access | Not available |
| Premium | $30/mo ($300/yr) | 4x Plus usage; Cloud Agents, Automations, Origin code hosting, Bugbot, Grok Bot | API list price from prepaid credit |
| Super | $100/mo ($1,000/yr) | 15x Plus usage; priority model access at peak times | API list price from prepaid credit |
| Ultra | $200/mo ($2,000/yr) | 50x Plus usage; earliest access to new products and models | API list price from prepaid credit |
| Teams | $30, $100, or $200 per seat/mo | Seat matches Premium, Super, or Ultra usage; SSO, admin, usage analytics, team marketplace | API list price + $0.25/M Cursor Token Rate |
| Enterprise | Custom | Pooled usage across Grok and Cursor, invoicing, SCIM, spend controls, audit logs | API list price + $0.25/M Cursor Token Rate |
Plus is a Grok-and-Composer plan. It has no Auto, Cloud Agents, Automations, Bugbot, Origin, third-party models, or bring-your-own-key. If your workflow depends on Claude or GPT inside Cursor, Premium at $30 is the floor.
The pool is weekly. A heavy Monday no longer eats the whole month, and unused usage does not carry to the next week. When it runs out you wait for the reset, top up prepaid credit, or move up a tier. Cursor says requests are never downgraded in quality or speed.
Model Pricing Breakdown
Cursor now publishes per-token rates for every model. Cursor's own models draw from the weekly pool first and bill at these rates only after it runs out. Third-party models bill at these rates from the first request.
| Model | Input | Cache read | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Composer 2.5 | $0.50 | $0.20 | $2.50 |
| Composer 2.5 (Fast) | $3 | $0.50 | $15 |
| Grok 4.7 | $2 | $0.50 | $6 |
| Grok 4.7 (Fast) | $4 | $1 | $12 |
| Grok 4.7 500k | $4 | $1 | $12 |
| Grok 4.6 | $2 | $0.50 | $6 |
| Grok 4.5 | $2 | $0.50 | $6 |
| Model | Input | Cache write | Cache read | Output |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Fable 5.1 | $10 | $12.50 | $0.25 | $50 |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | $4 | $5 | $0.20 | $20 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | $2 | $2.50 | $0.10 | $10 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | $0.10 | $0.125 | $0.01 | $0.50 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | $4 | $5 | $0.40 | $20 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | $2 | $2.50 | $0.20 | $12 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | $0.20 | $0.25 | $0.02 | $1.20 |
| Gemini 4 Argon | $2 | n/a | $0.10 | $10 |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro | $2 | n/a | $0.20 | $12 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $0.75 | n/a | $0.075 | $3.75 |
Opting in to regional data residency adds a 10% uplift on eligible model pricing. On Teams and Enterprise, third-party requests also carry the $0.25 per million token Cursor Token Rate, including bring-your-own-key usage. Individual plans do not pay it, and Cursor models are exempt.
The practical impact: Composer 2.5 output costs $2.50 per million tokens and Claude Opus 5.5 output costs $20, an 8x gap. A Premium user who keeps routine edits on Composer or Grok stays inside the $30 pool. A user who defaults to Opus 5.5 pays $30 plus every Opus token at Anthropic's list price.
Auto has three modes: Cost, Balance, and Intelligence. Individual plans get Cost mode only, which always bills as a Cursor-model request against the weekly pool. Balance and Intelligence route to third-party models on Teams and Enterprise and bill at the routed model's list price.
The 20x Price Increase Controversy
In early 2025, Cursor changed the premium request cost for several models from 1x to 20x. The change was not announced prominently. Developers discovered it when their monthly quota ran out in 2-3 days instead of lasting the full month.
The most affected users were those who relied on Claude 3.5 Sonnet (the most popular coding model at the time) for daily agent-mode work. At 1x cost, 500 premium requests lasted a full month of moderate use. At 20x cost, the same workflow burned through the quota in roughly 25 requests.
Reddit threads from this period document the fallout. Users reported overage charges of $200-400 on what they expected to be a $20/month plan. The overage rate was $0.04 per premium request, and with 20x consumption, a single heavy work session could generate $50+ in overages.
Cursor has since replaced request multipliers with published per-token rates. The 2026 X Subscription plans show the exact input and output price of every model, and third-party models bill at the provider's list price, so the dropdown no longer hides a multiplier.
Cursor now shows credit usage in the settings panel and sends alerts when you approach your limit. You can also set a hard spending cap to prevent runaway charges. Remaining usage and the next reset date show in editor settings and under Usage at grok.com/dashboard. Set a monthly additional usage limit there and keep routine work on Composer 2.5 or Grok 4.7.
Max Mode Costs
Max Mode now exists only on legacy request-based plans (Pro, Pro+, Ultra, and Teams Standard and Premium seats bought before The X Subscription). It extends a model's context window beyond the default limit and bills at the model's API rate plus 20%. On the current Premium, Super, and Ultra plans, third-party models already bill at API list price with no 20% surcharge. The table below describes the legacy behavior.
| Standard Mode | Max Mode | |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calls per interaction | 25 | 200 |
| Context handling | Truncated to ~10-15K tokens | Full model context window |
| Pricing | Deducted from credit pool | Per-token API pricing + 20% margin |
| Typical daily cost | Included in plan | $8-10/day for heavy use |
| Monthly cost (heavy use) | $20-60/month (plan price) | $180-300/month (plan + tokens) |
| Best for | Routine edits, short tasks | Complex features, multi-file refactors |
The math on Max Mode: a single complex task with 150 tool calls, 200K input tokens, and 20K output tokens costs roughly $3-8 depending on the model. Three of those per day puts you at $9-24/day, or $180-500/month on top of your subscription.
Max Mode is where Cursor bills can spike unexpectedly. Your base subscription covers standard mode usage. Max Mode charges are separate and metered. If you leave Max Mode on by default and work in agent mode all day, expect your monthly Cursor cost to reach $200-400.
Max Mode pays for itself on complex tasks that would otherwise require 3-4 standard interactions (because you hit the 25 tool-call ceiling). If a task needs 60+ tool calls and full-context reasoning, one Max Mode session is faster and often cheaper than four fragmented standard sessions. For simple edits and quick fixes, standard mode is better value.
Cost Comparison with Alternatives
Cursor is not the only option. Here is how pricing compares across the major AI coding tools in October 2026, from each vendor's pricing page.
| Tool | Free Tier | Standard Plan | Power User Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cursor | Limited Agent and Chat | $8/mo (Plus) or $30/mo (Premium) | $200/mo (Ultra, 50x Plus) |
| Claude Code | Claude Free (no Claude Code) | $20/mo (Pro) | $200/mo (Max 20x, $200 API credits) |
| GitHub Copilot | Copilot Free (AI credit allowance) | $10/mo (Pro, 1,500 AI credits) | $100/mo (Max, 20,000 AI credits) |
| Windsurf | Limited | $20/mo (Pro) | $200/mo (Max) |
| Cline | Free + API costs | $0 (bring your API key) | API costs only |
| Tool | Team/Business | Enterprise | 10-Person Team Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cursor | $30, $100, or $200/seat | Custom | $300-2,000/mo |
| GitHub Copilot | $19/seat (Business) | $39/seat | $190-390/mo |
| Windsurf | $80/mo + $40/dev seat | Custom | $480/mo |
| Cline | API costs only | N/A | API costs only |
Claude Code: Terminal-First Agent
$20/mo Pro or $100-200/mo Max. Max 5x includes $100 and Max 20x includes $200 per month in Claude Platform API credits. Subscription usage is rate-limited across Claude models, with API pricing for pay-per-use.
Cline: Zero Subscription
Open-source VS Code extension. $0 subscription, you bring your own API key and pay providers directly. Full transparency on costs since you see every API call, with no credit system or hidden multipliers. Trade-off: requires API key management and cost monitoring.
The key difference: Cursor bundles a weekly pool for its own models and passes third-party models through at list price. GitHub Copilot meters AI credits per plan. Claude Code uses rate-limited access across Claude models. Cline and open-source tools pass through raw API costs with zero markup. For developers who want predictable monthly bills, Claude Code's subscription model or Cline's direct API approach can be more transparent than Cursor's credit system.
For a deeper dive into the Cursor vs Claude Code trade-offs, see our full comparison. For a broader view, check the Cursor alternatives roundup.
How to Reduce Cursor Costs
If you want to stay on Cursor without surprise bills, these strategies help.
Use Cheaper Models for Simple Tasks
Composer 2.5 costs $0.50 input and $2.50 output per million tokens and draws from the included pool. Claude Opus 5.5 costs $4 and $20 from prepaid credit. Keep routine edits on Composer or Grok 4.7 and reach for Opus only on hard reasoning.
Skip Fast Mode on Routine Work
Fast variants cost more: Grok 4.7 Fast is $4/$12 vs $2/$6, Composer 2.5 Fast is $3/$15 vs $0.50/$2.50. Turn Fast on for interactive sessions where latency matters and leave it off for background work.
Monitor Usage Weekly
Remaining pool and next reset date show in editor settings and at grok.com/dashboard. Check which models drew the most prepaid credit and change your default model.
Set a Spending Cap
Set a monthly additional usage limit under Additional usage credits at grok.com/dashboard/billing. It caps paid usage regardless of how much prepaid credit you hold.
Start Fresh Sessions Often
Long conversations accumulate context tokens. Five short sessions cost less than one long session because less context is re-sent with each message. Start a new chat when you finish a task.
Consider BYOK for Heavy Use
Plus does not allow your own API keys. On Premium and above, individual plans pass third-party models through at list price with no Cursor fee. On Teams and Enterprise, BYOK still pays the $0.25 per million token Cursor Token Rate.
FAQ
How much does Cursor cost per month?
Free is $0. Plus is $8/month with Cursor's own models only. Premium is $30/month (4x Plus usage), Super $100/month (15x), Ultra $200/month (50x). Teams seats are $30, $100, or $200. Annual billing is $80, $300, $1,000, and $2,000 per year. Third-party model usage is extra at API list price.
How does Cursor model pricing work?
Cursor models (Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5, Composer 2.5) draw from a weekly pool shared with Grok, then bill at published rates such as Composer 2.5 at $0.50/$2.50 per million tokens. Claude, GPT, and Gemini bill at API list price from prepaid credit from the first request on Premium and above.
Can I use Claude or GPT on Cursor Plus?
No. Plus runs only Cursor's own models at fixed settings. Claude Sonnet 5.5, Opus 5.5, GPT-5.6, and Gemini need Premium or higher.
What is Max Mode and how much does it cost?
Max Mode is only on legacy request-based plans. It extends the context window beyond the default and bills at the model's API rate plus 20%. The X Subscription plans have no Max Mode surcharge.
What happened to Cursor Pro at $20?
Pro, Pro+, Ultra, and Teams Standard and Premium seats are now legacy plans. Existing customers keep them, with two monthly pools (Cursor Models and Other Models) and on-demand usage. New customers choose from Plus, Premium, Super, and Ultra.
How does Cursor pricing compare to Claude Code and Copilot?
Claude Pro is $20/month and Max is $100 or $200 with matching monthly API credits. GitHub Copilot Pro is $10, Pro+ $39, Max $100, Business $19 per seat. Cursor Premium at $30 is the cheapest Cursor plan with Claude or GPT access, and those tokens bill on top at list price.
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