Zed vs Cursor
Zed and Cursor side by side: what each one is, what it costs to start, and whether you can try it free. Everything below comes from the vendors' own sites and other public sources, not from hands-on testing.
At a glance
| Zed | Cursor | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Code & Dev Tools | Code & Dev Tools |
| Starting price | $10/mo (checked October 2026) | Free; paid plans from $8/mo (checked October 2026) |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Profile | Read profile | Read profile |
Prices are in US dollars unless shown otherwise. Confirm the current price on the vendor's site before you buy.
Key differences
Both list a free tier, so you can try each before paying.
Cursor has the lower starting price ($8/mo against $10/mo for Zed). The cheapest plan rarely has the same limits or features, so compare plans before choosing on price.
Both are in our Code & Dev Tools category.
About each tool
Zed
Code editor with built-in AI: agent panel, inline assistant and edit prediction. Free with your own API keys; Pro is $10 a month.
Who it is for
Developers who want a code editor with AI agents and completions built in, including those who prefer to use their own API keys or external agents. Teams can use paid seats on the Business plan.
Strengths
- A free plan; per Zed's pricing page it allows unlimited use with your own API keys or external agents (such as Claude Agent or Codex CLI)
- Supports MCP servers and external agents through ACP, plus Zed's own agent
- Edit prediction defaults to Zeta, an open source model developed by Zed; Copilot, Mercury Coder, Codestral and local models are also supported
- Pro includes unlimited edit predictions and $5 of monthly token credit, with a 14-day trial that needs no credit card
- Verified university students get a free year (Student plan)
Limitations
- Per Zed's docs, Zeta edit predictions and Zed-hosted models are not on the Free plan; free users can use other providers such as GitHub Copilot or a local model
- Pro usage beyond the included $5 is billed at API list price plus 10%, and the default spend limit is $10
- Business has no included AI credit; usage is metered. SSO, SAML and SCIM are listed as planned, not yet available
- The Student plan excludes some premium models and has no configurable spend limits
Cursor
AI code editor for Windows, macOS and Linux with Agent, Chat and Tab. Free plan with limited usage; paid plans from $8 a month with a weekly usage pool, up to $200 for Ultra.
Who it is for
Individual developers on the Free, Plus, Premium, Super or Ultra plans. Teams and Enterprise plans add shared billing, admin controls and SSO for organizations.
Strengths
- A Free plan includes Agent, Chat and Tab completions with Cursor's own models, with limited usage
- Paid plans have one weekly usage pool for Cursor models, shared across Agent, the command line and Cloud Agents, and the docs say it refreshes weekly
- With Privacy Mode on, Cursor says customer data will not be used for training by Cursor, and that it has zero-data-retention agreements with all its model providers
- The desktop app is offered for macOS (Apple Silicon, Intel, Universal), Windows (x64, ARM64) and Linux (x64, ARM64; .deb, RPM, AppImage)
- Teams and Enterprise list SAML and OIDC SSO, usage analytics and team-wide privacy settings, and Enterprise adds SCIM, audit logs and invoice billing
Limitations
- Free usage is limited for Agent, Chat and Tab, and no numeric limits are published
- Plus ($8) does not include Auto, Cloud Agents, Automations, Bugbot or third-party models, which are listed from Premium ($30) up
- Third-party models are not covered by the weekly pool. They are billed at API list price from prepaid credit, and a monthly additional-usage limit caps extra spend
- With Privacy Mode off, Cursor may use and store codebase data, prompts, editor actions and code snippets to improve its AI features and train models
