Cursor vs OpenCode
updated · #2 vs #3 in ai coding agents & IDEs · prices checked
which one should you use?
want an editor built around the agent, with cloud agents and PR reviews on the same bill? Cursor. want an open source agent where you pick the model, local ones included, or reuse a ChatGPT or Copilot sub you already pay for? OpenCode.
#2 vs #3 of 13 coding agents, both 8.5/10. same score, Cursor edges it on rank.
#2 of 13 in coding agents
Cursor
numptr says8.5/10
Tab, agent and cloud agents in one editor. Plus is $8/mo, Grok models only.
- best for
- developers who want ai inside a full editor
- why 8.5
- Plus at $8 is Grok models only. Premium at $30 is where it gets proper.
#3 of 13 in coding agents
OpenCode
numptr says8.5/10
the open-source one that's quietly eating everyone's lunch. over 200k GitHub stars don't lie.
- best for
- devs who want a Claude Code-style agent without being tied to one model
- why 8.5
- MIT, any model, free models thrown in, and 16M devs a month (their number). not tuned to one model like Claude Code is.
who wins for which job
the agent inside a full editor
Cursor
best for: developers who want ai inside a full editor.
picking your own model, local ones included
OpenCode
open-source (MIT) coding agent for the terminal, desktop and IDE. any model from 75+ providers, local ones included, or the free models it ships with.
starting without paying a penny
OpenCode
OpenCode free tier: free and open source (MIT); free models included, or bring your own key, or log in with GitHub Copilot or ChatGPT Plus/Pro. Cursor: limited ai usage.
overall, on our scores
Cursor
#2 of 13 coding agents, 8.5/10. OpenCode: #3, 8.5/10.
the differences, side by side
rank
Cursor#2 of 13 in coding agents
OpenCode#3 of 13 in coding agents
numptr score
Cursor8.5/10
OpenCode8.5/10
best for
Cursordevelopers who want ai inside a full editor
OpenCodedevs who want a Claude Code-style agent without being tied to one model
free tier
Cursorlimited ai usage
OpenCodefree and open source (MIT); free models included, or bring your own key, or log in with GitHub Copilot or ChatGPT Plus/Pro
paid plans
CursorPlus $8/mo ($80/yr), Grok models only; Premium $30/mo ($300/yr; 4x usage; third-party models billed by usage); Super $100/mo ($1,000/yr); Ultra $200/mo ($2,000/yr); Teams $30+/user/mo
OpenCodefree (you pay your model provider); optional OpenCode Go $10/mo or Go Plus $40/mo; Zen pay-as-you-go from a $20 balance
price checked
Cursor2026-10-26 at cursor.com/docs/models-and-pricing
OpenCode2026-10-26 at opencode.ai/go
# straight from our rankings data. prices from each vendor's own page.
pick neither if
it's a proper tie on paper. Cursor and OpenCode both score 8.5/10 on our coding agents board, so the order comes down to our tiebreak: when two tools are level, we put first the one we'd hand a mate first. that's Cursor, at #2, with OpenCode right behind at #3. the score says they're as good as each other. the shape says they're for different people.
Cursor is an editor built around an agent. OpenCode is an agent that lives wherever you already work: the terminal, a desktop app or an IDE extension.
the short version
| Cursor | OpenCode | |
|---|---|---|
| our rank | #2, 8.5/10 | #3, 8.5/10 |
| what it is | an ai editor with an agent, plus a CLI, cloud agents and Bugbot reviews | an open source (MIT) coding agent: terminal, desktop app and IDE extension |
| models | Cursor's own (Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5 and Composer 2.5) from a weekly pool; Claude, GPT and Gemini at API list price from prepaid credit, Premium and up | 75+ providers through Models.dev, local models, free models it ships with, or log in with ChatGPT Plus/Pro, GitHub Copilot or GitLab Duo |
| how it bills | one plan with a usage pool that refreshes weekly; third-party models on top | the agent is free; you pay whoever serves the model, or use OpenCode Go (flat monthly) or Zen (pay as you go) |
| cloud agents and reviews | cloud agents, automations, Origin code hosting and Bugbot, Premium and up | none on the pages we checked; you run the agents, several in parallel on one project if you like |
where Cursor wins
the editor is the point. the agent sits in the sidepane, edits files, runs terminal commands, searches the codebase and can drive a browser to check visual changes. you watch every diff land where you'd be reading the code anyway. if you steer the agent line by line, that's the smoother day out.
more than the editor. the same subscription covers the Cursor CLI (it runs headless in scripts and GitHub Actions), and on Premium and up, cloud agents and automations, Bugbot code reviews and Origin code hosting. one pool of usage, shared across all of it, refreshing weekly so one heavy day doesn't eat the month.
teams are sorted. Teams seats come with SSO, usage analytics, team-wide privacy mode and a shared marketplace for rules, skills and plugins. with privacy mode on, Cursor says your code isn't used for training by it or its model providers.
the catch is models. the Plus plan runs Cursor's own models only, with no third-party models and no bringing your own keys. on Premium and up, Claude, GPT and Gemini are there at the model's API list price, paid from prepaid credit on top of the plan. so a Claude-all-day habit means a plan and a meter. the full breakdown is in Cursor pricing.
where OpenCode wins
any model you fancy. 75+ providers through Models.dev, local models through Ollama, LM Studio or llama.cpp, and switch per task. already paying for ChatGPT Plus or Pro, or GitHub Copilot? log in and OpenCode uses it, no faff.
it's actually open source. MIT licensed, with over 220K stars on GitHub. read it, fork it, patch it.
it lives where you work. terminal, desktop app or IDE extension, and you can run several agents in parallel on the same project. it isn't asking you to move house to a new editor.
a free way in, and a flat one if you want it. OpenCode itself is free and ships with free models. OpenCode Go is a flat subscription for a curated set of coding models with rolling limits, and Zen is pay as you go at the providers' own prices, with spend limits. the plans and what each one gets you are in OpenCode pricing.
privacy. OpenCode says it doesn't store your code or context data. the exception is its free models, where your data is stored.
the catches with OpenCode
your Claude sub doesn't come with you. OpenCode's docs say plugins exist to use Claude Pro or Max in it, but Anthropic explicitly prohibits that, and OpenCode stopped bundling them as of 1.3.0. Claude in OpenCode means an Anthropic API key, paid per token. more on that in OpenCode vs Claude Code.
it trusts you a lot. out of the box most permissions are "allow". it asks before touching paths outside the project or repeating the same tool call three times, and before reading .env files. set a permission block in opencode.json before you point it at anything you care about.
which should you pick?
- you want the agent inside a full editor, watching every diff: Cursor
- you want cloud agents and PR reviews under one bill: Cursor, Premium and up
- you want to pick the model, or run one on your own machine: OpenCode. see Ollama vs llama.cpp for the runner
- you already pay for ChatGPT or GitHub Copilot: OpenCode, log in and go
- you want the strongest agent for big multi-file jobs: neither: Claude Code is #1 on our board (9.0/10). see Cursor vs Claude Code
- you want open source in VS Code with approvals on every step: Cline (#5). see Cline vs Cursor
pick both?
plenty do. Cursor for the days you're in the code steering every change, OpenCode in a terminal on whichever model suits the job, local ones for anything that can't leave the building. still shopping around? Cursor alternatives has eight more, ranked.
the rest of the field
the table: the rest of the field
| rank | tool | best for | free tier | paid from | numptr score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #2 | Cursor | developers who want ai inside a full editor | limited ai usage | Plus $8/mo, Grok models only | 8.5/10 |
| #3 | OpenCode | devs who want a Claude Code-style agent without being tied to one model | free and open source (MIT); free models included, or bring your own key, or log in with GitHub Copilot or ChatGPT Plus/Pro | optional OpenCode Go $10/mo or Go Plus $40/mo | 8.5/10 |
| #1 | Claude Code | delegating multi-file features from terminal or IDE | no free access: Claude Code needs a paid Claude plan (Pro and up) | Pro $20/mo | 9.0/10 |
| #5 | Cline | BYO-key developers who want control | free open-source extension (VS Code + CLI) | no subscription needed | 8.0/10 |
| #6 | OpenAI Codex | ChatGPT subscribers who want a cloud + local coding agent | included in ChatGPT Free (limited usage) | included in ChatGPT Go $8/mo, Plus $20/mo, Pro $100, $200 or $500/mo | 8.0/10 |
faq
is OpenCode better than Cursor?
they're level on our board, both 8.5/10. Cursor sits #2 and OpenCode #3 on our tiebreak, which is the one we'd hand a mate first. OpenCode is the better pick if you want open source, your own choice of model or local models.
is OpenCode a Cursor alternative?
yes, if you're happy in the terminal, a desktop app or an IDE extension rather than Cursor's editor. it's open source and works with 75+ model providers. Cursor alternatives ranks the rest.
is OpenCode free?
yes. it's MIT licensed and ships with free models. you pay whoever serves the model you pick, or for OpenCode Go or Zen if you use them.
is Cursor free?
there's a free plan with limited agent and chat requests. paid plans start with Plus, which runs Cursor's own models only.
can i use Claude or GPT in both?
in Cursor, yes on Premium and up, at the model's API list price from prepaid credit. in OpenCode, yes: Claude through an Anthropic API key (not your Claude Pro or Max sub), GPT by logging in with ChatGPT Plus or Pro, or either through Zen or another provider.
can OpenCode use my GitHub Copilot subscription?
yes. log in with GitHub and it uses your Copilot account. GitLab Duo works too.
sources
checked 2026-10-26
- Cursor pricing (Free, Plus, Premium, Super, Ultra, Teams, usage pool refreshing weekly, third-party models at API list price, cloud agents, Bugbot, Origin, privacy mode): https://cursor.com/pricing
- Cursor models and pricing docs (plus models: Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5 and Composer 2.5, no third-party models or own API keys on Plus, prepaid credit, Teams features): https://cursor.com/docs/models-and-pricing
- Cursor agent docs (edits files, runs terminal commands, codebase search, browser): https://cursor.com/docs/agent/overview
- Cursor CLI (terminal, headless scripts, GitHub Actions): https://cursor.com/cli
- OpenCode homepage (terminal, desktop and IDE, parallel sessions, ChatGPT and Copilot logins, 75+ providers, 220K stars, privacy, MIT): https://opencode.ai/
- OpenCode providers docs (local models, Claude Pro/Max note and 1.3.0, ChatGPT, Copilot and GitLab Duo): https://opencode.ai/docs/providers/
- OpenCode permissions docs (defaults): https://opencode.ai/docs/permissions/
- OpenCode Go (flat plans, curated models, rolling limits, works with any agent): https://opencode.ai/go
- OpenCode Zen (pay as you go at provider prices, no markup, spend limits): https://opencode.ai/zen
- OpenCode licence (MIT): https://github.com/anomalyco/opencode
- ranks, scores, verdicts and free tiers: numptr data/tools.json (coding agents board)