COMPARISON · Last verified: September 2026
Augment Code vs Cursor
A cloud agent platform and CLI vs an AI-first code editor, compared on verified pricing, features and fit.
Status updates
- Cursor is now part of SpaceX. Cursor announced on August 14, 2026 that it had officially been acquired by SpaceX, completing a process that began in April with a model-training partnership with SpaceXAI.
🏆 Quick Verdict
Cursor (4.8/5 vs 4.3/5)
Cursor has a free plan; paid plans on both start at $20/mo
⭐ Strongest At
Every tool has one thing it does better than its competitors. Here is each one's honest edge:
Deep codebase context for agents: its Context Engine indexes code, commit history and related repos behind Cosmos cloud agents and the Auggie CLI.
An AI-first editor: agent, Tab autocomplete and cloud agents in one VS Code-based app, with a free plan to start.
📊 Quick Specs
Augment Code vs Cursor: official demos
Watch each tool in action: official demos for Augment Code and Cursor, side by side, before you decide.
Augment Code
Cursor
Official videos via YouTube (Augment Code; Cursor), embedded for reference. ToolChase does not host or claim these videos.
What is Augment Code?
Augment Code is an AI coding platform built around its Context Engine, which semantically indexes your code, maps how files connect across repositories and services, and draws on commit history and external sources such as docs and tickets. Augment's docs list Cosmos and the Auggie CLI as the products included in its Business plan. Cosmos, which now leads Augment's homepage, runs agents in sandboxed cloud VMs or on your own machines and wakes them on events from GitHub, Slack, Linear, PagerDuty, webhooks or a schedule. The Auggie CLI puts Augment's agent and Context Engine in the terminal, with a --print mode for scripts and CI, and runs as an Agent Client Protocol agent inside editors such as Zed, JetBrains IDEs, Neovim and Emacs. Augment still documents and updates extensions for VS Code and JetBrains IDEs (both shipped releases on September 14, 2026), but its pricing page does not list them on any plan, and inline code completions were deprecated for non-Enterprise plans on March 31, 2026. Augment Code Review comments on GitHub pull requests on every plan, and models include Claude Fable 5.1, Claude Opus 5, GPT-6 Astra, GPT-5.6 Sol, Gemini 3.1 Pro and Grok 4.6, plus Augment's Prism routing.
What is Cursor?
Cursor is an AI code editor that became part of SpaceX in August 2026. It is built on the VS Code codebase, and a one-click import brings over your VS Code extensions, themes, settings and keybindings. Its Agent edits files across the project and runs terminal commands, and Plan Mode researches the codebase and waits for your approval before writing code. Tab, Cursor's autocomplete, suggests multi-line and cross-file edits as you type. To find code, Agent uses Instant Grep, which builds its index on your machine. Beyond the desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, Cursor has a CLI, cloud agents you can start from the web, the iOS app, Slack, GitHub or Linear, Automations, and Bugbot pull request reviews. On paid plans, Cursor's agent also runs inside JetBrains IDEs through the Agent Client Protocol. Models include Cursor's first-party Composer 2.5 and Grok 4.5 to 4.7, plus Claude Fable 5.1, Claude Opus 5, GPT-5.6 and Gemini 3.1 Pro.
Key differences at a glance
Both tools sell agents, a CLI, cloud automation and MCP support, so the overlap is large. What separates them:
- -- Where it runs: Augment runs as the Cosmos web app and the Auggie CLI, which also works inside ACP editors such as Zed and JetBrains IDEs; Cursor is its own VS Code-based editor, with CLI, web and iOS surfaces and a JetBrains route through ACP on paid plans.
- -- Codebase context: Augment's Context Engine keeps a semantic index of code, history and related repos; Cursor searches with Instant Grep, a local index, and says it does not store embeddings of your codebase for search.
- -- Autocomplete: Cursor's Tab is unlimited on Pro, Pro+ and Ultra; Augment deprecated completions for non-Enterprise plans on March 31, 2026.
- -- Billing basis: Augment charges one flat monthly price for up to 50 seats with pooled usage; Cursor charges per person, and each Teams seat has its own usage.
- -- Free entry: Cursor has a free Hobby plan; Augment starts at $20 a month.
- -- Automation: Augment's Cosmos wires triggers to specialized Experts; Cursor's Automations run cloud agents on schedules or events, next to Bugbot.
Feature-by-feature comparison
Here is how Augment Code and Cursor compare on the capabilities that affect daily use:
Pricing comparison
Augment Code has no free plan; its pricing page lists Standard, Business and Enterprise. Standard ($20/month) and Business ($100/month) are flat prices with no per-seat charge, each for up to 50 seats, and the fee doubles as the usage allowance: $20 or $100 a month, pooled across the team. Model calls are billed at the provider's public API list price plus a flat 40% service fee on LLM usage, and extra usage comes as pay-as-you-go top-ups, valid for 12 months. Standard and Business share one feature list: Context Engine, Coding Agent, chat and agents, CLI access, MCP, Cosmos and SOC 2 Type II. Enterprise is custom-priced, with unlimited users, SSO, OIDC and SCIM, and CMEK and ISO 42001 compliance.
Cursor's free Hobby plan needs no credit card and includes limited Agent requests. Individual plans are Pro at $20/month, Pro+ at $60 and Ultra at $200. Pro includes unlimited Tab completions and, on top of Hobby, extended Agent limits, frontier models, MCPs, skills and hooks, cloud agents, and Bugbot on usage-based billing. Teams costs $40 per user per month for a Standard seat or $120 for a Premium seat with five times the usage, adding centralized billing, SAML/OIDC SSO and Bugbot reviews. Seat usage does not transfer between team members, and Cursor points teams that need pooled usage, invoicing or SCIM to its custom-priced Enterprise plan. Prices here are monthly; Cursor's pricing page says yearly billing saves 20%.
For one developer, Augment Standard and Cursor Pro both cost $20 a month. A five-person team billed monthly pays $20 in total on Augment Standard, or $100 on Business, against $200 for five Cursor Teams Standard seats (5 × $40), or $600 for five Premium seats. The flat fee is the floor, though: Augment's allowance is shared by the whole team, and extra model use costs list price plus the 40% fee, while each Cursor seat carries its own usage, with on-demand usage billed in arrears.
Pros & Cons
Augment Code
- Context Engine indexes code, commit history and related repos, so answers reflect how your system connects
- Auggie CLI works in the terminal and inside ACP editors such as Zed and JetBrains IDEs
- One flat price for up to 50 seats, with pooled usage
- Broad model choice, including Claude Fable 5.1, GPT-6 Astra and Gemini 3.1 Pro
- Cosmos, the CLI, MCP and GitHub code review on every plan; no AI training on paid plans
- No free plan; every tier is paid
- Included usage is small ($20 or $100 a month per team), and LLM usage carries a 40% service fee
- IDE extensions are not listed on any pricing plan (the docs list Cosmos and the Auggie CLI as the Business plan's products), and inline completions were deprecated for non-Enterprise plans on March 31, 2026
- SSO, SCIM and CMEK are listed under the custom-priced Enterprise plan
Cursor
- Free Hobby plan; no credit card needed to start
- Tab autocomplete with multi-line and cross-file edits
- One-click import of your VS Code extensions, themes, settings and keybindings
- Cloud agents from the web, iOS, Slack, GitHub or Linear, plus Automations and Bugbot
- SAML/OIDC SSO on the self-serve Teams plan; SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001
- Means switching editors, unless you run its agent in JetBrains through ACP on a paid plan
- Per-user team pricing, and seat usage does not transfer between team members
- Pooled usage, invoicing and SCIM point to the custom-priced Enterprise plan
- Extensions come from Open VSX, so some VS Code extensions may be missing or behave differently
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Augment Code if you:
- → Prefer a terminal agent and cloud agents to a new editor
- → Work across many repositories or services
- → Want one flat bill for a team of up to 50
- → Want triggered agents for PR review or incident work through Cosmos
Choose Cursor if you:
- → Want a free plan to try the tool before you pay
- → Rely on autocomplete as you type
- → Want AI built into a VS Code-based editor
- → Need SSO on a self-serve team plan
Bottom Line
Choose by how your team works and how you want to be billed. Cursor (4.8/5) is the stronger fit if you want AI built into a VS Code-based editor, with fast autocomplete and a free plan to try it. Augment Code (4.3/5) is the stronger fit if you want triggered cloud agents and a terminal agent grounded in deep context across large or multi-repo codebases, with one flat bill for up to 50 people, knowing its included usage is small and shared. The two also combine: Augment's Context Engine MCP runs inside Cursor.
Frequently asked questions
Augment Code vs Cursor, which one should I pick?
Pick Cursor if you want AI built into a code editor: it is based on the VS Code codebase and combines an agent, Tab autocomplete and cloud agents, with a free Hobby plan to start. Pick Augment Code if you want Cosmos cloud agents that run on triggers and the Auggie CLI in your terminal, both grounded in its Context Engine, which indexes code, history and related repos. Cursor scores 4.8/5 in our review and Augment Code scores 4.3/5.
Is Augment Code or Cursor cheaper?
For one developer, both paid entry plans cost $20 a month. For a team, the billing basis differs: Augment Standard is $20 a month flat and Business $100 a month flat, each for up to 50 seats, with that amount as the team's pooled usage, while Cursor Teams is $40 per user per month, or $120 for a Premium seat, with usage per seat. A five-person team pays $20 or $100 a month on Augment versus $200 on Cursor Teams, before extra usage.
Does Augment Code or Cursor have a free plan?
Cursor does. Its Hobby plan is free, needs no credit card and includes limited Agent requests. Augment Code has no free plan: its pricing page lists Standard at $20 a month, Business at $100 a month and custom-priced Enterprise.
Does Augment Code still work in VS Code?
Augment still publishes and documents a VS Code extension (last updated September 14, 2026), but its docs list Cosmos and the Auggie CLI as the products included in the Business plan and its pricing page does not list the extension on any plan, so confirm VS Code access with Augment before you buy. You can still run the Auggie CLI in a terminal next to any editor, or inside ACP clients such as Zed, JetBrains IDEs and Neovim.
Which is better for a large codebase?
Augment Code is built around this problem: its Context Engine semantically indexes your code, maps how files connect across repositories and services, and draws on commit history, docs and tickets. Cursor's agent searches with Instant Grep, which builds its index on your machine. Teams that mostly need answers about a sprawling multi-repo system lean to Augment; teams that want an editor-centric agent lean to Cursor.
Can I use Augment Code inside Cursor?
Yes, for codebase context. Augment publishes a Cursor quickstart for its Context Engine MCP: you install the Auggie CLI, sign in, and add it as an MCP server in Cursor's settings, which gives Cursor's agent a codebase-retrieval tool backed by Augment's index. Queries are billed to your Augment usage; Augment's docs put the average at roughly $0.03 to $0.06 per query.
Who owns Cursor now?
SpaceX. Cursor announced on August 14, 2026 that it had officially been acquired by SpaceX, completing a process that began in April with a model-training partnership with SpaceXAI. Cursor's plans are still sold under the Cursor name, and its lineup now includes Grok models that Cursor calls first-party, alongside Claude, GPT and Gemini models.