Cursor vs Claude Code: cancel Claude Code and switch

These things oscillate. Six months ago Claude Code felt like the whole game. It is not. Cursor is better than Claude Code. Cancel Claude Code. Switch.

Claude Code is a terminal locked to one model family. Cursor is the editor, Tab, inline edit, the same folder-and-command habit, and cloud agents that keep working after you close the laptop. You can still call Claude from Cursor. You also get GPT, Gemini, and Cursor's own models. Paying Anthropic a second time for a weaker loop is the mistake.

Switch: type agent, not claude

Install once. macOS, Linux, WSL:

curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash

Windows PowerShell:

irm 'https://cursor.com/install?win32=true' | iex

Then:

agent login
cd /path/to/your/project
agent

Same muscle memory. Folder, then the command. Claude Code was claude. Cursor is agent. Old blog posts still say cursor-agent. The binary is agent.

agent -p --force "refactor auth and add tests"
agent resume

Cloud agents run on their own VM (terminal, browser, desktop) from the IDE, cursor.com/agents, Slack @cursor, or a GitHub @cursor comment. Self-hosted worker, no inbound ports: agent worker start. Program them to stay up with a GitHub Action cron against the Cloud API, or a box that already has agent logged in. That is the product. Claude Code does not have this loop.

What you pay, then cancel Claude

Cursor prices are USD. Annual billing cuts 20%. Cursor Pro is $20 a month: premium models, unlimited Tab, extended Agent limits, Grok Bot, background agents. Pro+ is $60: 3x Agent usage, higher Grok Bot, priority premium capacity. That is the plan I use. Ultra is $200: 20x Agent, highest Grok Bot and throughput. Teams is $40 per user: shared cloud context, team rules, SSO, analytics, centralized billing.

Claude's public list, in euros: Free is €0 and does not include Claude Code. Claude Pro is €18 a month, or €15 if you pay €180 up front for the year. That is the SKU that unlocks Claude Code, Cowork, Design, Science, and more usage. Max starts at €90 a month for 5x or 20x Pro usage.

Entry is in the same band: Cursor Pro $20 vs Claude Pro €18. The step-up is not. Cursor Pro+ is $60. Claude Max starts at €90. You do not need both. Cancel Claude Code, keep one Cursor plan, type agent.