Automate Basics

Claude Code vs GitHub Copilot vs Cursor

Pick up to 4 tools and see their free plans, entry prices, platforms and limits in one table. Every fact comes from each vendor's own pages, checked 27 October 2026.

Written head to head: Cursor vs GitHub Copilot · GitHub Copilot vs Claude Code, with when to choose each side.

Compared on
Claude Code

From $17/mo

GitHub Copilot

Free plan · from $10/mo

Cursor

Free plan · from $20/mo

What it isAnthropic's agentic coding tool for the terminal, IDEs, desktop and webGitHub's AI coding assistant for code completion, chat, agents and reviewAI code editor with agents that write and change code
Free planNo2,000 code completions per month and a limited monthly allowance of AI credits for chat and agent features; models by auto selection; agent mode and Copilot CLI included; no cloud agent or code review; no credit card requiredHobby plan: limited Agent requests, access to Composer, no credit card required
Cheapest paid plan$17/mo billed annually (Claude Pro)Claude Code pricing$10/mo (Pro)GitHub Copilot pricing$20/mo (Pro)Cursor pricing
What it coversClaude Code is included in Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise and shares usage limits with the subscription. Annual Pro billing is $200 up front. Console accounts pay standard API rates instead.Unlimited code completions and next edit suggestions; 1,500 AI credits a month (1,000 base and 500 flex).The page says yearly billing saves 20%; yearly per-month prices were not shown.
Free trialNone statedNone statedNone stated
PlatformsmacOS, Windows, Linux, Web, iOS, Android, APIWeb, macOS, Windows, LinuxmacOS, Windows, Linux, Web
Integrations (vendor's figure)Not statedNot statedNot stated
Open sourceNoNoNo
Good for
  • Fixing a bug by pasting in the error message
  • Writing tests and updating dependencies across a project
  • Automating code review on GitHub
  • Getting code suggestions while writing scripts or apps
  • Asking questions about an unfamiliar codebase
  • Reviewing pull requests before merging
  • Building or changing a small app by describing the change
  • Fixing bugs across several files
  • Running coding tasks in the cloud while away from the desk
Watch out for
  • Not included in the free Claude plan
  • Usage counts against the same limits as the Claude subscription
  • The desktop app requires a paid subscription
  • The Free plan is capped at 2,000 completions per month
  • Paid plans include a monthly AI credit allowance (1,500 on Pro); extra usage costs $0.01 per credit
  • Cloud agent and code review are not in the Free plan
  • The Hobby plan has limited Agent requests
  • Bugbot is billed on usage on top of the plan price
  • Enterprise pricing requires contacting sales
Made byAnthropicGitHub (Microsoft)Anysphere, Inc.

Entry prices are the cheapest paid plan, as each vendor publishes it; “What it covers” says what that price is per (a user, a channel, a brand, a number of contacts). The sources are listed on each tool's page.

Every tool in AI coding assistants is on its category page, with the written head-to-heads on Compare.