Is Cursor Worth $20/mo? I Used It Daily for 6 Months

Tested by Alex: I paid for the premium tier of out of my own pocket to write this unbiased review. No vendor sponsorships, no free accounts from PR teams. If you spot any conflict of interest, tell me.

First published 2026-07-06 · Last updated 2026-07-06 · By Alex Liu

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. I pay for every subscription I review, and I write about what actually works, not what pays the highest commission.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use for free, or do I need to pay?

You can use on the free tier with limited completions per month. The Pro plan at $20/mo unlocks unlimited Tab completions and full Agent mode. I tested both. The free tier is enough to evaluate but heavy users will hit the limits within a week.

Is better than VS Code with GitHub Copilot?

For Tab autocomplete, feels faster and more context-aware than Copilot because it indexes your whole project. For multi-file refactors, I still use Claude Code. For day-to-day coding, is my primary tool. Copilot is better for teams on existing VS Code setups.

Will send my code to its servers?

Yes, by default. sends code context to its LLM provider for completions. They offer privacy mode in settings where code is not stored or used for training. I have privacy mode on for client work.

Does work with JetBrains / IntelliJ / Vim?

No. is a VS Code fork and only runs as a desktop app. There is no plugin for IntelliJ. Vim users can try the CLI but you lose most of the UI features. If you are locked into JetBrains, is not for you.

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Alex, founder of saas.pet
By Alex Founder, saas.pet

I've been testing and reviewing AI tools for 2+ years. I run saas.pet as a side project while working as a software engineer. I buy every subscription I review. No vendor pitches, no free accounts. If a tool is in my rotation, I pay for it.

📅 Last updated 2026-07-06 LinkedIn Dev.to
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📊 How this tool ranks
is ranked 4.5/5 in saas.pet's AI Code Editor category. Ranking factors: my 90+ days of hands-on testing (40%), community votes (30%), feature completeness (20%), and pricing fairness (10%). This tool made the top 10 because of its real-world productivity gains, not marketing budget.

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