Cursor

I switched from VS Code + Copilot to Cursor about four months ago, and it's changed how I write code. Not in a small way — in a "I can't imagine going back" way.\n\nCursor is a fork of VS Code, so all your extensions, settings, and keybindings work. The difference is that AI isn't an addon — it's baked into everything. The codebase indexing is what sets it apart. When I ask Cursor to "refactor the authentication flow," it actually finds every file that touches auth, updates imports, and keeps everything consistent. Copilot can't do that — it works file-by-file.\n\nThe Composer feature (agent mode) is where Cursor gets wild. I describe a feature in plain English — "add pagination to the user list, update the API endpoint, add tests" — and Cursor implements it across multiple files. It's not perfect (maybe 85% right on the first try), but it handles the mechanical work that used to eat my afternoons.\n\nI've used it to migrate a project from JavaScript to TypeScript across 30+ files in a single session. Cursor found every file, updated the types, fixed the imports, and even caught a few bugs in the process. I still had to review everything and tweak maybe 15% of the changes, but it saved me a full day of work.\n\nThe chat is also better than Copilot's because it understands your whole project. I can ask "where is the payment logic handled?" and it'll point me to the right files and explain how they connect. For onboarding to new codebases, that's invaluable.\n\nThe downsides: it's $20/month on top of whatever you were already paying, and you're one VS Code update cycle behind (new VS Code features take a few weeks to land in Cursor). For simple autocomplete, Copilot is faster and cheaper. But if you work on complex projects and want an AI that actually understands your codebase, Cursor is worth every penny.

I've been a VS Code user since it launched. I tried Cursor in January 2025 because a coworker wouldn't shut up about it. Four months later, I've completely switched and I'm not going back.\n\n**The codebase understanding is real.**\n\nHere's a concrete example: I was working on a Next.js app with about 80 files. I needed to add a new field to the user profile — display name. In VS Code + Copilot, that would mean manually finding every place the user type was defined, every API route that returned user data, every component that displayed user info, and updating them all.\n\nIn Cursor, I typed: "Add a displayName field to the user profile. Update the database schema, API routes, TypeScript types, and the profile component." Cursor found 12 files, showed me the changes it planned to make, and executed them. About 90% of the changes were correct on the first try. I spent 20 minutes reviewing and fixing the rest. Total time: 45 minutes. Without Cursor, that would have been 3-4 hours.\n\n**Composer mode is a game-changer for big changes.**\n\nLast month, I needed to migrate our API from REST to GraphQL. That touched maybe 40 files — new schema definitions, updated resolvers, modified frontend queries, rewritten tests. I broke it into chunks and used Composer for each one. "Convert the user endpoints to GraphQL," "update the frontend queries," "rewrite the tests." Each chunk took 10-15 minutes of Cursor work plus 20 minutes of my review. The whole migration, which I estimated would take a week, was done in two days.\n\nWas it perfect? No. Maybe 15% of the changes needed manual fixes. Cursor doesn't understand business logic or edge cases the way a human does. But it handled the mechanical parts — the imports, the type updates, the boilerplate — which is where I was spending most of my time.\n\n**The chat is actually useful.**\n\nCopilot's chat works on the current file. Cursor's chat works on your whole project. I can ask "how does the payment flow work?" and it'll trace through the Stripe integration, the webhook handlers, the database updates, and the email notifications. For understanding unfamiliar codebases, that's invaluable. I've used it to onboard to three new projects in the last two months, and it cut my ramp-up time in half.\n\n**The downsides are real but manageable:**\n\nYou're on a VS Code fork, which means you're always one update behind. When VS Code added that new terminal feature last month, I had to wait two weeks for it to land in Cursor. For most people, that's not a big deal. For power users who need bleeding-edge VS Code features, it's annoying.\n\nThe $20/month Pro plan is required for the good stuff (Composer, codebase indexing, unlimited chat). That's on top of whatever you were already paying for Copilot or other tools. For me, it's worth it — I estimate Cursor saves me 5-10 hours a week on a complex project. For hobbyists or people working on simple scripts, it's overkill.\n\nThe AI can be slow on large projects. When I'm working on a repo with 500+ files, the indexing takes a few minutes on startup, and complex Composer requests can take 30-60 seconds to execute. It's not instant, but it's fast enough that I'm not waiting around.\n\n**Alternatives I've considered:**\n\nCopilot is cheaper and faster for simple autocomplete, but it can't do multi-file work. Codeium is free and decent, but it doesn't have Cursor's codebase awareness. Windsurf is Cursor's main competitor — I tried it for a week and found Cursor's interface cleaner and the Composer mode more reliable.\n\n**My honest take:**\n\nCursor isn't for everyone. If you're writing simple scripts or working on small projects, Copilot is sufficient and cheaper. But if you're a professional developer working on complex codebases, Cursor's $20/month pays for itself in the first week. The ability to make cross-file changes, understand your whole project, and automate mechanical work is worth more than any other tool I've used.\n\nI'm not going back to VS Code + Copilot. Cursor is what I didn't know I needed, and now I can't imagine coding without it.