Head-to-head · facts checked 14 Sept 2026
bolt.new vs Cursor
Cursor uniquely has 7 features.
The verdict
bolt.new or Cursor?
Section 01
Pricing, plan by plan
Every plan each vendor publishes, monthly and yearly where both are offered.
bolt.new
Free
$0
300K tokens daily limit, 1M tokens/month, Bolt branding on sites, 10MB file upload, up to 333K web requests
Pro
$25/mo · @216/yr
No daily token limit, 10M tokens/month to start, no Bolt branding, 100MB uploads, 1M web requests, rollover tokens, custom domains, SEO, image editing
Teams
$30/mo per member · $324/yr
Everything in Pro plus centralized billing, team access management, private NPM registries, design system knowledge
Enterprise
Custom
Everything in Pro plus SSO, audit logs, dedicated account manager, 24/7 priority support, custom workflows, data governance
Cursor
Hobby
Free
Limited Agent requests and Tab completions, no credit card required
Pro (Individual)
$20/mo · $192/yr
Extended Agent limits, frontier model access, MCPs/skills/hooks, cloud agents, Bugbot on usage-based billing
Pro+ (Individual)
$60/mo · $576/yr
3x Agent limits, frontier model access, MCPs/skills/hooks, cloud agents, Bugbot on usage-based billing
Ultra (Individual)
$200/mo · $1,920/mo
20x Agent limits, frontier model access, MCPs/skills/hooks, cloud agents, Bugbot on usage-based billing, priority access to new features
Teams (Standard)
$40/mo/user · $384/yr/user
Everything in Pro plus centralized billing, team marketplace, Bugbot code reviews, shared cloud agents, usage analytics, SAML/OIDC SSO
Teams (Premium)
$120/mo/user · $1,152/yr/user
Everything in Pro plus centralized billing, 5x Agent limits, team marketplace, Bugbot code reviews, shared cloud agents, usage analytics, SAML/OIDC SSO
Enterprise
Custom
Everything in Teams plus pooled usage, SCIM, audit logs, access controls, invoice billing, AI code tracking API, priority support
Section 02
Pros and cons
From each tool's full review, written from the same checked facts.
bolt.new
Pros
- Generates full-stack web apps entirely in the browser without requiring any terminal access or local environment setup.
- WebContainers technology bundles the entire Node.js runtime in a browser tab, eliminating the need for external service accounts.
- Databases, hosting, and authentication are all bundled in through Bolt Cloud, reducing integration friction significantly.
- GitHub import is supported, so users can work with existing codebases rather than always starting from scratch.
- Supports deployment to Netlify and Vercel directly from the interface when projects are ready.
- The Bolt v2 update added autonomous debugging and Claude Opus 4.6 model support for more capable code generation.
- An intelligent routing layer (Bolt Agent) automatically directs tasks to the most appropriate AI model without user configuration.
- Designed specifically for non-engineers like product managers, entrepreneurs, and marketers who lack access to developers.
Cons
- The product was founded in 2024 and is still moving fast enough that some features and edges remain rough and unpolished.
- Public review records on platforms like Trustpilot and G2 raise enough concerns that prospective buyers need to proceed cautiously.
- The tool is not designed for professional developers building production infrastructure, limiting its ceiling for advanced use cases.
- Context handling for larger projects, while improved in v2, is noted as something that needs real-world validation beyond documentation claims.
- The autonomous nature of model selection means users have no control over which AI model handles their specific tasks.
- Being founded and moving quickly suggests the platform may lack the stability and maturity expected from enterprise-grade tooling.
Cursor
Pros
- Cursor is a full IDE fork of VS Code, preserving familiar muscle memory, extensions, and keybindings while deeply integrating AI as the primary interface.
- Supports multiple frontier AI models including GPT-4.5, Claude Opus, Google Gemini, and Grok, letting developers choose the right model for each task.
- Codebase indexing builds a semantic map of the entire project so AI responses are informed by the whole repo, not just the currently open file.
- Tab completions are context-aware and capable of multi-line, multi-thought suggestions rather than single-line autocomplete.
- Version 2.0 introduced parallel agents and background agents, expanding what can be automated within a single development session.
- Adopted at scale by enterprises like NVIDIA across 40,000 engineers, indicating enterprise-grade reliability and team-level viability.
- The integrated experience feels more cohesive than plugin-based alternatives because AI is rebuilt into the editor core, not bolted on.
Cons
- Cursor requires replacing your existing editor entirely rather than functioning as a plugin, which is a significant commitment for developers invested in their current setup.
- This review is based on secondary research including vendor documentation and pricing pages rather than direct hands-on testing, which limits the depth of certain findings.
- Locking into a full IDE fork creates dependency risk if Cursor's development pace slows or pricing changes substantially.
- Developers who prefer a lightweight or highly customized editor environment may find the VS Code base restrictive even with extensions available.
- The breadth of model options, while a strength, may create decision fatigue for teams that want a simple, opinionated default workflow.
- As a relatively young company founded in 2022, long-term enterprise support guarantees and roadmap stability are less proven than established IDE vendors.
Side by side
| Company | ||
| Founded | 2024 | 2022 |
| HQ | Austin, Texas, USA | San Francisco, USA |
| AI model | Proprietary routing (multiple models including Claude Opus 4.6 and others via Bolt Agent) | Multiple — OpenAI GPT-5.5, Anthropic Claude/Opus, Google Gemini, Grok, Cursor proprietary models |
| User base | 1M+ (estimated based on market position) | 500K+ (Fortune 500 adoption, 40,000+ NVIDIA engineers cited) |
| Platforms | Web | macOS, Windows, Linux, CLI, Slack, GitHub |
| Languages | JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, React, Vue, Node.js, and other web frameworks | All major programming languages — Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Rust, Go, Java, C/C++, Ruby, and 50+ more |
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | No | No time-limited trial — the Hobby plan is free permanently, with no credit card required |
| Starting price | $25/mo (Pro) | $20/mo (Pro) |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
| All plans | Free — $0 Pro — $25/mo Teams — $30/mo per member Enterprise — Custom | Hobby — Free Pro (Individual) — $20/mo Pro+ (Individual) — $60/mo Ultra (Individual) — $200/mo Teams (Standard) — $40/mo/user Teams (Premium) — $120/mo/user Enterprise — Custom |
| Positioning | ||
| Best for | Product managers, entrepreneurs, marketers, agencies, and students who want to build full-stack web apps via AI chat without writing code | Software developers and engineering teams building complex, large-scale software with AI-assisted and agentic coding workflows |
| Differentiator | Bolt auto-routes to the best AI model per task, runs a full WebContainers environment in-browser with built-in hosting, databases, auth, and supports enterprise design systems — all in one interface with no extra accounts needed. | Cursor is a full AI-native IDE (VS Code fork) with agentic, parallel, and cloud-based coding agents that autonomously build, test, and deploy features end-to-end with deep codebase indexing and multi-model frontier access. |
| Competitors | Lovable, Cursor, Replit, v0 by Vercel, GitHub Copilot | GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Tabnine, Amazon CodeWhisperer, Codeium |
| Features | ||
| Cli Support | ✕ | ✓ |
| Code Completion | ✓ | ✓ |
| Code Generation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Code Review | ✓ | ✓ |
| Codebase Indexing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Debugging | ✓ | ✓ |
| Git Integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| IDE Plugins | ✕ | ✓ |
| Multi Language Support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Refactoring | ✓ | ✓ |
| Security Scanning | — | ✓ |
| Self Hosted Option | ✓ | ✓ |
| Team Features | ✓ | ✓ |
| Test Generation | — | ✓ |
| Integrations | ||
| API Access | ✕ | — |
| Github Integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| Gitlab Integration | — | ✓ |
| Jetbrains Plugin | ✕ | ✓ |
| Key Integrations | GitHub, Figma, Material UI, Chakra UI, Shadcn UI, Porsche Design System, Washington Post Design System, Supabase (database), custom NPM registries | GitHub, Slack, Vercel, Snowflake (via agents), MCP (Model Context Protocol) tools, Automations/webhooks |
| Vscode Extension | ✕ | ✓ |
Section 03
bolt.new vs Cursor: common questions
Is bolt.new or Cursor cheaper?
bolt.new's cheapest paid plan is $25/mo (Pro) and Cursor's is $20/mo (Pro). Compare what each plan includes below before going on price alone.
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