Head-to-head · AI coding assistants · facts checked 14 Sept 2026
Cursor vs Devin
Cursor scores 8.4 to Devin's 7.7 among the AI coding assistants we rate, and is the better pick for 1 of the 4 kinds of buyer below.
From
$20/mo (Pro plan)
Free plan
Yes — Free tier with limited quota
The verdict
Cursor wins, 8.4 to 7.7
Both start at $20 a month and both run agents in the cloud that work on a repository without your machine. Devin, the editor formerly sold as Windsurf, counts Pro use against a daily and weekly quota and then charges for credits. We could not find a SOC 2 report or a training policy on Devin's site; Cursor has SOC 2 and lets you switch training off.
Pick Cursor if you need a SOC 2 report and a stated training opt-out.
Pick Devin if you want DeepSeek among the models and an agent-first product.
Best for
Who each one suits, decided on the criteria that matter to that buyer and the checked facts where the two differ.
Developers on large codebases
Too close to call
Cursor 10.0 · Devin 10.0 on agents and your codebase
Developers paying their own way
Too close to call
Cursor 8.9 · Devin 8.9 on pricing
Teams that pick their own models
Cursor
Cursor 8.0 · Devin 5.0 on model freedom
- Bring your own API key: Cursor yes, Devin no
Companies strict about code privacy
Too close to call
Cursor 7.3 · Devin 7.0 on privacy and security and where it works
- Does not train AI on your code: Cursor Unless you opt out, Devin not published
- Legal cover for generated code: Cursor no, Devin not published
- Editors and terminals it works in: Cursor Cli, jetbrains, xcode, own editor, Devin Cli, vscode, jetbrains, own editor
Section 01
How they score
Both are scored the same way, against the other AI coding assistants we rate, from facts on each vendor's own pages. Cursor leads on 2 of 5 criteria.
Agents and your codebase25% of the score
Cursor10.0
Devin10.0
Pricing20% of the score
Cursor8.9
Devin8.9
Model freedom20% of the score
Cursor8.0
Devin5.0
Privacy and security20% of the score
Cursor7.5
Devin7.0
Where it works15% of the score
Cursor7.0
Devin7.0
Section 02
Where they differ
Every point where the two vendors' published facts disagree, with a link to where each fact was read. "Not published" means the vendor does not say either way.
Published by only one of them
AI model families you can choose
Does not train AI on your code
Devin
Not published
SOC 2
Devin
Not published
Legal cover for generated code
Devin
Not published
Where they match (10)
Section 03
Pricing, plan by plan
Every plan each vendor publishes, monthly and yearly where both are offered.
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
Devin
Free
$0/mo
Light quota for coding with agents, limited model availability, unlimited inline edits and Tab completions
Pro
$20/mo
Increased quotas, full model availability, frontier model access (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini), Devin Cloud access
Max
$200/mo
Everything in Pro plus significantly higher usage quotas for power users
Teams
$80/mo team + $40/mo per full dev seat
Everything in Pro plus unlimited team members, collaboration, centralized billing, admin dashboard, priority support
Enterprise
Custom
Everything in Teams plus dedicated account management, SAML/OIDC SSO, VPC deployment, enterprise admin controls
Section 04
Pros and cons
From each tool's full review, written from the same checked facts.
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.
Devin
Pros
- Devin operates autonomously on complex, multi-hour tasks like codebase migrations and large refactors, not just autocomplete suggestions.
- The cloud-based environment includes a terminal, browser, and code editor, requiring no local installation for the core agent.
- Supports full multi-file and multi-repo code generation, making it suitable for enterprise-scale projects.
- Devin 2.0 introduced meaningful improvements to task completion efficiency, representing a substantial product update.
- Integrates with existing developer workflows via Jira tickets and CI pipeline triage, reducing manual overhead.
- Uses a proprietary model (SWE-1.7) supplemented by frontier models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google for task flexibility.
- Targets genuinely differentiated use cases like COBOL migrations and automated CI failure investigation that tools like Copilot don't address.
Cons
- Self-reported benchmarks like the claimed 83% task completion improvement are difficult to independently verify and should be treated with skepticism.
- The underlying model routing logic between SWE-1.7 and third-party models is not documented in any useful detail.
- The company was only founded in 2024, meaning long-term reliability and enterprise track record are largely unproven.
- The homepage marketing is aggressive and oversells the 'first AI software engineer' positioning without sufficient nuance.
- No hands-on independent testing was possible for this review, limiting the depth of real-world performance assessment.
- The proprietary model architecture creates vendor lock-in risk with limited transparency into how decisions are made.
Section 05
Cursor vs Devin: common questions
Which is better, Cursor or Devin?
Cursor scores 8.4 and Devin 7.7 out of 10 among the AI coding assistants we rate. Cursor is ahead on model freedom and privacy and security.
Is Cursor or Devin cheaper?
Cursor's cheapest paid plan is $20/mo (Pro) and Devin's is $20/mo (Pro plan). Compare what each plan includes below before going on price alone.
Do Cursor and Devin have a free plan?
Yes, both do.
What can Cursor do that Devin cannot?
On the facts both vendors publish: bring your own API key.
Keep comparing
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