G
GAI coding assistant and agents for editors, terminal, desktop and GitHub
Free, from $10/mo
Aider vs Cursor
Pricing, features, platforms and who each one suits — side by side.
A
Choose Aider if…
- you want open source you can self-host or audit
- you're in its core audience: software developers, command-line users
C
Choose Cursor if…
- you work on macOS, Web, Slack
- you're in its core audience: software developers, engineering teams
Side by side
Feature Aider Cursor
Pricing modelFreeFreemium
Starting priceFree$8/mo
Free plan
Free trial
API
Open source
Trains AI on your content—Yes, unless you opt out
Data retention—Kept only as long as necessary for operations and legitimate business needs
Security and compliance—SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 42001
Updates, last 90 days—5
Agent mode—
CLI / terminal
Cloud agents—
AI PR review—
Bring your own key—
Local / self-hosted models—
MCP support—
Platforms—macOS, Web, Slack
CategoryCode AssistantsCode Assistants
Company—Anysphere, Inc.
Based in——
Founded——
Part of—SpaceX
Key features
A Aider
- Terminal-based AI pair programming
- Works with cloud and local LLMs
- Map of the whole codebase for larger projects
- Supports 100+ programming languages
- Auto-commits changes to git with descriptive messages
- Runs linters and tests, then fixes problems they find
- Uses images and web pages as context
- Voice requests and in-IDE code comments
C Cursor
- Agent mode that plans and builds features from prompts
- Cloud agents running tasks in parallel on own machines
- Command-line agent installable via curl
- Slack integration that opens pull requests
- AI code reviews on GitHub PRs via Bugbot
- Model choice across OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, SpaceXAI, Cursor
- Cmd+K targeted inline edits
- Privacy mode excluding code from training
Plans and prices
From each vendor's site. Prices change — confirm before buying.
Aider
Free. Plan details aren't published.
Cursor
Free$0/month
Plus$8/month
Premium$30/month
Super$100/month
Ultra$200/month
Teams$30+/user/month
EnterpriseCustom
Strengths and limitations
Aider
- Code is public on GitHub
- Works with many LLMs, including local models
- Every edit is committed to git, so changes are easy to review or undo
- Runs linters and tests automatically
- Terminal-only interface with no GUI app listed
- You supply your own model API key
- Installed through Python and pip
Cursor
- Free plan available
- Works in desktop, terminal, Slack and GitHub
- Supports models from several providers
- SOC 2, ISO27001 and ISO42001 certified
- Plus plan is limited to Grok models
- Third-party model usage is billed separately at API list price
- Cloud agents and code reviews require Premium ($30/month) or higher
- Prices exclude taxes
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Built from each vendor's public website; we haven't tested them hands-on. Editorial policy