Pricing
Is Cursor Free? What the Hobby Plan Gets You in 2026 (and What It Doesn't)
Yes, Cursor has a free plan, but it's capped. What Hobby includes, what you lose versus paid plans, the student route, and whether local models get around it.
6 min read
Cursor plans, annual prices, model access, API-key rules and usage limits checked Oct 23, 2026 in Cursor’s pricing help, models and pricing, API keys and usage limits pages. This page has no affiliate links (how we work).
Yes, Cursor is free to download and use, with a $0 plan called Free (the old Hobby plan “works the same way”). You get Agent, Chat and Tab completions on Cursor’s own models, with “limited usage”. Cursor doesn’t publish how limited. You don’t get third-party models, and the docs don’t say whether Free accepts your own API key. The cheapest paid plan is now Plus at $8 a month. Every plan is in our Cursor pricing post; this page only answers the free question.
We haven’t measured how far Free stretches. Everything below is from Cursor’s own help and docs pages.
The short answer
- Free: $0, Cursor models only, limited usage that refreshes weekly.
- Plus: $8/mo or $80/yr. More usage, still no third-party models and no own API keys.
- Premium: $30/mo or $300/yr, 4x Plus usage, and your own API keys work.
- Students: no student discount right now.
- Comparing editors: see AI coding tools compared.
What Cursor’s free plan includes
Cursor’s wording (verified Oct 23, 2026): “Free gives you access to Cursor’s core features with limited usage. You can use Agent, Chat, and Tab completions with Cursor models (Grok and Composer)”. And: “The legacy Hobby plan works the same way”.
So you can install Cursor and use the editor, agent and autocomplete without paying. What you can’t do on Free: “Plus and Free don’t include third-party models” (models and pricing). No picking a Claude or GPT model from the menu.
How much usage? Cursor lists Free as “Limited” and gives no number. Its usage page says “your included pool refreshes weekly”, and when you run out you can “keep working from your prepaid credit, wait for your weekly pool to reset, or upgrade”. Unused usage doesn’t roll over.
A quick word on names, because Cursor has had its New Coke moment. Hobby is now Free, and Pro ($20), Pro+ ($60) and Ultra ($200) are now “legacy” plans. Cursor says switching from a legacy plan to the new lineup is optional and permanent. If you’re on legacy Pro and happy, nobody’s forcing you out, but there’s no way back once you switch.
Free vs paid
| Feature | Free | Plus | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 | $8 | $30 |
| Annual | $0 | $80/yr | $300/yr |
| Usage | Limited | Base | 4x Plus |
| Third-party | No | No | Not excluded |
| Own API keys | Not stated | No | Yes |
| Pool reset | Weekly | Weekly | Weekly |
Sources: Cursor pricing help, models and pricing, API keys and usage limits, all verified Oct 23, 2026. “Not excluded” means Cursor’s exclusion line names only Free and Plus. Prices exclude tax. Above Premium sit Super ($100/mo, 15x) and Ultra ($200/mo, 50x). More tools: AI coding tools compared.
Plus is the Rachel’s-trifle plan: half of it is a real upgrade, the other half tastes like feet. It’s $8, it’s more usage, and then the docs list what it doesn’t have: “No Auto, Cloud Agents, Automations, Bugbot, Origin, third-party models, or your own API keys.” If third-party models are the reason you’d pay, Plus won’t get you there; Premium will.
Can you use Cursor free with your own API key or a local LLM?
Own API key: Cursor supports keys from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Azure OpenAI and AWS Bedrock, set in Cursor Settings > Models. But “Custom API keys only work with chat models. Tab completion continues using Cursor’s built-in models.” The individual plans Cursor names for own-key use are “Premium, Super, and Ultra, and the legacy Pro, Pro+, and Ultra plans”, and Plus explicitly excludes it. Free isn’t mentioned either way, so check current docs before counting on it. Also worth knowing: keys go through Cursor’s backend (Cursor says they’re “not persisted”), and Zero Data Retention doesn’t apply when you use your own key.
Local LLM (Ollama and friends): Cursor’s docs don’t cover it. No page we checked mentions local models, so we can’t tell you it works. If running models on your own machine is the point, the free tools below document it.
Free for students?
Not right now. Cursor’s student page publishes no discount and tells students to “look out for promotions” (cursor.com/students, verified Oct 22, 2026). The free routes students do have are in our Cursor student discount post.
Free alternatives if the cap bites
- GitHub Copilot Free: $0 with 2,000 completions a month and an unsized AI-credit allowance, auto model selection only (GitHub docs, verified Oct 23, 2026). Details: GitHub Copilot Free.
- Cline: the open-source extension is “completely free for individual developers”; you pay only for AI inference, and its homepage lists “local Ollama / LM Studio” (cline.bot, verified Oct 22, 2026). See Cline vs Claude Code.
- OpenCode: free software that supports “75+ LLM providers” and “running local models” (OpenCode providers docs, verified Oct 20, 2026). See OpenCode vs Claude Code.
- Google Antigravity: $0 for individuals with “Unlimited Tab completions” and “Basic weekly rate limits” (antigravity.google/pricing, verified Oct 22, 2026). See Antigravity pricing.
More options in Cursor alternatives.
Here’s what I’d do
Install Cursor on Free and use it until the weekly pool runs dry. If it’s dry by Wednesday every week, you’ve learned you’re a paying user. Skip Plus if you want third-party models or your own keys, since it excludes both; Premium at $30 (or $300 a year) is the first new plan where Cursor documents own-key use. If you need local models or want to pay only for tokens, Cline or OpenCode fits better than Cursor at any price.
Already paying and hitting the cap? Cursor usage limits covers resets and top-ups, and Cursor Pro vs Pro+ covers the legacy plans.
Want the student angle? Is Cursor free for students? covers what Cursor publishes (and what it doesn’t).
Comparing free tiers? Is Google Antigravity free? covers Antigravity’s free plan.
Comparing free tiers? Is Kiro free? covers AWS’s Kiro.
Blocked with “Too many free trial accounts used on this machine”? Cursor’s free trial error explains the flag and the legit fixes.
If Cursor says “You’ve hit your usage limit”, the Cursor usage-limit error explains the reset and on-demand vs upgrading.
Free or paid, the “High Load” message has its own cause: Cursor High Load error.
Past free and into paid: legacy Pro+ vs Ultra is covered in Cursor Pro+ vs Ultra.
Past the free tier, the current paid choice is Cursor Plus vs Premium.
Free or paid, a resume failure is a chat-history issue: Cursor error resuming chat.
FAQ
Is Cursor free for personal use? Yes, Cursor’s Free plan costs $0 and includes Agent, Chat and Tab on Cursor’s own models with limited usage.
Is Cursor free forever? Free is listed as a $0 plan alongside the paid ones, with limited usage that refreshes weekly.
Is Cursor free with a local LLM? Cursor’s docs don’t cover local models, so there’s no documented free local-LLM route.
Is Cursor or Copilot free better? Copilot Free publishes a 2,000-completion monthly cap while Cursor Free publishes no number, so Copilot is easier to plan around.
Sources
- Cursor pricing help: https://cursor.com/help/account-and-billing/pricing (verified 2026-10-23)
- Cursor models and pricing: https://cursor.com/docs/models-and-pricing (verified 2026-10-23)
- Cursor API keys: https://cursor.com/help/models-and-usage/api-keys (verified 2026-10-23)
- Cursor usage limits: https://cursor.com/help/models-and-usage/usage-limits (verified 2026-10-23)
- Cursor students: https://cursor.com/students (verified 2026-10-22)
- GitHub Copilot billing: https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/concepts/billing-and-usage/individuals/billing (verified 2026-10-23)
- Cline pricing and homepage: https://cline.bot/pricing and https://cline.bot/ (verified 2026-10-22)
- OpenCode providers: https://opencode.ai/docs/providers (verified 2026-10-20)
- Google Antigravity pricing: https://antigravity.google/pricing (verified 2026-10-22)