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Cursor vs OpenCode

Two sides of the AI coding assistants decision: AI-first editor and terminal agent. When each fits, what it costs, who moves from one to the other, and what makers who chose it say.

CursorAI-first editorllms.txt
OpenCodeTerminal agentCLI
Ask your AI about this, with this page as the source:ChatGPT ↗Claude ↗Perplexity ↗

Which fits you

Choose Cursor if
  • You want to see and steer each change inside your editor

Use it whenYou like working in an editor and want to see and steer each change as it happens.

Trade-offHeavy agent use is billed through credits, so costs can grow beyond the base plan.

Choose OpenCode if
  • You want to switch between model providers freely or keep your tools open source

Use it whenYou want to switch models freely or keep your agent tooling open source.

Trade-offResult quality depends on the model you connect, and you manage provider keys and costs yourself.

At a glance

CursorOpenCode
Used by538 makers' products42 makers' products
Cost at default usagedevelopers 1 seat$20/mo Pro$10/mo Go
Moved to it on GitHubpull requests since Oct 2024fewer than 314 from Cursor
Downloads★ 210.3k
PricingFree Hobby tier; paid Pro/Pro+/Ultra individual plans and per-seat Teams/Enterprise plans, usage billed via credits. · paid from $20/moFree (open source, MIT) with your own model provider or subscription; optional paid model access through OpenCode Zen (pay as you go) or OpenCode Go ($10/month). · paid from $10/mo
Free tierYesYes
Open sourceNoYes
Incidents, 90 daysfrom its status page50+ (15 major)no public status feed

Who moves from one to the other

Public pull requests on GitHub since Oct 2024 whose title says "Cursor to OpenCode" or the reverse — real code changes, by developers in general rather than makers only.

Fewer than 3 pull requests move from OpenCode to Cursor.
Cursor → OpenCode14 PRs
All matching pull requests on GitHub ↗

What makers say

Makers on using it for AI coding assistants, from Product Hunt and Starter Story interviews, each linked to the source. Products with a page of their own and fuller notes first.

On Cursor
Cursor was our main AI assisted IDE for coding. Writing complex backend logic became so much faster. It literally feels like having a senior developer building the product with you.
Askiva AI, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Fork of VSCode with an agentic coding focus. Especially easy to manage models and spin up multi-model results for a single query and have all the work trees handled automagically.
Astropad Workbench, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Cursor speeds up our coding. It’s like a better version of GitHub Copilot and lets us chat with our codebase, making it easier to navigate and understand. Cant go back without this.
Central, the makerSep 2026 ↗
344 more on the Cursor page →
On OpenCode
A strong open local coding-agent runtime. We like it because it keeps agent work close to the developer environment while still fitting into a shared workspace through Vokal.
Vokal, the makerSep 2026 ↗
One of the agents the manager runs. Its config merge is how the manager registers itself as an MCP server inside a session, so an agent can rename itself and declare the repo it is working in.
agent-manager, the makerSep 2026 ↗
OpenCode has been part of my day-to-day development workflow while building Kapshot. It helped me explore ideas, iterate quickly, debug issues, and spend more time actually shipping the product.
Kapshot, the makerSep 2026 ↗
23 more on the OpenCode page →

Loved and watch-outs

Themes that recur in makers' words and Hacker News comments, each linked to what it summarises.

Cursor
Most loved
  • Tab completion is fast and accurate, and stays useful when hand-editing code or when agents fall short on large tasks. PHHNHN 2PH 2
  • Changes arrive as reviewable diffs in the editor, keeping the developer in control in bite-size steps. PHHNHN 2PH 2
  • Chatting with the codebase in context helps developers navigate and understand unfamiliar code. PHPH 2PH 3PH 4
Watch-outs
  • The subscription feels pricey next to Claude or Codex plugins, and premium model requests add per-use costs. HNHN 2
  • The agent can claim a bug is fixed without seeing the running app, so output has to be checked and tested by hand. HNHN 2
On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 956 reviews · mentioned most: seamless integration, intelligent code suggestions, code generation · complaints: context aware, occasional crashes
OpenCode
Most loved
  • Works with models from any provider, so teams run a strong model on hard work and a cheap one on grunt tasks. PHHNHN 2
  • Open source with an SDK and plugin system, so products are built on it without vendor lock-in. PHHN
  • The low-cost Go plan gives heavy usage of open models and rarely hits limits. HNHN 2HN 3HN 4
Watch-outs
  • Session management and prompt caching have been unreliable for some users. HNHN 2
  • It is more opinionated and harder to hack on than minimal harnesses, and some find its code sloppy. HNHN 2
On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 49 reviews

Who uses each

Cursor538 makers' products
AdCreative.aiAgentplace.ioAI Context Flowai_liciaAirbook AIAirtopAmieAmurexAndsendAnnotateAPIRadarAra+526 more
OpenCode42 makers' products
agent-managerBlop AIBrev.ioCosyraCushionDMV by Agent CommunityEdgeeFoglioGAIAKapshotMycelOpenAdapter+30 more
Used by both — often one replacing the other, or each for a different part of the product
EdgeeReplayTaskShellZyphe

What makers pair each with

With Cursor
Hosting
Transactional Email
LLM API
Frontend Framework
With OpenCode
Frontend Framework
Hosting
Transactional Email
Payments

Neither quite right?

See the whole AI coding assistants decision →
Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)AI-first editorA VS Code-style editor with unlimited Tab completions, an in-editor agent, and one place to manage local and cloud Devin agents.vs Cursor →
Claude CodeTerminal agentHanding off multi-step tasks — features, refactors, bug hunts — to an agent that reads the repo, edits files and runs commands.vs Cursor →vs OpenCode →
OpenAI CodexTerminal agentDelegating tasks to an agent in the terminal, IDE or desktop app, or to cloud tasks that run in the background and open pull requests.vs Cursor →vs OpenCode →
GitHub CopilotEditor pluginAdding AI completions, chat and agents to the editor you already use, including VS Code and JetBrains IDEs, plus pull request reviews on GitHub.vs Cursor →