Cursor vs Zed (2026): pricing, limits and models compared

Cursor compared with Zed
	Cursor	Zed
What it is	A proprietary AI code editor with cloud agents, Bugbot reviews and code hosting.	An open-source native editor written in Rust, with an agent panel and external agents via ACP.
Platforms	macOS, Windows and Linux, plus CLI and an iOS app in beta.	macOS 12+, Windows 10/11 and Linux. No web version.
Free option	Limited agent and chat requests.	Personal: free forever with your own keys or external agents.
Paid plans	Plus $8 · Premium $30 · Super $100 · Ultra $200 · Teams from $30/seat	Pro $10 · Business $30/seat
How AI usage is billed	A weekly pool for Grok and Cursor's models; Claude, GPT and Gemini at API list price on Premium and up.	Pro includes $5 of tokens, then API list price plus 10%, with a spending cap.
Run other agents	Its own agent and cloud agents; extensions such as Codex and Cline install in it, and CLI agents run in its terminal.	Hosts Claude, Codex, OpenCode, Copilot, Gemini CLI and others through ACP, at no charge from Zed.
Your own keys and local models	Own keys on Premium and up for chat models. No local models listed.	Own keys for many providers, plus Ollama, LM Studio and any compatible endpoint, on the free plan.
Your code	Trained on only with Privacy Mode off.	Zed says it doesn't retain prompts or code by default; providers can't train on it.
Teams	SOC 2 Type II, SSO, pooled usage on Enterprise.	Business has org-wide policies but no SSO, SCIM or SOC 2 yet.
Recent changes to know	Grok-centred plans since October; marketplace incident on October 29.	Agent checkpoints removed in 1.27.0; macOS 12+ now required.

Cursor

Zed

What it is

A proprietary AI code editor with cloud agents, Bugbot reviews and code hosting.

An open-source native editor written in Rust, with an agent panel and external agents via ACP.

Platforms

macOS, Windows and Linux, plus CLI and an iOS app in beta.

macOS 12+, Windows 10/11 and Linux. No web version.

Free option

Limited agent and chat requests.

Personal: free forever with your own keys or external agents.

Paid plans

Plus $8 · Premium $30 · Super $100 · Ultra $200 · Teams from $30/seat

Pro $10 · Business $30/seat

How AI usage is billed

A weekly pool for Grok and Cursor's models; Claude, GPT and Gemini at API list price on Premium and up.

Pro includes $5 of tokens, then API list price plus 10%, with a spending cap.

Run other agents

Its own agent and cloud agents; extensions such as Codex and Cline install in it, and CLI agents run in its terminal.

Hosts Claude, Codex, OpenCode, Copilot, Gemini CLI and others through ACP, at no charge from Zed.

Your own keys and local models

Own keys on Premium and up for chat models. No local models listed.

Own keys for many providers, plus Ollama, LM Studio and any compatible endpoint, on the free plan.

Your code

Trained on only with Privacy Mode off.

Zed says it doesn't retain prompts or code by default; providers can't train on it.

Teams

SOC 2 Type II, SSO, pooled usage on Enterprise.

Business has org-wide policies but no SSO, SCIM or SOC 2 yet.

Recent changes to know

Grok-centred plans since October; marketplace incident on October 29.

Agent checkpoints removed in 1.27.0; macOS 12+ now required.

Verdict

Pick Zed if you want a fast, open-source editor and the freedom to choose any agent or model. Its free plan works with your own API keys, local models, or external agents like Claude Code and Codex running on subscriptions you already pay for. Zed doesn’t charge for those agents, and says it doesn’t keep your prompts or code by default.

Pick Cursor if you want more built around the agent: cloud agents you can start from your phone or Slack, Bugbot reviews on pull requests, rules shared across editor, CLI and cloud, and an iOS app. It’s the more complete product for agent-heavy workflows, provided Grok and Composer suit you or you’re happy to pay API prices for other models.

For teams, Cursor is further along: SOC 2 Type II, SSO and pooled usage on Enterprise. Zed’s Business plan doesn’t yet have SSO, SCIM or SOC 2.

Things to know before switching: Zed can’t run VS Code extensions, so check your languages and tools are covered, and it recently removed agent checkpoints (undo with Git instead). Cursor has changed its plans and ownership this year and had an October marketplace incident.

Frequently asked questions

Is Zed cheaper than Cursor?

Usually. Zed's Personal plan is free with your own keys or external agents, and Pro is $10 with $5 of tokens. Cursor Plus is $8 but runs Grok only; Claude or GPT need Premium at $30 plus API list price.

Can I use Claude Code or Codex in Zed?

Yes. Zed hosts them through the Agent Client Protocol, so you can run them on your existing Claude or ChatGPT plan inside the editor.

Does Zed have cloud agents like Cursor?

Not as a product. Zed's agents run in the editor; Cursor offers cloud agents you can start from your phone, Slack, GitHub or Linear on Premium and up.

Cursor × Zed

Verdict

Frequently asked questions

Sources