Yes, Cursor is free to download and use. The Free plan costs $0 a month and, per Cursor’s plans FAQ, includes “Agent, Chat, and Tab completions with Cursor models (Grok and Composer)” with limited usage. What it doesn’t include: third-party models such as Claude, GPT or Gemini, Cloud Agents, Bugbot, or a published number for how much you can use.
One thing changed in 2026. Cursor, now part of SpaceX, is sold as part of The X Subscription, one plan for Cursor, Grok and X. New customers start there. The old Hobby, Pro, Pro+ and Ultra plans are now legacy plans that keep working for people who already have them.
TL;DR
Cursor Free gets you the editor, the Agent and Tab completions on Cursor’s own models, with a usage cap Cursor doesn’t publish. The cheapest paid step is Plus at $8 a month, still Cursor models only. Claude, GPT and Gemini, your own API keys and Cloud Agents start at Premium, $30 a month. There is no Cursor student plan today. For a coding agent that costs nothing at all, OpenCode on one of its free models is the $0 route.
What’s free and what you pay
| Plan | Price | Models | The cap | Notable gaps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Cursor models (Grok, Composer) | “Limited”, no number published | No third-party models, Cloud Agents, Bugbot |
| Plus | $8/mo or $80/yr | Cursor models at fixed settings | Base weekly pool | No Auto, Cloud Agents, Automations, Bugbot, third-party models, own API keys |
| Premium | $30/mo or $300/yr | Cursor models + third-party at API list price | 4x Plus | Third-party usage paid from prepaid credit |
| Super | $100/mo | Same as Premium | 15x Plus | |
| Ultra | $200/mo | Same as Premium | 50x Plus | |
| Teams | $30, $100 or $200 per seat/mo | Matches seat tier | Matches seat tier | Cursor Token Rate on eligible third-party models |
Prices from Cursor’s Models & Pricing docs, checked October 22, 2026. Prices exclude tax.
What the Cursor free plan includes today
The pricing page lists Free as “Limited AI usage”, with limited agent requests and limited Chat requests. The plans FAQ adds Tab completions to that list. In practice that means:
- The editor itself. Download, open a repo, use the Agent, Chat and Tab, all on Cursor’s own models: Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5 and Composer 2.5.
- Grok extras. Because Free sits inside The X Subscription, it also carries limited Grok Chat, image generation and Grok Build, plus a standard X account.
The legacy Hobby plan, if you already have it, “works the same way for Cursor,” according to the FAQ. Hobby includes Agent, Chat and Tab with limited usage and no Cloud Agents, Bugbot or Origin, per the legacy plans page.
Cursor free tier limits: where it stops
The usage cap has no number. Neither the pricing page nor the docs give a request count for Free. Paid plans get a weekly pool; Free is described only as “Limited.” Your remaining usage shows in the editor settings, so check there rather than trusting a figure from a third-party blog.
Hobby stops harder. On the legacy Hobby plan, on-demand usage is “Not available. AI features pause until the pool resets,” and legacy pools reset monthly with the billing cycle.
No third-party models. The Models & Pricing table lists third-party models as “Not available” on Free and Plus. If you want Claude, GPT or Gemini models inside Cursor, you need Premium or higher, and even then they aren’t part of the included pool: they bill at API list price from prepaid credit.
No Cloud Agents. What used to be called background agents now runs as Cloud Agents and Automations, and the pricing comparison marks both as Premium and up. Free and Plus keep the Agent local to your editor.
Tab is in, but capped. Free includes Tab completions under the same limited usage. Unlimited Tab was a legacy Pro perk; the current pricing table doesn’t list Tab as a separate line.
Is there a Cursor Pro free trial?
Not on today’s pages. Cursor’s current pricing page, plans FAQ and Models & Pricing docs don’t mention a trial for any plan, and Pro itself is now a legacy plan new customers can’t buy. Its closest match on The X Subscription is Premium at $30 a month. If you see “Cursor Pro free for a year” offers, check the date: they predate the current plans.
Is Cursor free for students?
There is no dedicated student plan. Cursor’s students page answers the discount question this way: “Anyone can get started with Cursor for free,” and points students to promotions at on-campus and online events. So a student gets the same Free plan as anyone else, plus whatever an event offers.
The cheapest paid step
Plus, $8 a month ($80 a year). It adds a weekly pool of usage for Cursor’s models, shared with Grok. The catch is the fixed settings: per the docs, Plus runs with “Fast is off, effort is medium,” and has “No Auto, Cloud Agents, Automations, Bugbot, Origin, third-party models, or your own API keys.”
Premium, $30 a month, is the first tier that feels like the old Pro. It adds 4x the Plus usage, Cloud Agents, Bugbot, third-party models at API list price and your own API keys. Plan for two bills on Premium: the subscription, and prepaid credit for any Claude, GPT or Gemini usage.
How to use Cursor for free
1. Stay on Free and stay on Cursor models. That’s the whole route. Light, occasional agent work fits; daily agent sessions will hit the unpublished cap.
2. Keep a legacy Hobby plan if you have it. Switching to The X Subscription is optional and, per Cursor’s docs, permanent. Compare before you move.
3. Don’t count on your own API key. Cursor’s API key docs say your own key means “unlimited AI messages at your own cost” on individual plans, and list those plans as Premium, Super and Ultra plus legacy Pro, Pro+ and Ultra. Plus excludes it outright, and Free isn’t on the list. Even where it works, Tab “continues using Cursor’s built-in models,” and the request still routes through Cursor’s servers. If you already hold a free AI API key, it’s more useful in a tool that accepts it directly.
4. Use a $0 agent outside Cursor. OpenCode runs free models with no sign-in and no API key. In an earlier session on October 16, 2026, OpenCode 1.19.2 finished a write-and-run task in 32 seconds on opencode/deepseek-v4.1-flash-free. The OpenCode Zen docs still list DeepSeek V4.1 Flash Free today, next to GLM-5.3-Flash Free, MiniMax M3.1 Flash Free and a dozen others. Running DeepSeek V4.1 Flash free in coding agents covers the setup.
Three limits on that route:
- The free tier answers OpenCode only. Direct API calls to the same models returned HTTP 403
FreeTierErrorin our test. - Free models are temporary. Zen describes them as free “for a limited time.” Keep the model name in one config line.
- Data terms vary. Some free providers follow a zero-retention policy; for others, Zen says collected data “may be used to improve the model.” Don’t send code you can’t share.
Where Sharkly fits
Sharkly doesn’t make Cursor free, and it doesn’t sell model tokens. It answers a different question: what happens once you run more than one coding agent.
You already have coding agents. Sharkly turns them into a team. You connect your own Computer, Sharkly detects the coding tools installed there, such as Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode, and each becomes a Runtime behind an Agent you assign Tasks to from a shared board. The Agent works in an isolated worktree and reports back to the Task for review. Model usage stays on whatever plan or key that Runtime already uses, so an OpenCode Agent on a free model costs nothing in tokens.
Sharkly’s pricing page lists Free for organizations of up to 10 people and Team at $7 per person per month billed yearly beyond that. Agents and Computers don’t take seats. Sharkly pricing explained goes through the details, and running an agent Crew on free and cheap tiers shows how to mix paid and free models.
If you’re already running more than one coding agent, run them through Sharkly.
FAQ
Is Cursor free? Yes. The Free plan costs $0 and includes the Agent, Chat and Tab completions on Cursor’s own models with limited usage. Third-party models, Cloud Agents and Bugbot need Premium or higher.
Is Cursor free forever? The Free plan has no end date on Cursor’s pricing page. Its usage limit is the constraint, not time. Cursor doesn’t publish the exact number.
Is Cursor Pro free? No. Pro is a legacy plan at $20 a month that new customers can’t buy, and the current pages list no trial. Its closest replacement is Premium at $30 a month.
What are the Cursor free plan limits? Limited agent, Chat and Tab usage on Cursor models only; no third-party models, Cloud Agents, Automations, Bugbot or Origin. Check remaining usage in the editor settings.
Does Cursor have a student plan? No dedicated plan. Students use the same Free plan, and Cursor points them to promotions at campus and online events.
Can I use my own API key in Cursor for free? Don’t plan on it. Cursor’s API key docs list own-key use for Premium and up, Plus excludes it, and Free isn’t listed. Where it works, your provider bills the model cost directly and Tab keeps using Cursor’s own models.
