Draft sample alternatives
Four coding agents to try if Cursor is not the right fit, from another AI editor to agents that live in your terminal.
Cursor[1] is an AI code editor built on VS Code. People look elsewhere when they want to stay in their own editor, work from the terminal, or pick their own model provider.
We ranked these by how closely they match what most Cursor users rely on day to day.
The closest match: another AI editor built on VS Code, centered on Cascade, its coding agent.[2]
An agent that runs in your terminal and works on the repo you already have open, with IDE extensions too.[3]
OpenAI’s coding agent, with a local CLI, an editor extension and cloud tasks that run in a sandbox.[4]
An open-source agent that runs inside VS Code and asks before each change, using your own model keys.[5]
Sample rows for layout testing. Each claim comes from vendor documentation.
| What matters | CursorTarget | Windsurf | Claude Code | Codex | Cline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Different approach Its own editor, built on VS Code. | Different approach Its own editor, built on VS Code. | Different approach Your terminal, plus IDE extensions. | Different approach A CLI, an editor extension and cloud tasks. | Different approach An extension inside VS Code. |
| Multi-file agent | Supported Agent mode plans and edits across files. | Supported Cascade plans and edits across files. | Supported Plans, edits and runs commands. | Supported Plans, edits and runs commands. | Supported Plans and edits, with approval at each step. |
| Open source | Not supported No. | Not supported No. | Not supported No. | Limited The CLI is open source. | Supported Yes, under Apache 2.0. |
| How you pay | Different approach Free tier and paid plans. | Different approach Free tier and paid plans. | Different approach A Claude plan or API usage. | Different approach A ChatGPT plan or API usage. | Different approach Free. You pay your model provider. |
Draft sample copy for layout testing. Claims come from vendor documentation and have not been checked hands-on yet.
If you like Cursor’s editor but want a second opinion, Windsurf is the closest match.
If you would rather keep your own editor, try Claude Code or Codex from the terminal. If you want open source and your own model keys, try Cline.
No. This is draft sample copy used to test the page layout. We will check every claim before it goes live.
Mostly. Editors built on VS Code import your settings and extensions. Terminal agents work with whatever editor you already use.
Cline is free and open source, and you pay your model provider. Windsurf has a free tier. See the Cline docs[5] for setup.
See how the top alternatives compare with each other, side by side.
Browse all comparisons