AI coding assistants · Comparison
Claude Code vs Cursor vs GitHub Copilot
3 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Claude Code | Cursor | GitHub Copilot |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Saves engineering timeA coding agent for the terminal, IDEs and the web, sold with Claude chat on one seat, with no training and IP indemnity on Team. | Saves engineering timeAn editor built around coding agents, with zero data retention with model providers and privacy mode enforced for the team on Teams. | Compliance includedUnlimited completions plus chat and agents on models from several providers, with no training on your code and IP indemnity from $19 a user. |
| Overall score | 5.6 | 6.4 | 8.3Best |
| Free option | Paid only | Free plan | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $20/mo | $8/mo | $10/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Seat + usage | Seat + usage |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per seat per month; extra usage as usage credits at API rates | Per seat per month; third-party models from prepaid credit at API list price | Per user per month; chat and agent usage in AI credits ($0.01 each) |
| Free option | None with Claude Code; the Free plan excludes it | Free plan with limited Agent and Chat on Cursor models; Tab on Free not stated | Copilot Free: 2,000 completions a month, limited chat and agent usage |
| Reference scenario (5 developers) | $100/mo on Team Standard seats ($20 × 5, annual), computed | $150/mo on Teams Premium seats ($30 × 5, monthly), computed | $95/mo on Business ($19 × 5, billed monthly), computed |
| Included usage (organization plan) | 1.25x Pro per session per seat, shared with chat; no absolute size stated | Premium weekly pool per seat (4x Plus); no absolute size stated | 1,900 AI credits ($19) per user a month, pooled; completions unlimited |
| Usage beyond the plan | Usage credits at API rates, off until turned on; spend limits | Prepaid credit at per-token rates, plus $0.25 per million tokens on Teams | Per-token rates in AI credits; on by default for organizations, budgets available |
| Models | Anthropic only (Fable, Opus, Sonnet, Haiku) | Cursor (Grok, Composer), Anthropic, OpenAI and Google models | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, Microsoft and Moonshot models on Business |
| Training on your code | Not on Team and Enterprise by default; Free, Pro and Max opt-out | Not without explicit agreement (terms); Privacy Mode enforced on Teams | Not on Business and Enterprise; Free to Max train unless you opt out |
| Data retention | 30 days on Team; zero data retention on qualified Enterprise accounts | Zero data retention with providers in Privacy Mode, with exceptions | IDE prompts not retained; other surfaces 28 days (Business) |
| IP indemnity | Commercial plans (Team, Enterprise, API), no liability cap | In the MSA; plans covered not stated | Business and Enterprise, unmodified suggestions with the filter on |
| SSO / SCIM / audit log | SAML SSO on Team; SCIM and audit logs on Enterprise | SAML SSO on Teams; SCIM and audit log on Enterprise | SAML SSO and audit log listed for Business; SCIM through managed users in an enterprise account |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 | SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 cover Copilot Business and Enterprise |
| Editors and surfaces | Terminal, VS Code, JetBrains, desktop, web, iOS and Android, Slack, CI | Cursor app, CLI, web, iOS; JetBrains and Xcode integrations on paid plans | VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, Eclipse, Neovim, Zed, CLI, github.com |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Claude Code gives a team an agent for the terminal, IDE and web, plus Claude chat, on a $20 annual seat with no-training terms and uncapped IP indemnity. Usage is stated only as multiples, and models are Anthropic-only. | From its public pages, Cursor gives a team an agent-first editor with privacy mode enforced and SSO for $30 a seat. Included usage is stated only as multiples, several pages disagree, and SCIM and the audit log need Enterprise. | From its public pages, Copilot Business puts unlimited completions, $19 of pooled usage per user, a wide model choice and the main enterprise controls on a $19 seat. Set budgets early: extra usage is on by default for organizations. |
Evidence: Claude Code: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Cursor: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; GitHub Copilot: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our Claude Code review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Claude Code when
- You want an agent-first tool for the terminal with chat on the same seat, and IP indemnity without a filter condition.
- Pick GitHub Copilot when
- You want inline completions, models from several providers, usage priced in dollars and an audit log on Business.
From our Claude Code review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Claude Code when
- You want the agent in your own terminal and IDE, with Claude chat on the same seat.
- Pick Cursor when
- You want an AI-first editor with Tab, several model providers and zero data retention with providers on Teams.
From our Cursor review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Cursor when
- You want an editor built around agents, with privacy mode enforced for the team and zero data retention with model providers.
- Pick GitHub Copilot when
- You want unlimited completions, usage priced in dollars, and SCIM and an audit log at $19 a seat.
From our Cursor review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Cursor when
- You want Tab completions in the editor and models from several providers on one seat.
- Pick Claude Code when
- You want a terminal agent with Claude chat on the same seat at $20 on annual terms, and IP indemnity in the standard terms.
From our GitHub Copilot review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick GitHub Copilot when
- You want unlimited completions, usage priced in dollars, and SCIM and an audit log at $19 a seat.
- Pick Cursor when
- You want an editor built around agents, with privacy mode enforced for the team and zero data retention with model providers.
From our GitHub Copilot review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick GitHub Copilot when
- You want inline completions, models from several providers and an audit log on the team plan.
- Pick Claude Code when
- You want a terminal-first agent on Anthropic models, with Claude chat on the same seat, at $20 a seat on annual terms.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- Claude CodePro$20/mo$17 a month billed annually ($200 up front); individuals
- Claude Code and Claude chat in one usage pool
- At least 5x Free usage per session
- Opus, Sonnet and Haiku; Fable through usage credits
- CursorLowest pricePlus$8/mo$80 a year billed annually; individuals only
- Base weekly pool for Cursor models
- Fixed settings: Fast off, medium effort
- No third-party models, cloud agents or own API keys
- GitHub CopilotPro$10/moIndividuals; 1,500 AI credits ($15) a month, of which 500 are a flex allotment that may change
- Unlimited completions and next edit suggestions
- Cloud agent and pull request code review
- Most models; some premium models excluded
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Claude Code 2026-10-16, Cursor 2026-10-16, GitHub Copilot 2026-10-16.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- GitHub CopilotSelf-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 3 self-serve products here (8.3/10).
- Lowest starter price
- Cursor$8/mo for the Plus (individual) plan.
- Highest overall score
- GitHub Copilot8.3/10 (Excellent). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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