AI coding assistants · Comparison
Cursor vs Gemini Code Assist 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 | Cursor | Gemini Code Assist | GitHub Copilot |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | 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 includedFor existing Google Cloud customers: completion, chat and an agent mode with daily request quotas, IP indemnity and no prompt storage. | 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 | 6.4 | 4.1 | 8.3Best |
| Free option | Free plan | Paid only | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | –Not measured | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $8/mo | $22.80/user/mo | $10/mo |
| Pricing model | Seat + usage | Per seat | Seat + usage |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per seat per month; third-party models from prepaid credit at API list price | Per user per month; daily request quotas, no overage | Per user per month; chat and agent usage in AI credits ($0.01 each) |
| Free option | Free plan with limited Agent and Chat on Cursor models; Tab on Free not stated | None now; the individual tier stopped on June 18, 2026 | Copilot Free: 2,000 completions a month, limited chat and agent usage |
| Reference scenario (5 developers) | $150/mo on Teams Premium seats ($30 × 5, monthly), computed | Not priced: new subscriptions ended Oct 9, 2026 (existing: $95/mo on Standard) | $95/mo on Business ($19 × 5, billed monthly), computed |
| Included usage (organization plan) | Premium weekly pool per seat (4x Plus); no absolute size stated | 6,000 code, 960 chat and 1,500 agent requests per user a day | 1,900 AI credits ($19) per user a month, pooled; completions unlimited |
| Usage beyond the plan | Prepaid credit at per-token rates, plus $0.25 per million tokens on Teams | None; requests stop until the quota resets | Per-token rates in AI credits; on by default for organizations, budgets available |
| Models | Cursor (Grok, Composer), Anthropic, OpenAI and Google models | Google Gemini models only | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, Microsoft and Moonshot models on Business |
| Training on your code | Not without explicit agreement (terms); Privacy Mode enforced on Teams | Gemini does not train on prompts or responses | Not on Business and Enterprise; Free to Max train unless you opt out |
| Data retention | Zero data retention with providers in Privacy Mode, with exceptions | Stateless: prompts and responses not stored | IDE prompts not retained; other surfaces 28 days (Business) |
| IP indemnity | In the MSA; plans covered not stated | Standard and Enterprise, unmodified output | Business and Enterprise, unmodified suggestions with the filter on |
| SSO / SCIM / audit log | SAML SSO on Teams; SCIM and audit log on Enterprise | SSO through Cloud Identity federation; SCIM not stated; Cloud Audit Logs | 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 1, 2 and 3 (Type II not stated), ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 cover Copilot Business and Enterprise |
| Editors and surfaces | Cursor app, CLI, web, iOS; JetBrains and Xcode integrations on paid plans | VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Android Studio, Cloud Shell, Cloud Workstations | VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, Eclipse, Neovim, Zed, CLI, github.com |
| Bottom line | 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, Gemini Code Assist offers clear quotas, IP indemnity and no prompt storage, but new subscriptions ended on Oct 9, 2026, so it suits existing Google Cloud customers rather than new buyers. | 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: Cursor: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Gemini Code Assist: 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 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 Gemini Code Assist review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Gemini Code Assist when
- You already hold a subscription and want daily request quotas with no overage on Google Cloud.
- Pick GitHub Copilot when
- You are buying today and want several model providers, unlimited completions and pooled credits at $19 a seat.
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.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- 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
- Gemini Code AssistStandard$22.80/user/mo$19 with an annual commitment; no longer sold to new customers since Oct 9, 2026
- Code completion, chat and agent mode
- 6,000 code and 960 chat requests per user a day
- 1,500 agent requests per user a day
- IP indemnity
- 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: Cursor 2026-10-16, Gemini Code Assist 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 2 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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