Cursor vs Zed: pricing, limits & real cost
Prices verified 2026-10-18
Key differences
- Cursor has the cheaper paid entry: Plus at $8/mo vs Zed Pro at $10/mo.
- Top individual tier: Cursor Ultra $200/mo vs Zed Pro $10/mo.
- How usage is metered — Cursor: Usage multiplier (absolute capacity not disclosed); Zed: Dollar-denominated credits.
- Zed publishes a dollar-denominated allowance, so cost can be estimated from tokens; Cursor does not disclose absolute capacity.
Estimated monthly cost by usage profile
Model used: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (or each vendor's own model family if it doesn't offer it). Token-per-hour figures are assumptions; open the calculator to change them.
| Profile | Cursor | Zed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light: 1 h/day, 5 days/wk API-equivalent ≈ $25/mo | Premium — $43–$68/mo Computed from published $ rates | Pro — $19–$47/mo Computed from published $ rates | Tweak → |
| Medium: 3 h/day, 5 days/wk API-equivalent ≈ $191/mo | Premium — $125–$316/mo Computed from published $ rates | Pro — $110–$320/mo Computed from published $ rates | Tweak → |
| Heavy: 6 h/day, 6 days/wk API-equivalent ≈ $1,104/mo | Premium — $582–$1,685/mo Computed from published $ rates | Pro — $612–$1,826/mo Computed from published $ rates | Tweak → |
For plans that don't disclose capacity we show the cheapest plan priced at or above your API-equivalent usage. This is a heuristic, not a guarantee you won't hit limits.
Cursor plans
| Plan | Price | Included | Limits / reset | Overage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Limited Agent/chat | Resets weekly | — | Verified 2026-10-18 |
| Plus | $8 /mo $80/yr annual | Base usage pool; Grok (4.7/4.6/4.5) & Cursor Composer 2.5 models only | Resets weekly | Cursor-model top-ups at listed rates | Verified 2026-10-18 Capacity not disclosed |
| Premium | $30 /mo $300/yr annual | 4x Plus pool; third-party models (Claude/GPT/Gemini) billed at API list price from prepaid credit | Resets weekly | API list price | Verified 2026-10-18 Capacity not disclosed |
| Super | $100 /mo $1000/yr annual | 15x Plus pool | Resets weekly | API list price | Verified 2026-10-18 Capacity not disclosed |
| Ultra | $200 /mo $2000/yr annual | 50x Plus pool | Resets weekly | API list price | Verified 2026-10-18 Capacity not disclosed |
| Teams | See tiers | Seat tiers $30/$100/$200 Seat tiers: Premium $30, Super $100, Ultra $200 per seat/mo; Plus not available for teams. | — | Third-party models at API price + Cursor Token Rate $0.25/M tokens | Verified 2026-10-18 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | — | — | Verified 2026-10-18 |
Zed plans
Sources
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