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Best Cursor Alternatives

4 alternatives to Cursor in AI Coding Assistant, compared by pricing, DX grade, security, and vendor lock-in.

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Cursor

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The AI-first code editor

Pricing: freemium, from $20/mo
Stars: 32.8k
#1

Cline

Open source agent in VS Code, full file access transparency

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Price vs Cursor
Free (OSS, BYO API key)
DX Grade
A
Security
B
Lock-in Risk
Low (1/10)
#2

Aider

CLI-first, Git-native commits, terminal workflow

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Price vs Cursor
Free (OSS, BYO model)
DX Grade
B
Security
B
Lock-in Risk
Low (1/10)
#3

Claude Code

Anthropic-native, terminal agent, MCP-first

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Price vs Cursor
Bundled with Claude subscription
DX Grade
A
Security
A
Lock-in Risk
Low (2/10)
#4

GitHub Copilot

IDE autocomplete, multi-IDE support, enterprise

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Price vs Cursor
$10-19/mo
DX Grade
B
Security
B
Lock-in Risk
Medium (3/10)