Cursor vs GitHub Copilot: plans and limits compared (2026)
These are the two AI coding tools most developers actually choose between. On price they look close, and on a quick glance Copilot even looks cheaper. But the two pricing pages hide the two facts that should drive the decision: GitHub has paused new paid Copilot sign-ups, and Cursor publishes no numeric usage quota at all. This page lays out every tier, quoted word-for-word, with the date we checked it, so you can compare what is real rather than what is implied.
Cursor: side by side
| Plan | Price | What you get (as stated by Cursor) |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby | $0 | "Limited Agent requests" · "Limited Tab completions" |
| Pro | $20/mo | "Extended limits on Agent" · included model-usage pool, on-demand usage billed in arrears once consumed |
| Pro+ | $60/mo | "Larger included usage than Pro" (recommended for daily agent users) |
| Ultra | $200/mo | "Largest included usage" (recommended for agent power users) |
| Teams | $40/user/mo | Pooled / centralized administration · usage analytics |
Cursor's model: every plan includes a set amount of model usage, with overage charged at on-demand pricing. The pricing page states no numeric quota for any tier — the size of each "included usage" pool is not published.
GitHub Copilot: side by side
| Plan | Price | What you get (as stated by GitHub) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | "2,000 completions per month" · access to Haiku 4.5, GPT-5 mini, and more · Copilot CLI included |
| Pro | $10/mo | "$15 monthly total credits" · unlimited code completion & next edit suggestions · 3rd-party agents (Claude Code, Codex) · sign-ups paused |
| Pro+ | $39/mo | "$70 monthly total credits" · "4x+ included usage vs Pro" · premium models incl. Opus · sign-ups paused |
| Max | $100/mo | "$200 monthly total credits" · "2.9x+ included usage vs Pro+" · priority access to new models · sign-ups paused |
As of the check date GitHub states that new paid plan sign-ups are temporarily paused; existing Student/Pro/Pro+ customers can upgrade between paid tiers, and the Free plan remains open to new users.
The thing the prices don't tell you: Copilot's sign-ups are paused
Copilot's Pro at $10/month is genuinely half the price of Cursor's $20 Pro, and on a feature checklist it reads well — unlimited completions, access to third-party agents like Claude Code and Codex. But at the time we checked, GitHub's own plans page carried a notice that new paid sign-ups are temporarily paused. That turns the cheaper-on-paper option into one a new user may not be able to buy. For someone choosing today, the cheapest paid plan that is actually purchasable is Cursor Pro at $20; Copilot's $10 Pro is only available to those who already had it.
Two different ways of (not) telling you the limit
The more subtle contrast is how each vendor describes what you actually get. Copilot attaches a dollar figure to every paid tier: $15, $70, and $200 in monthly credits. That is unusually concrete — you can reason about it. Cursor goes the other way: it describes an "included usage" pool that gets "larger" as you move up the tiers, but publishes no number for any of them, then bills on-demand once the unstated pool runs out. Neither approach is wrong, but they are not comparable at face value. A $20 Cursor Pro pool and Copilot's $15-credit Pro are priced within a few dollars of each other while disclosing completely different amounts of information about what that money buys.
Note too that Copilot's top tier (Max, $100) and Cursor's top tier (Ultra, $200) both land in the same $100–$200 band that has become standard across the industry — the same ceiling you see on Claude Max and ChatGPT Pro. Power-user AI now costs about $200/month almost everywhere.
Which should you pick?
If you can live within Copilot's Free tier — 2,000 completions a month with the CLI included — it is the cheapest usable option of the two and still open to new users. If you need a paid plan and you are starting fresh today, Cursor is the practical choice simply because it is buyable: Pro at $20 with an included usage pool, stepping up to Pro+ ($60) and Ultra ($200) as your agent usage grows. If you already hold a Copilot paid plan, its dollar-credit model is easy to reason about and the $10 Pro is hard to beat on price. The honest summary: Copilot wins on stated price and disclosure, Cursor wins on availability, and the right answer flips the moment GitHub reopens sign-ups — which is precisely why a dated, daily-checked record is worth having.
FAQ
- How much is Cursor Pro?
- $20/month, with an included model-usage pool and on-demand billing once it is consumed. Pro+ is $60 and Ultra is $200.
- How much is GitHub Copilot Pro?
- $10/month ($15 in monthly credits) — but new paid sign-ups were paused as of the last check, so it may not be purchasable by new users right now.
- Can I sign up for Copilot Pro today?
- Possibly not. GitHub's plans page states new paid sign-ups are temporarily paused; the Free tier is still open, and existing paid customers can upgrade.
- Do they publish usage numbers?
- Copilot does, as dollar credits ($15 / $70 / $200). Cursor does not publish a numeric quota; it states only that higher tiers include a larger usage pool.
- Does this change?
- Yes, and quietly. QuotaLedger re-checks both pricing pages daily and records any change with the date — see the live ledger and the changelog.