Free Cursor alternatives

Cursor is in AI Code Editors & IDEs. It scored 8.4/10 in our tests. We list free or no-monthly-fee options first. Kiro is the highest-scoring tested free or no-monthly-fee alternative at 9.7/10. TRAE is recorded as requiring no card: Yes: TRAE IDE has limited monthly Auto-mode usage (no card claimed on docs). trae-agent OSS is free to self-host with your own model key.

Our record describes Cursor as suited to: Developers who want an AI-first VS Code-style editor with a built-in agent on Cursor models. Use Free to evaluate Agent on those models. Plus adds a larger weekly Cursor-model pool and still has no third-party models and no own API keys. Premium and above is where the official docs put third-party models, Cloud Agents, Bugbot, and Origin.. Recorded considerations: On Linux it needed --no-sandbox and showed an OS keyring dialog on first launch; The agent ran commands without asking for approval by default; Free usage is published as Limited, not a hard public number; heavier Agent work needs a paid X Subscription plan; Free and Plus do not include third-party models; Premium and above bill them at API list price from prepaid credit.

Free or no-monthly-fee alternatives

Listed first because most people comparing alternatives want a free or no-card starting point. Scores are recorded overall scores from our tests, not one shared benchmark. Official limits can change; re-check the tool page dates.

1. #1 Kiro 9.7/10

   Tested: kiro-cli 2.37.1, Kiro Free (AWS Builder ID), model auto, agent v3 Default/vibe (not Spec) · 2026-11-02

   Free tier: Yes: perpetual Free with 50 credits/mo — Auto, Claude Sonnet 4.5/4.0, and open-weight models (DeepSeek 3.2, MiniMax M2.5/M2.1, GLM-5, Qwen3 Coder Next); flagship Claude Opus / Sonnet 5.5 / GPT-5.6 need a paid plan

   Three Free CLI T3 runs on 2026-11-02: each fixed the seeded cart.js discount bug so node --test passed 4/4 in 17–18s, leaving cart.test.js untouched and self-running the tests.

   Pros

   • 3/3 Free CLI T3 runs fixed the bug in 17–18s with 4/4 tests passing
   • Agent edited cart.js and ran node --test itself
   • Used only about 0.80 of 50 monthly Free credits for three runs ($0)

   Cons

   • Free is 50 credits/mo and excludes Claude Opus, Sonnet 5.5, and GPT-5.6
   • Official API keys / documented headless KIRO_API_KEY path need Pro or higher

   Best if: Developers who want a spec-driven agentic IDE/CLI from AWS, with a usable free tier for small tasks — and paid tiers that put several flagship models on one credit pool.

   Compare Cursor vs Kiro

2. #2 TRAE 9/10

   Tested: trae-agent OSS CLI 0.1.0 with Google AI Studio gemini-3.5-flash-lite after a local one-line google_client role=user patch (BYOK, $0). Not TRAE IDE Auto mode · 2026-11-04

   Free tier: Yes: TRAE IDE has limited monthly Auto-mode usage (no card claimed on docs). trae-agent OSS is free to self-host with your own model key.

   trae-agent OSS CLI fixed our seeded cart discount bug in 3 of 3 runs (19–42s each) with a free Gemini key, never touched the test file.

   Pros

   • Fixed the seeded bug in 3/3 CLI runs with a free model
   • Did not modify the test file in any run
   • OSS self-host / BYOK path needs no TRAE IDE account

   Cons

   • Stock google_client uses role=tool and fails against current Gemini API until patched
   • Requires a trae_config.yaml; CLI flags alone are not enough without a config file

   Best if: Developers who want a ByteDance-built coding agent; IDE users get limited free Auto mode, and CLI users can self-host trae-agent with a free Gemini or OpenRouter key.

3. #3 Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) 8.1/10

   Tested: Devin Desktop 3.10.67 (formerly Windsurf) for Linux, Free plan, model SWE-1.6 Slow, Local session · 2026-10-16

   Free tier: Yes: light agent quota, limited models, unlimited Tab completions and inline edits

   Devin Desktop, Cognition's renamed Windsurf editor, built our T1 todo app in about 1 minute with no follow-ups and previewed it after one 'Failed to start browser preview' error.

   Pros

   • Working todo app in about 1 minute with no follow-ups
   • Every T1 check passed in our own headless browser test, including mobile
   • Previewed its own work in a built-in browser

   Cons

   • On Linux the devin:// login link failed; we had to paste an auth token manually
   • Sessions defaulted to Cloud, which is Pro-only; we switched to Local

   Best if: Developers who liked Windsurf and want Cognition's agentic editor, with a free tier for light use.

   Compare Cursor vs Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)

4. #4 GitHub Copilot 8/10

   Tested: VS Code 1.142.0 for Linux with built-in GitHub Copilot, Copilot Free plan, model Auto (routed to gpt-6-luna) · 2026-10-16

   Free tier: Yes: Copilot Free with an allowance of GitHub AI Credits, 2,000 completions/mo, Auto model only (CLI and agent mode included)

   Our first chat (Auto routed to GPT-5 mini) failed 3 times with 'Sorry, no response was returned'.

   Pros

   • Every T1 check passed in our own headless browser test, including mobile
   • Tested its own work with Playwright in VS Code's built-in browser
   • Built into VS Code; Copilot Free needs no payment

   Cons

   • The first chat failed 3 times with 'Sorry, no response was returned' and needed a restart
   • Needed two approvals to open a browser page and run Playwright

   Best if: Developers already in VS Code and GitHub who want a built-in agent with a free starter tier.

   Compare Cursor vs GitHub Copilot

5. #5 Zed 6.8/10

   Tested: Zed 1.24.2 Linux, Personal free + BYOK OpenRouter cohere/north-mini-code:free · 2026-10-17

   Free tier: Yes (Personal): free forever, unlimited with your own API keys or external agents

   We ran Zed's Agent on the free Personal plan with our own OpenRouter key pointed at the free model cohere/north-mini-code:free (Pro trial was refused because the GitHub account was under 30 days).

   Pros

   • Personal plan is free forever with your own API keys (BYOK)
   • OpenRouter free model worked for a full todo app in about 3 minutes
   • After two one-line HTML fixes, every T1 check passed including mobile

   Cons

   • Generated HTML had two broken tags that made the app non-functional until fixed
   • Agent tried to start a blocking http.server twice

   Best if: Developers who want a fast editor and are happy to bring their own model keys, including free OpenRouter models.

   Compare Cursor vs Zed

6. T3 Code Not yet tested

   Free tier: Yes: the app is free and open source; you need at least one installed and signed-in coding agent

   Open-source control surface for the coding agents already on your machine: drive Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Grok Build, OpenCode and Antigravity from one desktop, web or mobile app.

   Best if: Developers who use several coding agents or machines and want one GUI, including a phone app, to run and watch all their agent sessions.

7. ThinkRail (JetBrains) Not yet tested

   Free tier: Yes: the app is free and open source; you need a model provider (JetBrains AI or your own credentials)

   JetBrains' open-source agentic IDE built around the pi coding agent: each workspace is its own git worktree, with Monaco editor tabs, terminals, live diffs and a spec graph the agent reads and maintains.

   Best if: Developers who want to run several coding-agent sessions in parallel, each isolated on its own git branch, inside a lightweight IDE.

How Cursor compares

Cursor scored 8.4/10. Kiro is the highest-scoring tested free or no-monthly-fee alternative at 9.7/10 (difference 1.3 points).

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Scores come from our own tests and are never for sale; sponsored placements are always labelled. Some links are affiliate links (currently Railway). Disclosure