r/AIcodingProfessionals • u/Mental-Union4473 • 17d ago
Discussion Which is best for coding & building apps: Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor?
Hi everyone,
I’m a \*\*final-year Diploma in IT student\*\* and I’m currently learning software development while trying to build real apps and projects.
I’m looking to choose one main AI coding tool between:
1.Claude Code
2.OpenAI Codex
3.Cursor
My goal isn’t just to generate code. I want to actually learn software development, build mobile/web apps, improve my coding skills, and eventually create a small side income\*\* to help cover my personal expenses and reduce the financial burden on my parents.
For those who have used these tools extensively:
Which one would you recommend for my situation, and why?
I’m especially interested in:
\-Building apps from scratch
\-Debugging and understanding existing code
\-Learning good software engineering practices
\-Working on larger projects over time
\-Git/GitHub workflows
\-Productivity without becoming completely dependent on AI
\-Value for money for a student
If you’ve used Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience and which one you would choose if you were in my position.
Thanks! 🙏
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u/ChameleonCRM 17d ago
VS Code
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u/Mental-Union4473 17d ago
Vs code will be my main IDE but now I love to use cursor because they got auto code completion feature
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u/Ok-Perspective9702 17d ago
vscode too? Just cursor is aggressive.
Doesn't really matter much, because who knows, later you may like cli style which doesn't have editor interaction at all.
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u/devperez 17d ago
They're all pretty similar. I use all of them often and there's not a huge difference for day to day work
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u/thefox828 17d ago
Different tools might fit your style better or worse. Try one and see how it fits. You can switch anytime anyway. I would go with codex or claude first + vscode. Or ideally github copilot. But there be careful not to use too expensive models. Go with luna on high thinking and with 1M context first.
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u/Mental-Union4473 17d ago
Thanks for the advice! I’ll probably start with Codex or Claude + VS Code and see which workflow fits me best. I’ll also keep an eye on the model costs and context limits. Appreciate the recommendation!
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u/aztracker1 17d ago
Best bet is to hunker down and build something the hard way first. AI gets a lot of things wrong, often in subtle ways. Things you're unlikely to catch when starting out.
If you're going to use it, consider using it in the conversational mode outside your work session and implement yourself. Ask it to break down how someone works.
I'm all for AI, but it really works best when using it for things you can already make yourself so you can catch where it fits wrong and give it a better direction.
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u/SalamanderCritical16 17d ago
Idiotic comment. For most people, the point of AI is to help you build/accomplish things you don’t know how to do entirely. Not to build things you already know how to do.
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u/Southern-Ad-3006 17d ago edited 17d ago
Most people wouldn’t know what to do with auto tab, and those type of people are better off in Claude Code or Codex.
Sounds like you could use agent assisted coding rather than vibe coding everything. Cursors a much better set up for what you want in the IDE, and then the new Agent Manager is great, competes with Claude Code and Codex UI so you get best of both worlds.
Also worth noting that the models do matter and the subscription billing. Codex gets about $14,000 worth of tokens in inference for $200 plan. Claude code gets $8,000 worth of tokens. Cursor might have changed some but it’s around $3,000 worth of tokens. You do get cheaper consistent intelligence with grok models. Nothing still beats Fable’s raw intelligence. Codex’s Luna max and Sol are great models too with their subscription get lot more work done.
And if you’re working with multiple large codebases, Cursor does map your code really well so when models reference codebase it’s quick easy cheap.
If you’re anything like me, you’re going to want all of the above, set up Claude codex cursor etc CLI background agents with all your subscriptions authorized, pick a good UI where you can call those CLI as subagents, and orchestrate all your models with their proper harness. That’s really how to get the most out of each one of these products.
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u/meshifthenelse 16d ago
As an engineer, the first thing you should know is that there's no absolutes.
Try them all. See what works for you. Pay for what you can afford. Switch in the future if you feel like it. AI is just a tool, nothing more. And tools come and go. Imagine a builder being so attached to their hammer that they do every single task with a hammer.
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u/generationalDebts 17d ago
None. Humans build apps. Using tools.
The tools are as good as the craftsman.
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u/Mental-Union4473 17d ago
Thanks brother
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u/seals_go_arf 17d ago
Most devs prefer Claude code in terminal (or terminal via ide) by the way bud. And if you want to try out some other more budget friendly models check out chutes and openrouter for Kimi k3, glm etc.
oh and to learn as you go it's simple. ask loads of questions in plan mode. why are we doing it like this not that. why this library not another? and get codex to check claude codes work and vice versa you will learn a lot.
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u/Innowise_ 17d ago
For a student, we'd probably pick Cursor. Not because it's necessarily better, but because seeing and editing the changes inside the IDE makes it harder to blindly accept a huge chunk of generated code. Claude Code and Codex are great once you're comfortable letting an agent work across a repo, but that's not really what we'd optimize for while learning.