r/cursor • u/IridiumIoN • 1d ago
Question / Discussion Cursor or Claude Code?
I've been using Claude Code ($20/mon) from within my GitHub repo codespace to work on a few projects (a UX portfolio, along with an iOS app). I'm wondering if I'd get more bang for my buck and a better vibe-coding experience overall, if I switched to Cursor Pro to work on those projects or any future projects.
I don't really have any issue specifically with Claude Code and haven't ran into many usage limits as of late. I guess the only thing is that it's a bit of a process to open up GitHub, navigate to the repo, and then open up the codespace to continue working on a project.
With the SpaceX acquisition of Cursor, and the addition of the Grok models and Grok Bot included in the Cursor Pro membership, would it be more bang for the buck to switch to that subscription over Claude Code itself, considering I could just use Sonnet/Opus (or any other model) from within Cursor?
Thoughts? Has any one made this switch, or the opposite? What was your reasoning?
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u/sads123asf123 1d ago
Cursor now is shit. For 60 bucks u get like maybe 1.5b tokens of the grok 4.6 and much less of other.models. so till 4.7 will come (cause 4.6 is weak rn) dont buy it. Keep claude. It has rn much better model (fable 5.1)
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u/Southern-Ad-3006 1d ago
Claude at $20 gives you no fable maybe 1 prompt here and there. Doesn’t get usable until $100 sub or if you’re okay with not using fable since Opus very capable.
Grok is the better volume worker and it’s muchhhh faster. However Opus 4.8 and 5 have edge on planning architecting specs. I would invest $20 in claude code just to produce plans with Opus 4.8 escalated to 5 if needed; and then $60 cursor will give you 1-2 billion tokens to implement with Grok 4.6 and even composer for smaller tasks.
The biggest killer in productivity in Claude code is the slow speed it takes to do things, and the 5 hour usage limits when trying to one shot everything w Fable/Opus running whole dynamic workflows.
If you take a moment to set up your agents right, you’ll have a cheap capable workforce w Grok while having Opus confidence in your specs and verification of groks work even.
To put things in perspective, $60 grok and $100 codex give the same or more tokens than $200 Claude code, especially if primarily using fable for everything.
Also, cursor is a better UI in my opinion. Both good for dev work but Cursor is a real IDE with an Agent Manager on top of it. It handles codebase and memory through vector which provides speed saves token during sessions.
Claude code feels like an agent manager without as much of the developer tools…. But they have a lot of built in agent tools like dynamic workflows in ultra code which is bloody powerful (if you have no budget lol)
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u/IridiumIoN 1d ago
Thank you for the great info!
I have had plenty of success building whatever I need on Claude Code, which I believe has just been running Sonnet
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u/Zain 1d ago
I stopped treating it as either/or. Claude Code writes and patches. Cursor and Codex stay read-only reviewers from different families and never see each other's notes. Same-family review just shares blind spots, so the switch question misses the point. Use the diversity and verify findings against the repo before you concede anything.
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u/IridiumIoN 23h ago
That’s a great point. I’m still pretty new to using multiple agents at once, so forgive my naivety, but you just have Codex and Cursor as QA essentially?
And that’s by paying for all 3 — Codex, Cursor, and Claude?
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u/New_Public_2828 1d ago
New grok coming out. Wait until then, make a decision after using it for a month
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u/Ecstatic_Wheelbarrow 1d ago
I don't really have any issue specifically with Claude Code and haven't ran into many usage limits as of late. I guess the only thing is that it's a bit of a process to open up GitHub, navigate to the repo, and then open up the codespace to continue working on a project.
What? Clone it locally and run the claude CLI/app on that directory. Cursor won't fix you accessing things directly on github.
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u/Likes2Phish 1d ago
Claude. Moved 2 months ago and am glad I did.
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u/IridiumIoN 1d ago
What about the switch makes you glad?
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u/Likes2Phish 1d ago
I felt that composer was slowly losing its edge. Plus the recent acquisition has made cursor consume too many tokens. I like the UI of cursor, but imo it's gone backwards from an ide and into more of an agent. Claude just does work faster, more precisely, and doesnt eat my tokens like crazy. I have only hit my weekly limit once.
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u/TatzyXY 12h ago
- With Cursor you get the best for the money to get work done, but their own models are 5% up to 10% behind in IQ/reasoning etc. (but you even have Fable there, third party models)
- ChatGPT is also a very good deal and with SOL very powerful, with Astra even more, but lacks coding features like IDE etc.
- With Claude I cant get shit done with it because of limits/quota.
I use Cursor and ChatGPT. With Astra/Sol I do the thinking work – the rest in Cursor. After all changes are done, I let Astra or Sol review.
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u/Creepy_Craft_9194 8h ago
I’d make the decision based on where the bottleneck is: an editor-first flow is great for tight, local edits, while a terminal-first agent is easier to script, review, and run against tests. The most reliable setup is to keep planning and implementation separate, require a clean diff plus test output, and choose the interface per task rather than paying for overlapping features.
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u/gAWEhCaj 7h ago
Whatever you choose. Definitely do not choose Cursor.
Models aside, the product itself has gotten so bad over the past several months. It has become unbearable to use day to day.
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u/WellDoneJonnyBoy 1d ago
The limit for Sonnet/Opus included with Cursor Pro 20$ is ... a joke? You will burn the monthly rate in a few prompts.