Cursor reviews 2025: An honest look at the AI code editor

It feels like a new AI-powered developer tool pops up every other week, each one promising to completely change the way we code. In this very crowded field, one name keeps surfacing on Reddit threads and dev blogs: Cursor. People are calling it the tool that finally makes AI feel like a real coding partner.

But with so much buzz, it’s hard to separate the hype from reality. Is Cursor really that much better than the alternatives? Does it actually deliver on its promises? We’ve spent time digging through tons of Cursor reviews, forum posts, and firsthand accounts to give you a straight-up, balanced look. We’ll walk through its main features, how it performs, what it costs, and the real-world headaches developers have run into, so you can figure out if it makes sense for your workflow.

What is Cursor AI?

At its heart, Cursor is an "AI-first" code editor that’s built as a fork of Visual Studio Code. This is probably its biggest selling point right out of the gate: it takes the familiar, well-loved environment of VS Code and packs it with deeply integrated AI features. If you’ve ever used VS Code, you’ll feel right at home. You can even import all your settings and get going without having to learn a whole new interface from scratch.

Cursor’s main goal is to understand your entire codebase. Unlike some AI assistants that only see the file you have open, Cursor can scan your whole project to help with bigger, more complex tasks. This means it can help you build out new features from a simple prompt, clean up messy code, hunt down tricky bugs, or even just answer questions about a part of the codebase you’ve never touched before.

To pull this off, it lets you choose from powerful AI models, including OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet. You can pick whichever engine you think will work best for the task at hand.

Core features and developer experience

Looking at all the Cursor reviews, it’s clear that developers use the tool for more than just a simple chatbot in a sidebar. Here are the features that people talk about most.

AI-powered code generation and editing

The real appeal of Cursor is how smoothly it weaves AI into the everyday act of writing code.

• Inline Editing (Cmd+K): This seems to be the feature everyone uses constantly. You just highlight a chunk of code, hit "Cmd+K", and type a command like "convert this to use async/await" or "add error handling." Cursor shows you a "diff" of the changes it wants to make, and you can accept or reject them. It’s a super quick way to make specific edits without breaking your flow.

• Chat with your Code (Cmd+L): For bigger questions or tasks, you can open up the chat sidebar. This is where you can have a full-on conversation with your codebase. Developers use it for things like asking, "Where do we define our global lift for ratio metrics?" or generating the boilerplate for a new component. The AI is smart enough to pull in the right files for context and give you complete code snippets you can drop right in.

• Copilot++ and Tab Completion: Cursor’s autocomplete feels like it’s a step ahead of other tools. It doesn’t just guess the next few characters; it often writes out entire functions or figures out the next logical change you need to make. Reviewers consistently mention how fast and surprisingly accurate it is, almost like it’s reading your mind.

Multi-file workflows with composer and agent mode

Changing one file is one thing, but most real work involves touching a bunch of files at once. This is where Cursor’s more advanced features shine.

• Composer Mode: You can think of this as a more controlled way to make large-scale changes. You can point it at a few specific files, give it a prompt like "Refactor my "UserService" to handle password resets," and it will generate diffs across all of them. You get to review every single change before it’s applied, which gives you a nice mix of automation and control.

• Agent Mode: This is the more autonomous, hands-off approach. You give Cursor a high-level goal, like "Build a user registration page with email confirmation," and it will try to figure out which files to create or edit on its own. It’s incredibly impressive when it works, but it can also go off the rails and make weird changes if your instructions aren’t super clear.

Strengths and weaknesses

Let’s be real, no tool is perfect. While developers are generally excited about Cursor, they’re also pretty open about its flaws. Here’s a summary of the good and the bad from various Cursor reviews.

What developers love about Cursor

• Full Codebase Context: This is, hands down, Cursor’s standout feature. Because it can understand the whole project instead of just one file, its suggestions are way more accurate and relevant than what you get from tools with smaller context windows.

  

  If a tool can't look at my entire context in 2024 I am not interested.

  Reddit

• Seamless VS Code Experience: The fact that it’s a fork of VS Code is a huge plus. The learning curve is practically non-existent since you can bring over all your settings, themes, and extensions. It feels more like an upgrade to your current editor than a completely new tool.

• Genuine Productivity Boost: For certain tasks, the time you save is no joke. Developers talk about using it all the time for generating boilerplate, refactoring old code, writing commit messages, and getting up to speed on an unfamiliar part of a project.

Common frustrations and limitations

• Inconsistent AI Quality: At the end of the day, it’s still an LLM. That means its output can be anything from brilliant to just plain weird. A lot of reviews mention that it will sometimes break perfectly good code, introduce subtle bugs, or rewrite logic in a way that’s harder to read. It’s a great assistant, but it’s not an infallible expert.

• UI Clutter and Shortcut Conflicts: With all the "Fix with AI" buttons and pop-ups, the interface can feel a bit busy. A common gripe is that Cursor hijacks familiar keyboard shortcuts. For instance, "Cmd+K" no longer clears the terminal by default, which can really mess with years of muscle memory.

• Performance with Large Projects: A few users mentioned that Cursor can feel a bit sluggish or laggy on very large files or complex projects, especially when you compare it to a plain vanilla VS Code setup.

• Steep Learning Curve for Advanced Features: The basics are easy to pick up, but getting the most out of features like Agent Mode, Composer, and ".cursorrules" takes some trial and error. It’s a powerful tool that you have to learn how to wield properly.

Customization, context, and control

For developers who love to tinker and fine-tune their tools, Cursor has a few "power user" features that give you more precise control over how the AI behaves.

The .cursorrules file

This might be one of Cursor’s most underrated features. You can create a ".cursorrules" file in your project’s root directory to give the AI standing instructions. For example, you can define coding styles ("keep commit messages under 50 characters"), tell it which libraries you prefer, or outline architectural patterns. This helps keep the AI’s output consistent with your team’s standards.

Choosing your model

You aren’t stuck with just one AI model. Cursor lets you switch between different models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini whenever you want. This means you can use a faster, cheaper model for simple things and save the more powerful (and more expensive) ones for complex code generation.

Cursor's model selection dropdown, allowing developers to choose the best AI for the task, a key topic in Cursor reviews.

Manual context management

You can directly tell the AI what to look at. By typing @ in the chat, you can manually add specific files like @UserService.ts or even URLs to online documentation. This is super helpful for guiding the AI and making sure it has the exact information it needs.

Cursor AI pricing in 2025

Cursor runs on a subscription model with different plans for individuals and teams. The free plan is a decent way to test the waters, but if you plan on using it every day, you’ll probably need to pay up.

Here’s a quick look at the plans:

A screenshot of the official Cursor pricing page, which Cursor reviews often discuss when evaluating the tool's value.

They also have a "Bugbot" add-on for an extra fee, which gives you automated AI-powered code reviews on your GitHub pull requests.

Is Cursor the future of coding?

After going through all the Cursor reviews, a pretty clear picture forms. Cursor is a seriously powerful and well-designed AI code editor. It can give you a major productivity boost, especially if you’re an experienced developer willing to put in the time to master its more advanced features. The ability to understand the full context of a project, all within the familiar VS Code environment, really makes it stand out.

But it’s not a magic wand. The AI can be hit-or-miss, the interface can feel a bit cluttered, and there’s a definite learning curve. It’s an amazing tool for power users, rapid prototyping, and heavy-duty refactoring. However, beginners should be careful not to lean on it too heavily and risk skipping over core programming fundamentals.

Just as tools like Cursor are changing software development by bringing AI into the IDE, a similar shift is happening in other departments. For customer support and internal teams, the daily challenge isn’t writing code, it’s finding scattered information to solve problems quickly.

This is where AI platforms built for support and knowledge management are making a difference. Instead of an AI that writes code, you need one that understands your helpdesk tickets, internal wikis, and customer chats. eesel AI is designed for exactly that. It connects to the tools you already use, like Zendesk, Slack, and Confluence, to help automate frontline support, draft replies for agents, and answer internal questions. The best part? You can get it running in minutes.