{"slug":"cursor-vs-vs-code","title":"Cursor vs VS Code","url":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/cursor-vs-vs-code","faqCount":5,"faqs":[{"question":"Can I use Cursor without paying?","answer":"Cursor offers a free tier with limited AI requests (~50 per day for autocomplete). The $20/month Pro tier provides unlimited AI features and deeper codebase indexing. Most users find the free tier insufficient for daily development work."},{"question":"Is my code private in Cursor?","answer":"No. Cursor sends code to Anthropic's servers for AI processing. Anthropic claims they don't train on user code and delete it after processing, but sensitive proprietary code should not be used with Cursor. VS Code keeps all code local unless you install AI extensions."},{"question":"Can VS Code do everything Cursor does for AI coding?","answer":"Functionally yes, but with more setup. VS Code requires installing extensions like GitHub Copilot ($20/month), Codeium ($12/month), or CodeGPT. The total cost and configuration overhead exceeds Cursor's integrated approach, though you gain flexibility in choosing AI providers."},{"question":"Which is faster for everyday coding?","answer":"VS Code starts ~28% faster (1.8s vs 2.5s) and uses ~22% less memory idle. However, Cursor's indexed codebase makes AI-assisted coding faster in practice because context loading is instant. For non-AI work, VS Code maintains a speed advantage."},{"question":"Which has better support for my programming language?","answer":"VS Code supports 30+ languages natively with 55K+ language-specific extensions. Cursor supports the same languages through VS Code's foundation but has fewer specialized extensions. For niche languages, VS Code's larger ecosystem provides more options."}],"faqPageSchema":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/cursor-vs-vs-code#faq","url":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/cursor-vs-vs-code","inLanguage":"en-US","name":"Cursor vs VS Code — FAQ","description":"Frequently asked questions about Cursor vs VS Code","dateModified":"2026-06-22T07:33:10.760Z","author":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.aversusb.net/#organization","name":"A Versus B"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.aversusb.net/#organization","name":"A Versus B"},"isPartOf":{"@type":"Article","@id":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/cursor-vs-vs-code#article"},"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":["#faq",".faq-item"]},"mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Can I use Cursor without paying?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Cursor offers a free tier with limited AI requests (~50 per day for autocomplete). The $20/month Pro tier provides unlimited AI features and deeper codebase indexing. Most users find the free tier insufficient for daily development work.","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/cursor-vs-vs-code"}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Is my code private in Cursor?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No. Cursor sends code to Anthropic's servers for AI processing. Anthropic claims they don't train on user code and delete it after processing, but sensitive proprietary code should not be used with Cursor. VS Code keeps all code local unless you install AI extensions.","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/cursor-vs-vs-code"}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Can VS Code do everything Cursor does for AI coding?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Functionally yes, but with more setup. VS Code requires installing extensions like GitHub Copilot ($20/month), Codeium ($12/month), or CodeGPT. The total cost and configuration overhead exceeds Cursor's integrated approach, though you gain flexibility in choosing AI providers.","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/cursor-vs-vs-code"}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Which is faster for everyday coding?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"VS Code starts ~28% faster (1.8s vs 2.5s) and uses ~22% less memory idle. However, Cursor's indexed codebase makes AI-assisted coding faster in practice because context loading is instant. For non-AI work, VS Code maintains a speed advantage.","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/cursor-vs-vs-code"}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Which has better support for my programming language?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"VS Code supports 30+ languages natively with 55K+ language-specific extensions. Cursor supports the same languages through VS Code's foundation but has fewer specialized extensions. For niche languages, VS Code's larger ecosystem provides more options.","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/cursor-vs-vs-code"}}]}}