Cursor is an AI-first code editor built on VS Code with integrated Claude AI assistance, while JetBrains IDEs are traditional integrated development environments with language-specific optimization and extensive built-in tooling. Cursor excels for AI-assisted coding workflows, whereas JetBrains dominates for enterprise development and language-specific features.
Cursor vs JetBrains IDEs — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
AI-first code editor built on VS Code with integrated Claude AI assistance and superior context awareness.
Family of professional IDEs (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, etc.) with advanced language-specific features and enterprise tooling.
Core Architecture. AI Capabilities. Language Support. Refactoring Tools. Monthly Subscription Cost. Debugging Capabilities. Learning Curve for AI Features
Choose Cursor if you prioritize AI-assisted coding, are working with modern web frameworks, prefer a lightweight editor, or want lower costs. Choose JetBrains if you need advanced language-specific features, professional refactoring tools, enterprise support, or develop in Java, Python, or Kotlin extensively.
Cursor: 3 (familiar) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: VS Code-based only | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 5-10 minutes | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Native & Superior | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 2 model choices | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Not publicly disclosed | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Not disclosed | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Significant but undisclosed | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Enterprise-grade | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: VS Code fork | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Baseline (1.0x) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: <5 minutes | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Proprietary Commercial | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Cursor Pro $20/mo | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Business $40/user/mo | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Standalone editor — a fork of VS Code (install Cursor itself) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT, Google Gemini, plus Cursor fast models (per-request switching) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Composer (Agent) plan-execute-verify loop across many files; runs commands and tests | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Whole-repo semantic embeddings with automatic relevant-file retrieval; built for monorepos | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Very fast predictive Tab completions that jump to the next edit location | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: SSO, privacy mode (no retention/training), admin controls, SOC 2 | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Graphical IDE (VS Code fork) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Interactive in-editor coding | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: ~$20/mo (Pro) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Flat plan with request quota + usage add-ons | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Monthly fast-request quota | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Multi-model (Claude, GPT, Gemini, etc.) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Not designed for it | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Workspace indexing + @-mentions | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Low (VS Code familiarity) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Interactive feature building & quick edits | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Yes — free Hobby tier plus a 2-week Pro trial | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Agent (formerly Composer) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Cursor Tab model | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Claude, GPT, Gemini families (frequent day-one additions) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Mature enterprise tier with SSO + privacy mode | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: macOS, Windows, Linux | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Largest AI-IDE community and mindshare | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 128,000 tokens | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 0 (paid tier required) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Cursor only | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Superior) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Native @-indexing across entire codebase | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: ~3000ms | JetBrains IDEs: 8-15 seconds
Cursor: 450-600MB | JetBrains IDEs: ~650 MB
Cursor: Native Claude integration | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Code sent to Anthropic servers | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Native support | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 50-200ms (Tab autocomplete) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Desktop (Mac, Windows, Linux) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Claude 3.5 Sonnet, GPT-4, Others | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: ~500K (estimated based on download trends) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Entire projects (no hard limit) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 1.5 years (launched Oct 2024) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 500K (Claude 3.5 Sonnet) | JetBrains IDEs: 200K (JetBrains AI Assistant)
Cursor: ~50 (via Claude AI) | JetBrains IDEs: 2500+ (language-specific)
Cursor: 40+ | JetBrains IDEs: 50+ (with specialized IDEs)
Cursor: Limited (chat requires internet) | JetBrains IDEs: 95% (full IDE minus AI)
Cursor: 50 premium requests | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 70,000+ (VS Code) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 4+ (Claude, GPT-4, local) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Electron (VS Code fork) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 200KB (Claude) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 1 IDE only | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Advanced (full workspace) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Primary AI Model Quality (MMBENCH score)
Cursor: 88 (Claude 3.5) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 1-2 steps (download IDE) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 1 (Cursor only) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 8000-16000 | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: No (proprietary) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 1 (Cursor IDE only) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 14-day free trial | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 200,000 tokens | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: No (via extensions only) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 40,000+ (VS Code marketplace) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Limited (basic) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Code, text, file references | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Native VS Code-based editor | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 1–3 seconds (avg inline suggestion) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Automatic full-project indexing | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: No native mobile app | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Varies by plan (Pro tier higher) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 60-120 minutes | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: ~500KB+ codebase context | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Claude 3.5 Sonnet + GPT-4 | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Full native support | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 5/10 (new IDE) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 1 (VS Code) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 7-10 minutes | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 4+ (GPT-4o, Claude, Gemini, local) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Yes, full project indexing | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 50 requests/month | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 40+ languages | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 2 (VSCode + standalone) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Standalone only | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Native (full project) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 20 per month | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 1+ million | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Download .dmg/.exe (1-click installer) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Proprietary (not public) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 100,000 tokens/month (Claude only) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: VS Code only (or Cursor standalone IDE) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Liveshare integration included | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: Via extension | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: 5+ (GPT-4, Claude, local) | JetBrains IDEs: N/A
Cursor: $20/month unlimited | JetBrains IDEs: $89-119/month per IDE
Cursor: 4GB (practical minimum) | JetBrains IDEs: 8GB (practical minimum)
Cursor: 30+ via extensions | JetBrains IDEs: 35+ language-specific IDEs
Cursor: 82% (AI-assisted, broader context) | JetBrains IDEs: 89% (language-specific ML)
Cursor: Basic rename, extract, inline via extensions | JetBrains IDEs: 50+ language-specific refactorings with safety checks
Cursor: 2-3 seconds | JetBrains IDEs: 5-8 seconds
Cursor: Community-based, limited official support | JetBrains IDEs: 24/7 enterprise support with 4-hour SLA
Cursor: N/A | JetBrains IDEs: $199-$699/year
Cursor: N/A | JetBrains IDEs: 40-50 per IDE
Cursor: N/A | JetBrains IDEs: 15+ dedicated IDEs
How to choose between Cursor and JetBrains IDEs
Cursor vs JetBrains IDEs — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Cursor vs JetBrains IDEs. Contains 173 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Cursor vs JetBrains IDEs — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Cursor vs JetBrains IDEs.
JetBrains PyCharm is superior for professional Python development due to advanced debugging, profiling, testing frameworks, and Django/Flask tooling. Cursor is better if you want AI-assisted coding but lacks PyCharm's language-specific optimizations. For learning Python with AI help, Cursor excels; for production Python projects, PyCharm is preferred.
Can I use Cursor as a replacement for JetBrains?
Partially. Cursor works well for web development, scripting, and small projects with AI assistance, but lacks the advanced refactoring, profiling, and enterprise tooling of JetBrains. Large teams, complex language-specific projects, and enterprises should stick with JetBrains. Cursor is a viable replacement for solo developers and startups on tight budgets.
What's the difference in AI capabilities?
Cursor integrates Claude AI directly with a 500K context window and intuitive Tab/Cmd K interfaces, making AI a core workflow. JetBrains AI Assistant is an add-on plugin with a 200K context window and requires additional setup. Cursor's AI is more accessible; JetBrains' is supplementary. For AI-first coding, Cursor is superior.
Cursor is significantly lighter, requiring 4GB RAM and 2-3 second startup time. JetBrains IDEs demand 8-16GB RAM and 5-8 seconds to start, with continuous background indexing. On older machines or laptops with limited resources, Cursor is the clear winner.
What about community and plugin ecosystem?
VS Code (Cursor's foundation) has a larger plugin ecosystem with 50,000+ extensions. JetBrains has a curated, smaller ecosystem but with higher-quality language-specific plugins. Cursor inherits VS Code's advantage; JetBrains compensates with native features built directly into IDEs.
How to Choose Between Cursor and JetBrains IDEs
Core Architecture: Cursor has VS Code-based with Claude AI integration, while JetBrains IDEs has Proprietary JVM-based IDEs (PyCharm, IntelliJ, etc.).
AI Capabilities: Cursor has Claude AI built-in, 500K context window, 10 fast requests/month free, while JetBrains IDEs has JetBrains AI Assistant as plugin, 200K context window, limited free tier.
Language Support: Cursor has 30+ languages via extensions, primarily web-focused, while JetBrains IDEs has 35+ with native optimization per IDE (Java, Python, Kotlin, etc.).
Refactoring Tools: Cursor has Standard VS Code refactoring, AI-augmented, while JetBrains IDEs has Advanced language-specific refactoring engine per IDE.
Monthly Subscription Cost: Cursor has $20/month (Cursor Pro with unlimited AI), while JetBrains IDEs has $89-119/month (JetBrains individual IDEs).
Debugging Capabilities: Cursor has Standard debugging via VS Code extensions, while JetBrains IDEs has Advanced debugger with profiling, memory analysis per IDE.
Consider: Learning Curve for AI Features
Learning Curve for AI Features: Cursor has Intuitive Tab/Cmd K interface, minimal ramp-up, while JetBrains IDEs has Requires plugin setup, steeper AI integration curve.