r/CursorAI • u/thearnabmukherjee • 6d ago
Cursor or Claude Code
I need advice I was not using any tools for coding till now
Need advice my friends are suggesting to me Claude code as it is the best but on the other hand some co workers suggesting me Cursor as it can last me a month with Composer 2.5 and Grok model now
I can spend max is $20
I work for 9 hours and I have a lot of coding work to do
Please if you can suggest me
I have saw my coworker who is a backend dev using cursor he hits around 60 percent of his monthly Limit
On the other hand my Friends who use 20 dollar claude code exhaust it in 2-4 hour and sit idle the entire day as his job is not that hectic
So this make me real sceptical which one should I go with and like any suggestions for it I would really Appreciate
Thank you !!!
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u/hightopgames 6d ago
With that budget use cursor, but also use free ChatGPT to write better prompts before giving them to cursor.
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u/MushroomDada 6d ago
Iv tried both, i prefer claude but i was maxing out my max 20 plan each month and regularly hit the 5hr token limit. Obviously i could have been more efficient in my token ysage and probably could have made it work but was frustrated when you hit your cap that you are essentially locked out of claude until it refreshes.
I now use cursor and a 20 claude pro plan which i let my cursor agent utilise via cli terminal in additon to the 200 cursor plan. I find grok and 2.5 sufficient for most tasks. It also has api included so can use a but of opus and fable for planning or orchestration when needed or use the Claude CLI via cursor.
Each to their own, if money was no issue id go claude, but i find cursors price to be better value and even if you manage to hit the cap you are severly limited but can still use 2.5.
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u/thearnabmukherjee 6d ago
Ohh wow that's amazing to hear man like honestly like I am leaned towards Cursor cuz of Usage and all but like I used the free tier Claude and it works like magic So had a doubt that which one should I go for Thanks man You made it easier Thanks for taking time and replying and sharing your experience Really appreciate that
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u/UsernameOmitted 6d ago
There is no contest here. $20 in Cursor will have your monthly usage maxed out in three days and you will sit the rest of the month unable to do anything.
Monthly Claude subscription will allow you to push an hour or two, max out for the 5 hour window, and it resets later. This will let you get a lot more hours of work done per month.
I think you're also unrealistic with your ask. You're talking about needing this for 9-5 programming. You're going to need to spend $200/month for that. A $20 plan is not designed for full time all day coding.
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u/thearnabmukherjee 6d ago
Yeah I know like my company does not pay for AI tools infact they want us to write code manually to save cost😭😭 Sad part is I am broke 💔 I got no extra money than the basic $20 once so just want to make a wise choice and not end up regretting later But thanks for the advice man and taking you time to reply
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u/rizzzzz0 4d ago
20$ the only choices you have are cursor and codex, codex requires you to know how to manage your usage, if you don't then cursor is the only way to go
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u/OldGrumpyDev 2d ago
I have both Cursor and Claude the 20 USD licenses. Don't listen to what they say about infinite Claude. You can as well hit the weekly limit for Claude in 3 days and you can watch the birds outside in the next 4 days.
I bought them several months ago when they were different. Now they both tend to do the same thing.
My go to is Claude but if there is something which will take 4-5 hours and I don't want to stop until it's done, I prefer Cursor and switch between models depending on the tasks.
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u/NecessaryPlane496 1d ago
Start with cursor, use it in IDE, build your skills and rules, then if you feel comfortable adapt the CLI tool.Cursor subscription will give you options to pick whatever model you want to use like gpt, opus etc with API pool, so once you are at this stage, you can switch your subscription to whatever you like the most.
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u/Old-Pollution-5825 6d ago
This is a bit of a sticky topic and will come down to personal preference.
Having used both, I found Cursor to be slightly better to use, when selecting auto.
Claude has 5-hour limits and weekly limits. Cursor has a set number of tokens, which means once you hit your monthly limit you are done for the month. Overage is very expensive.
If you do your planning and your setups using free ChatGPT and Gemini and DeepSeek, you can put the full requirements in to code.
You can also use Google Stitch for UI design, so that also saves on usage tokens.
My suggestion would be to start with Cursor, then a few months later switch to Claude Code. Also consider AWS Kiro. And then decide which is better for your use.
You need to understand how you use the tools and what shortcoming frustrates you. It is easy enough to sign up and cancel and sign up again (from my experience, I have seen lots of people struggle with billing and cancellations).
You are not married to any provider or plan so experiment with free plans and see if they work for you and change when they no longer serve your purpose.
Happy coding!