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Cursor
Anysphere · AI Code Editor
💻 AI CodingBest Pick📅 Reviewed: Mar 3, 2026
Overall Score
9.2
/ 10
Code Completion
95
Codebase Context
93
Refactor Quality
88
Speed
85
Value for Money
85

Testing methodology

We ran Cursor against GitHub Copilot on three real Java projects: a Spring Boot microservice (~12K lines), a legacy monolith migration (~60K lines), and a greenfield REST API. Two senior developers alternated tools daily for three weeks.

The results were clear enough that both developers switched to Cursor as their default before the test period ended.

The codebase context advantage

The fundamental difference between Cursor and every other code AI is that Cursor knows your whole codebase. When you ask it to "add error handling consistent with how we handle it elsewhere," it actually goes and finds how you handle it elsewhere.

On the 60K-line legacy migration, we asked Cursor to identify all the places where a deprecated API method was called and write replacement code. It found 23 call sites, got 21 of 23 exactly right on the first pass. This task would have taken a developer a full day manually.

Composer mode for real refactors

We used Composer to add a new authentication middleware that needed touching seven files across three packages. The first pass was 85% correct — one file missed a null check, one had the wrong import path. A second prompt fixed both.

What works
  • Full codebase indexing means it understands your architecture, not just the open file
  • Tab autocomplete is genuinely predictive — often suggests 3-4 lines ahead correctly
  • Composer mode handles multi-file refactors that would take 20+ minutes manually
  • Model flexibility: switch between Claude 4, GPT-4o, and others mid-session
What doesn't
  • Privacy concerns: codebase is indexed and sent to Anysphere servers by default
  • Business plan required for proper enterprise privacy controls
  • Heavy RAM usage with large repos — 16GB+ recommended
Our Verdict
Cursor is the most impactful developer tool to emerge since GitHub Copilot itself. If you're a Java developer working on medium-to-large projects and you haven't tried Cursor yet, you're leaving significant productivity on the table.
Buy if you're…
  • Backend developers on real codebases (1K+ lines)
  • Teams doing legacy code migration
  • Senior devs who spend time on repetitive boilerplate
MetricScore
Code Completion
95
Codebase Context
93
Refactor Quality
88
Speed
85
Value for Money
85
PlanSGDCNYFeatures
Free$0¥02000 completions/mo, limited chat
Pro$27¥145Unlimited completions, full chat, all models
Business$54¥290Per seat, SSO, admin, privacy mode