Cursor vs Devin Desktop: Which AI Code Editor Should You Pick?

What does the first paid plan actually get you?

Devin Desktop’s first paid plan includes the big outside models and cloud agents. Cursor’s cheapest plan runs only Grok models, and its cloud agents start one plan up. That’s the difference most people miss on the pricing pages.

• Cursor. The entry plan covers Cursor’s agent with Grok models only. Cloud agents, automations, Bugbot code reviews and code hosting start at Premium. Even there, models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google aren’t part of your allowance: you can use them, but they’re billed separately at the model maker’s list price.
• Devin Desktop. Pro includes models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and SpaceXAI inside your quota, free use of Cognition’s own SWE-2 model, and Devin Cloud agents. Go past the quota and extra use is billed at API prices.

Both refill your allowance on a schedule rather than once a month, so one heavy day doesn’t burn your month. Cursor’s free plan gives you limited agent use; Devin Desktop’s free plan gives a light agent quota plus unlimited Tab completions and inline edits. Plans change, so check the current ones on the Cursor and Devin Desktop pages before you pay.

In practice: if you want Claude or GPT doing the heavy lifting, Devin Desktop’s plans are easier to predict. If you’re happy on Grok and Cursor’s own models, Cursor’s entry plan is the cheaper way in.

How do they run agents?

Cursor is an editor that sends its agents out to wherever you are. Devin Desktop is a control room where many agents work at once and you review what they ship.

• Cursor puts one agent in the editor and lets you launch fleets of cloud agents that build, test and demo a feature on their own computers. The same agent runs in your terminal through the Cursor CLI, takes requests in Slack, reviews pull requests in GitHub, and has an iPhone and iPad app.
• Devin Desktop opens on its Agent Command Center: sessions on a board, grouped into Spaces that share context and Git worktrees across agents. It runs Cognition’s own local agent, and through the Agent Client Protocol it can also run other agents such as Codex, Claude’s agent and OpenCode in the same place. Start a plan locally, then hand it to Devin Cloud and close your laptop.

If you want to mix agents from different makers on one project, that tips it to Devin Desktop. If you want one agent you can reach from anywhere, including your phone, that tips it to Cursor.

Still writing code yourself?

Both are complete editors, so you’re never stuck waiting on an agent. The editor is there when you want to read, trace and fix things by hand.

Cursor is known for fast tab completion and quick targeted edits alongside its agent. Devin Desktop keeps the full Windsurf editor with debugging tools, adds Supercomplete for predicting your next edit and Fast Context for finding the right files fast, and lets you review every agent diff before you push.

Building with a team?

Cursor prices per seat with a shared usage pool. Devin Desktop’s team plan is a flat team fee plus a charge for each full developer seat.

On Cursor Teams, usage is pooled, with central billing, usage analytics and team-wide privacy settings. On Devin’s Teams plan, each full seat unlocks Devin Desktop and its own usage that works across every Devin product: Desktop, Cloud, CLI and code review. Devin also connects to Slack, Microsoft Teams, Linear, Jira and the major Git hosts. For a small team, run the numbers on both pricing pages; which comes out cheaper depends on how many people need a full seat.

Switching from one to the other

Moving from Cursor to Devin Desktop is easy on the rules side: Devin Desktop can import your Cursor rules and also reads AGENTS.md files. Coming from Windsurf, nothing changes: your settings and rules come along automatically, and the old commands still work.

On privacy, Cursor has a privacy mode that guarantees your code isn’t used for training, by Cursor or its model providers, when it’s switched on. If that matters, turn it on before your first session, or set it for the whole team.

Not sold on either?

If you live in the terminal, look at Claude Code or Codex. If you’d rather hand off whole tickets than code alongside an agent, look at Devin itself.

Claude Code vs Cursor, Cursor vs Devin and Cursor vs Warp cover the closest matchups. For the wider field, see how to choose an AI coding agent.

A quick way to decide

Open the same real project in both on the free plan and give each agent the same three tasks. A small bug fix, a feature that touches several files, and a test you know is flaky.

Watch three things: which one finished without you stepping in, how easy it was to review the changes, and what the bill would look like with the models you actually want. Keep the one you’d hand next week’s work to.