Cursor vs Neovim
Cursor
cursor.comNeovim
neovim.ioSide by side
| Figure | Cursor | Neovim |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $8/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 11 | 1 |
| Spec score · Editor Software | 9.3 (#1) | 8.6 (#7) |
| Spec score · Developer Tools | 9.3 (#4) | 8.6 (#9) |
| Extensibility | Plugins, Skills, and MCP connect specialized prompts, community extensions, and external tools or data. | Neovim provides a discoverable, versioned and documented API, ubiquitous RPC, Lua plugins and Tree-sitter parsing. |
| License | Cursor itself is proprietary; its license notice lists bundled components such as VS Code, Electron, and Monaco under their respective open-source licenses. | Neovim is licensed under Apache 2.0 except for parts contributed under the Vim license. |
| Product | Cursor describes itself as a coding agent for building ambitious software. | Neovim is a Vim-based text editor engineered for extensibility and usability. |
Plans
Cursor
- FreeFree
- HobbyFree
- Plus$8 a month
- Pro$20 a month
- Premium$30 a month
- Teams$30 a month
- Pro+$60 a month
- Super$100 a month
- Ultra$200 a month
- Ultra$200 a month
In their own words
Cursor
Cursor is a coding agent for building software, available as a desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux. Users can select models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, SpaceXAI and Cursor, and launch fleets of agents to work in parallel for hours or days. Cursor also runs in the terminal, collaborates in Slack and reviews GitHub pull requests. Cloud Agents integrate with Slack, GitHub, GitHub Enterprise Server, GitLab and Linear. The free Hobby plan includes limited Agent requests and Composer access. Pro costs $20 a month, and Teams costs $40 a month. Every plan includes model usage; on-demand usage can continue after the included amount is consumed and is billed in arrears. Privacy Mode is described as preventing training on customer data, with technical and contractual protections applied through model providers. Enterprise adds repository, model and MCP controls, audit logs and service accounts; pricing is custom and no fixed amount is listed. Cursor holds listed security certifications and attestations, and directs users to its forum or an email contact for private questions.
Neovim
Neovim is a free, Vim-based text editor built for extensibility and usability. It keeps Vim’s editing model and Vimscript v1 support, while configuration lives in init.lua and users can create Lua plugins. Its documented, versioned API and RPC let developers build extensions in many languages; GUIs, IDEs, and web browsers can also embed Neovim. Tree-sitter supports syntax highlighting and text objects, and built-in language-server support provides semantic code inspection and refactoring. Editing tools include multicursor command replay, macro recording, column editing, and large-file handling. A built-in terminal includes modern terminal features. Neovim supports Vim 8.x plugins and more. Stable downloads are listed for Linux, macOS, and Windows, with x86_64 and arm64 builds for each. Windows 8 or newer is required; Windows 7 and older are unsupported. It is licensed under Apache 2.0, with exceptions for parts contributed under the Vim license. Community support is available through GitHub Discussions and vi.stackexchange.com.