Cursor vs GitHub Copilot vs Claude Code: what a developer actually pays (2026)

GitHub Copilot Pro is the cheapest way in, at $10 a month. Cursor Pro is double that, $20. Claude Code doesn't have a separate subscription at all — it rides on API usage, or on a Claude Pro plan you may already be paying for. None of those three numbers is the number you'll actually pay, though, because all three tools switched to usage-based billing this year, which turns the sticker price into a floor rather than a ceiling.

| Tool | Individual plan | Price/mo | Team plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot | Pro | $10 | Business — $19/user |
| GitHub Copilot | Pro+ | $39 | Enterprise — $39/user |
| Cursor | Pro | $20 | Teams — from $40/user |
| Cursor | Pro+ | $60 | — |
| Claude Code | via Claude Pro | $20 | via Claude Team / API |

GitHub made the switch in June, replacing its old premium-request counter with metered "AI credits." Cursor did the same thing around the same time, dropping its fixed monthly request quota for usage-based credits and adding a $60 Pro+ tier for people who kept blowing through the old limit. The practical effect of both changes is identical: a developer running agents heavily can turn a nominal $20 plan into a real $50–$100 bill, and it happens quietly, a little at a time, not in one obvious jump.

The three tools aren't really substitutes for each other, either — they're built for different moments in a coding session. Copilot Pro is the tightest, cheapest editor integration for anyone in VS Code or JetBrains, and it's the safe default if your team already lives on GitHub end to end. Cursor is a full AI-first editor, a VS Code fork built around letting the agent drive multi-file edits directly inside the IDE — worth the extra $10 specifically if you want that, not just autocomplete. Claude Code lives in the terminal and shines on large refactors and codebase-wide tasks; because you pay for what you use, it's efficient for the occasional big job and expensive if you try to make it your everyday driver.

Whichever you pick, open the usage dashboard in week one — that's genuinely the fastest way to find out whether your actual habits fit a $10 plan or a $60 one, and it's cheaper to learn that early than from a surprise invoice.

Start cheap: Copilot Pro at $10 if good autocomplete and chat cover most of what you need. Add Cursor when you want the agent doing the typing across files, not just suggesting the next line. Reach for Claude Code specifically for the occasional large, cross-file job — not as the tool you open every morning.