CursorVS
Zed
Read from each vendor’s own pages last night, so it does not go stale the way a written comparison does.
- CURSOR
- $20 / mo
- ZED
- Free, then $10 / mo
- CHANGES ON EITHER
- 8
- CAVEATS
- NONE
On the prices each vendor publishes about itself, Cursor starts at $20 / mo and Zed at Free, then $10 / mo. Both take your own API key, so on either one the subscription and the model bill are separate decisions. Zed is open source under GPL-3.0; the other is proprietary. Every figure on this page was read from the two vendors' own pages in last night's run rather than written down once, which is the only reason it is still the current answer. ToolDrift sells neither and takes no referral fee on either.
| COMPARED ON | CURSOR | ZED |
|---|---|---|
| ASSERTED · WHAT EACH VENDOR PUBLISHES ABOUT ITSELF | ||
| Category | IDE | IDE |
| Vendor | Anysphere | Zed Industries |
| Status | Active | Active |
| How it charges | Subscription | Hybrid |
| Entry price | $20 / mo | Free, then $10 / mo |
| Default model | None, you choose | None, you choose |
| Your own key | Yes | Yes |
| Source | Proprietary | Open source · GPL-3.0 |
| Plans | Hobby · price not readIndividual · $20 / moTeams · $40 / mo per user / moEnterprise · Custom | Personal · FreePro · $10 / moBusiness · $30 / mo per seat, per month |
| MEASURED · COUNTED ON THE LAST NIGHTLY RUN | ||
| Stars | not measured | 90.9K |
| Maintenance | not measured | 94/100 |
| Days since last push | not measured | 0 |
| Top model in it | not measured | not measured |
| Its volume | not measured | not measured |
Is Cursor or Zed cheaper?
On the cheapest option each vendor publishes: Cursor is $20 / mo and Zed is Free, then $10 / mo. Treat both as an allowance rather than a bill, every tool in this category meters model usage on top of the plan, and which one costs more in practice depends on the models you drive and how hard. The tier prices are the part that can be checked from outside, so they are the part this page prints.
Can I use my own API key with Cursor or Zed?
Cursor: yes. Zed: yes. It is the row that decides whether the subscription price is most of what you pay or a fraction of it: a tool that takes your own key charges for the software, and one that does not is reselling inference with a margin you cannot see.
Are Cursor and Zed still maintained?
Active and Active as of last night's read. Cursor publishes no repository this site tracks, so there is no push date to read; Zed's repository was last pushed 0 days ago and it scores 94/100 on maintenance. This is the question a written comparison cannot answer, because it was true on the day it was published and nobody went back.