Droid vs Cursor
Droid and Cursor side by side: what each one is, verified plan pricing and install commands where we have them, and the full review of each.
Droid
Factory AI's terminal coding agent. Runs Anthropic and OpenAI models in one subscription. Handles full tasks end-to-end - refactors, incident response, migrations.
Cursor
EssentialAI-native code editor forked from VS Code, now sold as part of The X Subscription. Agent edits multiple files at once and Tab autocomplete predicts your next edit. Plus is $8/mo (Cursor's own Grok and Composer models only); Premium at $30/mo adds third-party models at API list price.
At a glance
| Field | D Droid | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI Coding | AI Coding |
| Website | factory.ai | cursor.sh |
| Pricing | Pro - $20/mo: Desktop, CLI and SDK, cloud and local background agents; Plus - $100/mo: about 5x the usage of Pro, plus Droid Computers (Factory-managed cloud computers); Max - $200/mo: about 10x the usage of Pro and early access to new features; Teams - $60/mo per team plus $40/mo per seat, up to 10 seats; Business and Enterprise - contact sales | Free - $0/mo: limited Agent and Chat usage; Plus - $8/mo ($80/yr): Cursor's own models only (Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5, Composer 2.5) at fixed settings; no Auto, Cloud Agents, Bugbot, third-party models or own API keys; Premium - $30/mo ($300/yr): 4x Plus usage, Cloud Agents and Automations, Origin code hosting, Bugbot, third-party models at API list price from prepaid credit; Super - $100/mo ($1,000/yr): 15x Plus usage, priority model access at peak times; Ultra - $200/mo ($2,000/yr): 50x Plus usage, earliest access to new products and models; Teams - $30, $100, or $200 per seat/mo; third-party models at API list price plus a $0.25 per million token Cursor Token Rate; Enterprise - custom pricing, pooled usage |
| Install | curl -fsSL https://app.factory.ai/cli | sh or brew install --cask droid or npm install -g droid | curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash or irm 'https://cursor.com/install?win32=true' | iex |
| Models | Droid offers Anthropic (Claude Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Haiku 5.5 and more), OpenAI (GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6 Astra, GPT-5.x), Google Gemini 3.x, xAI Grok and open models such as Kimi K3, GLM-5.3 and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, each billed at a usage multiplier. Switch with /model or Ctrl+N, set reasoning with --reasoning-effort, or bring your own keys as custom models. | Paid plans include a weekly usage pool, shared with Grok, for Cursor's own models: Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5, and Composer 2.5. Claude (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku 5.5, Fable 5.1), GPT-5.6, Gemini 4 Argon and 3.x, and Meta Muse Wonder are third-party models billed at API list price from prepaid credit on Premium and above; individual plans get Auto in Cost mode, while Teams and Enterprise can use Cursor Router's Balance and Intelligence modes. |
| Last verified | October 17, 2026 | October 17, 2026 |
In Depth
Droid
Droid is a terminal-based AI coding agent from Factory AI that handles the full software development lifecycle: planning, implementation, and testing. One subscription gives you access to both Anthropic and OpenAI models, so you do not have to switch platforms when you need a different model's strengths. Droid posted a 58.75% score on Terminal-Bench, a top result when it was reported, which showed that agent design matters as much as model choice. It works across IDE, Web, CLI, Slack, and Linear, and supports VS Code, JetBrains, Vim, and Zed. Factory also offers specialized droid agents for engineering, reliability, product, and knowledge work, making it a platform rather than just a tool.
Cursor
Cursor is a fork of VS Code rebuilt around AI. The killer feature is Composer - you describe a change in natural language and it edits multiple files simultaneously with a diff view. Tab autocomplete goes beyond single-line suggestions, predicting multi-line edits based on your recent changes. It indexes your entire codebase for context and supports OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Cursor models, and custom API keys. Plans are Free, Plus $8/mo, Premium $30/mo, Super $100/mo, and Ultra $200/mo; Claude, GPT, and Gemini are billed at API list price on Premium and above, and the old Pro and Pro+ plans continue only for existing customers. I use Cursor for visual editing alongside Claude Code for CLI-driven autonomous work.
FAQ
Answers taken from each tool's verified fact sheet, with the date it was last checked.
How much does Droid cost?
As of October 17, 2026: Pro - $20/mo: Desktop, CLI and SDK, cloud and local background agents; Plus - $100/mo: about 5x the usage of Pro, plus Droid Computers (Factory-managed cloud computers); Max - $200/mo: about 10x the usage of Pro and early access to new features; Teams - $60/mo per team plus $40/mo per seat, up to 10 seats; Business and Enterprise - contact sales. Source: Factory pricing, Droid CLI quickstart, Available models, Droid CLI changelog.
How do I install Droid?
Official install commands as of October 17, 2026: curl -fsSL https://app.factory.ai/cli | sh or brew install --cask droid or npm install -g droid.
Which models does Droid use?
As of October 17, 2026: Droid offers Anthropic (Claude Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Haiku 5.5 and more), OpenAI (GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6 Astra, GPT-5.x), Google Gemini 3.x, xAI Grok and open models such as Kimi K3, GLM-5.3 and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, each billed at a usage multiplier. Switch with /model or Ctrl+N, set reasoning with --reasoning-effort, or bring your own keys as custom models.
How much does Cursor cost?
As of October 17, 2026: Free - $0/mo: limited Agent and Chat usage; Plus - $8/mo ($80/yr): Cursor's own models only (Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5, Composer 2.5) at fixed settings; no Auto, Cloud Agents, Bugbot, third-party models or own API keys; Premium - $30/mo ($300/yr): 4x Plus usage, Cloud Agents and Automations, Origin code hosting, Bugbot, third-party models at API list price from prepaid credit; Super - $100/mo ($1,000/yr): 15x Plus usage, priority model access at peak times; Ultra - $200/mo ($2,000/yr): 50x Plus usage, earliest access to new products and models; Teams - $30, $100, or $200 per seat/mo; third-party models at API list price plus a $0.25 per million token Cursor Token Rate; Enterprise - custom pricing, pooled usage. Source: Cursor pricing, Cursor docs: Models and Pricing, Cursor docs: Legacy Cursor plans, Cursor CLI installation, Cursor changelog.
How do I install Cursor?
Official install commands as of October 17, 2026: curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash or irm 'https://cursor.com/install?win32=true' | iex.
Which models does Cursor use?
As of October 17, 2026: Paid plans include a weekly usage pool, shared with Grok, for Cursor's own models: Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5, and Composer 2.5. Claude (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku 5.5, Fable 5.1), GPT-5.6, Gemini 4 Argon and 3.x, and Meta Muse Wonder are third-party models billed at API list price from prepaid credit on Premium and above; individual plans get Auto in Cost mode, while Teams and Enterprise can use Cursor Router's Balance and Intelligence modes.
