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Cursor: the editor and the agent in one product

Cursor is a code editor with its own coding agent. The same agent also runs in the cloud, in the terminal and on iOS.

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Cursor sorts itself around one editor, and you adopt that editor. The Agent works inside it. The same agent runs as Cloud Agents on machines in the cloud, in the CLI and in the iOS app. Anysphere builds Cursor. SpaceX completed its acquisition of the company in August 2026.

You pick the model per request, or you leave it on Auto. Cursor offers its own models, Composer and Grok, and models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta. Whose account serves it: Cursor by default, or your own key for five providers. That route has two limits. Tab completion stays on Cursor's models, and Cursor's zero data retention no longer applies.

From my course slides (MASE-3, FH Burgenland), read 8 September 2026. Some details on the slide have changed since; the text on this page is current as of September 2026.
From my course slides (MASE-3, FH Burgenland), read 8 September 2026. Some details on the slide have changed since; the text on this page is current as of September 2026.[1]

The family

Agent[2]

desktop editor
Cursor's assistant in the editor. It completes coding tasks, runs terminal commands and edits code.

Cloud Agents[3]

cloud, started from editor, web, Slack or mobile
The same agent in isolated cloud machines with a full development environment. Many can run in parallel.

Self-Hosted Machines[4]

your own machines
Cloud Agents run file edits and commands on machines you manage. Cursor still runs the agent loop and the model.

Cursor CLI[5]

CLI
The agent in the terminal, interactive or scripted for CI pipelines.

Cursor for iOS[6]

iOS
Start and steer Cloud Agents from your phone, on plans that include Cloud Agents.

Design Mode[7]

desktop editor
Point at parts of a running web page, draw or speak, and send interface changes to agents.

Bugbot[8]

code review
Agentic code review on pull requests.

Origin[9]

web, CLI
Cursor's git forge for hosting repositories, mirroring GitHub and reviewing pull requests. Early beta.

Plans

Plan names as of September 2026. Business plans add team-wide Privacy Mode, SSO and admin controls.

PlanForWhat changes
Hobby[10]Trying Cursor out, free.Limited usage. No Cloud Agents and no Bugbot.
Start[8]Developers in India only.Cursor's own models only (Composer and Grok). No third-party models, no Auto, no Bugbot.
Pro, Pro+, Ultra[8]Individuals, by amount of use.Two usage pools: Cursor's models and other models. Cloud Agents and Bugbot included. Requests with your own key do not use the included amount.
Teams[8]Teams that manage Cursor themselves. Standard and Premium seats.Central billing and admin, Privacy Mode on by default for all members, SAML/OIDC SSO, team rules, skills and plugins, usage analytics.
Enterprise[10]Larger organisations.Pooled usage, SCIM, audit logs, Privacy Mode on by default. US data residency, customer managed keys and Self-Hosted Team Pools on request.

Which model runs

The user picks the model per request, or leaves it on Auto. On Teams and Enterprise, Cursor Router picks for Auto and admins can limit models. Tab completion always uses Cursor's own models. As of September 2026:

Auto (Cursor Router)[8]Picks the model for each request. Three modes: Cost, Balance, Intelligence.
Composer 2.5[8]Cursor's own model, built for coding.
Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5[11]First-party Cursor models, built together with SpaceXAI.
Claude Opus 5.5, Claude Sonnet 5[8]Anthropic.
Claude Fable 5.1[12]Anthropic keeps inputs and outputs for safety reviews, so admins must approve it first.
GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, Luna[8]OpenAI.
Gemini 3.1 Pro, Gemini 3.8 Flash[8]Google.
Muse Spark 1.3[13]Meta, new provider in Cursor. Teams and Enterprise admins may need to enable it.

What you can configure

Rules[14]Project rules in .cursor/rules, user rules, team rules from the dashboard (Teams and Enterprise) and AGENTS.md.
Skills[15]Packages of instructions, scripts and templates in the open Agent Skills format, stored in your repository.
Hooks[16]Scripts that run before or after steps of the agent loop. They can format code, scan for secrets or block risky actions.
MCP servers[17]Connect external tools and data. Install from the Customize page or configure in mcp.json.
Plugins[18]Bundles of rules, skills, agents, commands, MCP servers and hooks, from the Cursor Marketplace or your own.
SSO and SCIM[19]SAML 2.0 SSO at no extra cost on Teams and Enterprise. SCIM on Enterprise.
Privacy Mode enforcement[12]Admins turn on Privacy Mode for the whole team and lock it. A device policy can stop people from signing in with personal accounts.
Model access[12]Admins approve models that keep data with the provider and limit which groups can use a model.
Your own API key[20]Keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Azure OpenAI and AWS Bedrock. Works for chat models only.

What happens to your data

Privacy Mode on[21]Cursor does not train on your data. Model providers work under zero data retention, except when abuse detection flags a request and for models marked as non-ZDR.
Privacy Mode off[21]Cursor may use and store code, prompts and editor actions to improve its features and train its models.
Teams and Enterprise[22]Privacy Mode is on by default. Admins can enforce it so members cannot switch it off.
Cloud Agents[12]The only feature that stores code: encrypted copies of the repository, kept while the agent runs and deleted afterwards. You can leave Cloud Agents off.

Europe: GDPR, data residency and the AI Act

DPA / GDPR terms[23]Anysphere publishes a DPA with the EU standard contractual clauses and the UK addendum. It is tied to the Master Services Agreement.
Certifications[24]Cursor states SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 42001. Reports are on request at trust.cursor.com.
Data residency in the EU[12]Enterprise only, per team. Today only US residency is available. EU and Iceland inference-only coverage is available on request, and broader EU support is in development.
AI Act[25]Anysphere is not on the EU Code of Practice signatory list. Anthropic, OpenAI and Google signed. xAI signed only the safety and security chapter. Meta is not on the list.

What the AI Act and the GDPR ask of you as a user →

Hybrid: the same models in your own account

The third-party models can run through your own OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Azure or Bedrock account. Requests still pass through Cursor, and some protections change on the way.

Your own key for five providers[20]OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Azure OpenAI and AWS Bedrock. Your provider bills the model use.
Limit: Tab completion[20]"Tab completion continues using Cursor's built-in models", even with your own key.
Limit: zero data retention[20]"Cursor's Zero Data Retention policy does not apply when you use your own API keys." Your provider's data terms apply instead.
Requests still pass through Cursor[21]With your own key, every request still goes through Cursor's backend for prompt building. The key is not stored.
AWS Bedrock with IAM roles[20]Use access keys in the editor, or IAM roles set in the Cursor dashboard, with the models in your Bedrock setup.
Agent tools on your own machines[4]Self-Hosted Machines keep the checkout and credentials on your machine. Cursor still runs inference and planning. Team Pools need Enterprise.
Limit: residency and your own key[12]US data residency does not cover requests with your own key, SSO, MCP servers or custom endpoints.
The same finished product, in three configurations: consumer, business, or on a cloud account you already have.
The same finished product, in three configurations: consumer, business, or on a cloud account you already have.[26]
Recently changed
  • SpaceX completed its acquisition of Cursor (14 Aug 2026).
  • Grok models, built with SpaceXAI, joined Composer as first-party Cursor models (8 Jul 2026).
  • Cursor acquired Continue, the open-source coding assistant. Its repository is now read-only (19 Jun 2026).

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Linda MohamedLinda Mohamed
AI and cloud consultant, AWS Community Hero, Vienna

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ai-solutions.wiki

Read more on ai-solutions.wiki

My open knowledge base, with longer comparisons and sources.

The technology underneath: AI technologies explained →

Sources

  1. Linda Mohamed, course slides “The projects”, appendix layer 0, MASE-3, FH Burgenland, September 2026
  2. Agent, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/agent/overview
  3. Cloud Agents, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/cloud-agent
  4. Self-Hosted Machines, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/cloud-agent/self-hosted
  5. Cursor CLI, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/cli/overview
  6. Cursor for iOS, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/cloud-agent/mobile
  7. Design Mode, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/agent/design-mode
  8. Bugbot, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/models-and-pricing
  9. Origin, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/origin
  10. Hobby, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/pricing
  11. Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/help/models-and-usage/grok-4-7
  12. Claude Fable 5.1, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/enterprise/privacy-and-data-governance
  13. Muse Spark 1.3, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/models/muse-spark-1-3
  14. Rules, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/rules
  15. Skills, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/skills
  16. Hooks, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/hooks
  17. MCP servers, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/mcp
  18. Plugins, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/plugins
  19. SSO and SCIM, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/docs/account/teams/sso
  20. Your own API key, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/help/models-and-usage/api-keys
  21. Privacy Mode on, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/data-use
  22. Teams and Enterprise, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/help/security-and-privacy/privacy
  23. DPA / GDPR terms, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/terms/dpa
  24. Certifications, cursor.com. https://cursor.com/security
  25. AI Act, digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu. https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/contents-code-gpai
  26. Linda Mohamed, course slides “Start here”, MASE-3, FH Burgenland, September 2026
  27. Cursor, ai-solutions.wiki. https://ai-solutions.wiki/tools/cursor-ai/
  28. Claude Code vs Cursor vs Codex, ai-solutions.wiki. https://ai-solutions.wiki/comparisons/claude-code-vs-cursor-vs-codex/
  29. Cursor is now a part of SpaceX (14 Aug 2026). https://cursor.com/blog/joining-spacex
  30. Introducing Grok 4.5 (8 Jul 2026). https://cursor.com/blog/grok-4-5
  31. Continue (acquired by Cursor). https://continue.dev/
  32. Continue release v2.0.0-vscode (19 Jun 2026). https://github.com/continuedev/continue/releases/tag/v2.0.0-vscode
  33. Cursor enterprise docs (SOC 2, GDPR). https://cursor.com/docs/enterprise

Checked against the vendors' own pages in September 2026. Plans, models and features change often: check the linked pages before you decide.