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What’s the actual difference between Cursor and Claude Code these days? I’ve used both and then just switched to Cursor because the company paid for it…but exce

by dewey 1y ago

What’s the actual difference between Cursor and Claude Code these days? I’ve used both and then just switched to Cursor because the company paid for it…but except the cli vs UI difference I couldn’t really spot any big differences as both did multi-file edits. The current state of having multiple editors open, or having to switch between JetBrains stuff and Cursor is really a bit of an annoying transition period (I hope).

kajecounterhack 1y ago
A lot of people use them together (cursor for IDE and claude code in the terminal inside the IDE). In terms of performance, their agents differ. The base model their agents use are the same, but for example how they look at your codebase or decide to farm tasks out to lesser models, and how they connect to tools all differ.
garychalmers 1y ago
Cursor forces you to switch to a different IDE (unless you'are already using VSCode), while Cloude-Code (or Aider) is simply a terminal that works in parallel to your current IDE, editing directly your project files. In my case the "IDE" is vim+tmux+bash and I prefer CLI assistants, but this applies also to people that uses a graphical IDE different from VSCode.
- brulard 1y ago
  Doesn't it force you to switch to different IDE even when using VSCode? It's separate editor, right? At least that's how I used it. If it was just an extension, like this one, it would work so much better for me.
  - chrisweekly 1y ago
    I know that some VSC users use Cursor for inline edits (in the main IDE UX), and also use CC in VSC's integrated terminal.
kissgyorgy 1y ago
The difference is huge, not even close both in quality and usage. Claude Code is fully agentic, meaning you give it a task and fully implements everything, produces surprisingly good, working code. Can test, commit, run commands, log in to remote system, debug anything. It doesn't optimise for token usage, which Cursor heavily do, that's why it can produce higher quality code on first shots (the downside is that the cost is very high) Cursor's agent mode is very much in it's infrantry just catching up, but Cursor is essentially a tool for editing files, but Claude Code is like a junior developer.
- 20wenty 1y ago
  Do you have details on what "optimise for token usage" looks like in Cursor? Or is your point more about how Cursor manages the context window?
- cle 1y ago
  Cursor does all that stuff too perfectly fine.
- jen729w 1y ago
  This does Cursor a disservice by not mentioning its deep integration. Cursor will suggest and complete code for you inline. You just tab-complete your way to a written function. It's mad. Claude Code doesn't do this. Cursor also has much better awareness of TypeScript. It'll fix errors as they occur, and you can right-click an issue and have it fixed. Contrast with CC where I've had to specify in CLAUDE.md to "NEVER EVER leave me with TS errors", and to do this it runs a CLI check using its integration, taking way longer to do the same thing.
  - pbedat 1y ago
    The CC vscode plugin can also fetch the errors and warnings reported to vscode by other plugins and language Servers, making the additional compile step obsolete
  - etothet 1y ago
    This is precisely what the CC extension does, no? At least that’s how the extension behaves in JetBrains IDEs.
razemio 1y ago
What are you doing that you do not feel a difference? Claude is superior for me in every single way. It is not even close. I mainly use scala, python, js and dart. Maybe curser is better with other languages? I can use claude to be a very productive assistant. Especially useful for small to medium changes. If I plan accordingly it is like magic. It tends to duplicate code but that us about it. Code produced by cursor needs alot of work the last time I tried. Often slowing me down instead of helping.
- derwiki 1y ago
  Anecdata, but Cursor does fine for me with Ruby on Rails
khaledh 1y ago
One feature that is still exclusive to Cursor is the Cursor Tab feature. It almost always accurately predicts your next edit with high accuracy, based on your recent edits and cursor navigation. But from an agent perspective, Claude Code is much more tuned to understanding the task, breaking it down into small steps, and executing those steps with precision. Overall, IMO agentic coding is great for well defined tasks, especially when they're backed by tests. It still lacks though in deep technical discussions and being opinionated about architectural decisions, unless specifically nudged in a certain direction. This is an area where Gemini Pro excels at, but it sucks at as a coding agent. So I use both: Gemini Pro for high-level picture design, and Claude Code for executing the plan by giving it clear requirements. All while making some edits myself using Cursor Tab.
chrsw 1y ago
Claude Code is very impressive. It almost feels like another programmer sitting there with you in your terminal. It's not perfect and usually needs help understanding what you're trying to do but once all the pieces are in place and it gets going it's incredible. I'm not even using it properly in terms of giving it the right context it needs to truly understand my project. And I'm not using it for TypeScript or even any web development.
nsingh2 1y ago
One thing with Cursor is that you can use other non-anthropic models like o3 or Gemini. I've found o3 more useful for cracking localized difficult problems, and Gemini for large context refactoring.
- SparkyMcUnicorn 1y ago
  Adding Gemini and/or o3 to Claude Code is nice sometimes[0]. Or you can use a router/proxy to swap out the provider entirely. https://github.com/BeehiveInnovations/zen-mcp-server https://github.com/BeehiveInnovations/zen-mcp-server

by dewey 1y ago

kajecounterhack 1y ago

A lot of people use them together (cursor for IDE and claude code in the terminal inside the IDE). In terms of performance, their agents differ. The base model their agents use are the same, but for example how they look at your codebase or decide to farm tasks out to lesser models, and how they connect to tools all differ.

garychalmers 1y ago

Cursor forces you to switch to a different IDE (unless you'are already using VSCode), while Cloude-Code (or Aider) is simply a terminal that works in parallel to your current IDE, editing directly your project files. In my case the "IDE" is vim+tmux+bash and I prefer CLI assistants, but this applies also to people that uses a graphical IDE different from VSCode.

brulard 1y ago
Doesn't it force you to switch to different IDE even when using VSCode? It's separate editor, right? At least that's how I used it. If it was just an extension, like this one, it would work so much better for me.
- chrisweekly 1y ago
  I know that some VSC users use Cursor for inline edits (in the main IDE UX), and also use CC in VSC's integrated terminal.

kissgyorgy 1y ago

The difference is huge, not even close both in quality and usage. Claude Code is fully agentic, meaning you give it a task and fully implements everything, produces surprisingly good, working code. Can test, commit, run commands, log in to remote system, debug anything. It doesn't optimise for token usage, which Cursor heavily do, that's why it can produce higher quality code on first shots (the downside is that the cost is very high) Cursor's agent mode is very much in it's infrantry just catching up, but Cursor is essentially a tool for editing files, but Claude Code is like a junior developer.

20wenty 1y ago
Do you have details on what "optimise for token usage" looks like in Cursor? Or is your point more about how Cursor manages the context window?
cle 1y ago
Cursor does all that stuff too perfectly fine.
jen729w 1y ago
This does Cursor a disservice by not mentioning its deep integration. Cursor will suggest and complete code for you inline. You just tab-complete your way to a written function. It's mad. Claude Code doesn't do this. Cursor also has much better awareness of TypeScript. It'll fix errors as they occur, and you can right-click an issue and have it fixed. Contrast with CC where I've had to specify in CLAUDE.md to "NEVER EVER leave me with TS errors", and to do this it runs a CLI check using its integration, taking way longer to do the same thing.
- pbedat 1y ago
  The CC vscode plugin can also fetch the errors and warnings reported to vscode by other plugins and language Servers, making the additional compile step obsolete
- etothet 1y ago
  This is precisely what the CC extension does, no? At least that’s how the extension behaves in JetBrains IDEs.

razemio 1y ago

What are you doing that you do not feel a difference? Claude is superior for me in every single way. It is not even close. I mainly use scala, python, js and dart. Maybe curser is better with other languages? I can use claude to be a very productive assistant. Especially useful for small to medium changes. If I plan accordingly it is like magic. It tends to duplicate code but that us about it. Code produced by cursor needs alot of work the last time I tried. Often slowing me down instead of helping.

derwiki 1y ago
Anecdata, but Cursor does fine for me with Ruby on Rails

khaledh 1y ago

One feature that is still exclusive to Cursor is the Cursor Tab feature. It almost always accurately predicts your next edit with high accuracy, based on your recent edits and cursor navigation. But from an agent perspective, Claude Code is much more tuned to understanding the task, breaking it down into small steps, and executing those steps with precision. Overall, IMO agentic coding is great for well defined tasks, especially when they're backed by tests. It still lacks though in deep technical discussions and being opinionated about architectural decisions, unless specifically nudged in a certain direction. This is an area where Gemini Pro excels at, but it sucks at as a coding agent. So I use both: Gemini Pro for high-level picture design, and Claude Code for executing the plan by giving it clear requirements. All while making some edits myself using Cursor Tab.

chrsw 1y ago

Claude Code is very impressive. It almost feels like another programmer sitting there with you in your terminal. It's not perfect and usually needs help understanding what you're trying to do but once all the pieces are in place and it gets going it's incredible. I'm not even using it properly in terms of giving it the right context it needs to truly understand my project. And I'm not using it for TypeScript or even any web development.

nsingh2 1y ago

One thing with Cursor is that you can use other non-anthropic models like o3 or Gemini. I've found o3 more useful for cracking localized difficult problems, and Gemini for large context refactoring.

SparkyMcUnicorn 1y ago
Adding Gemini and/or o3 to Claude Code is nice sometimes[0]. Or you can use a router/proxy to swap out the provider entirely. https://github.com/BeehiveInnovations/zen-mcp-server https://github.com/BeehiveInnovations/zen-mcp-server