# Cursor vs Visual Studio Code

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Visual Studio Code

| Attribute | Cursor | Visual Studio Code |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 45.7 (69% (medium)) | 58.1 (62% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 72 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 193,646 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Cursor is an AI coding agent that combines IDE capabilities with autonomous agents to help developers build software. It streamlines development workflows across desktop, CLI, and cloud platforms. It is indexed under IDEs & Code Editors.","source":"https://www.cursor.com","question":"What is Cursor?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Cursor offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $20 per month. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.cursor.com","question":"Is Cursor free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Cursor supports the web, Windows and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.cursor.com","question":"What platforms does Cursor support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Cursor, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://www.cursor.com","question":"Can Cursor be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 for Cursor. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Cursor not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.cursor.com/security","question":"What security certifications does Cursor have?","confidence":0.7}]` | `[{"answer":"A multi-platform code editor combining traditional editing, debugging, and terminal capabilities with built-in AI agents that research, modify code, run commands, and iterate toward task completion. It is indexed under IDEs & Code Editors.","source":"https://code.visualstudio.com","question":"What is Visual Studio Code?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Visual Studio Code offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://code.visualstudio.com","question":"Is Visual Studio Code free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Visual Studio Code supports the web, Windows, macOS, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://code.visualstudio.com","question":"What platforms does Visual Studio Code support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Visual Studio Code can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://code.visualstudio.com","question":"Can Visual Studio Code be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 5 integrations for Visual Studio Code, including GitHub, Azure Pipelines, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps and MCP servers. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://code.visualstudio.com","question":"What does Visual Studio Code integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Visual Studio Code is published under the MIT licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode","question":"Is Visual Studio Code open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | An AI-assisted development environment with desktop and CLI interfaces that uses codebase indexing and AI models to help generate code, complete tasks, and integrate with developer tools. | Visual Studio Code is a free, open-source editor available on desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux) and web platforms, supporting dozens of programming languages through its extension marketplace. It features integrated source control, debugging, and AI-powered agent capabilities to automate coding tasks and development workflows. |
| features.capabilities | `{"type":"full_ide","builtin_ai":"native","deployment":"both","os_support":"Windows","remote_dev":true,"open_source":"closed","extensibility":"marketplace","pricing_model":"subscription","language_scope":"polyglot","git_integration":true,"code_intelligence":"ide_grade","architecture_model":"standalone_ide_fork_cursor","multi_file_diff_generation_and_automated_apply":true,"workspace_indexing_and_semantic_codebase_search":true,"terminal_bash_execution_and_self_correction_loops":true}` | `{"type":"full_ide","lsp_dap":true,"builtin_ai":"native","deployment":"both","os_support":"Windows, macOS, Linux","remote_dev":true,"open_source":"open_core","base_platform":"original","extensibility":"marketplace","pricing_model":"free","language_scope":"polyglot","git_integration":true,"code_intelligence":"ide_grade","integrated_debugger":true}` |
| integrations.count | 2 | 6 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Slack"},{"name":"GitHub"}]` | `[{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"GitHub Actions"},{"name":"GitHub Copilot"},{"name":"Azure Pipelines"},{"name":"GitLab CI"},{"name":"Azure DevOps"},{"name":"MCP servers"},{"name":"Git","native":true,"category":"source_control","direction":"bidirectional"}]` |
| language.primary | - | TypeScript |
| license.spdx | - | MIT |
| market.availability | - | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"web":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Hobby","summary":"Free","features":["Limited Agent requests","Access to Composer","No credit card required"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"$20/mo","features":["Extended limits on Agent","Generous limits for Grok & Composer","Access to frontier models","MCPs, skills, and hooks","Cloud agents","Bugbot on usage-based billing"],"minSeats":1,"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":20,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Pro+","features":["3x Pro limits on Agent","Generous limits for Grok & Composer","Access to frontier models","MCPs, skills, and hooks","Cloud agents","Bugbot on usage-based billing"],"minSeats":1,"commitment":"monthly","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Ultra","features":["20x Pro limits on Agent","Generous limits for Grok & Composer","Access to frontier models","MCPs, skills, and hooks","Cloud agents","Bugbot on usage-based billing","Priority access to new features"],"minSeats":1,"commitment":"monthly","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Standard","summary":"$40/user/mo","features":["Centralized team billing and administration","Team marketplace for internal rules, skills, and plugins","Agentic code reviews with Bugbot","Cloud agents and automations with shared team context","Usage analytics to understand team behavior","Team-wide privacy mode","SAML/OIDC SSO"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"seat","amount":40,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Premium","features":["5x Standard limits on Agent","Centralized team billing and administration","Team marketplace for internal rules, skills, and plugins","Agentic code reviews with Bugbot","Cloud agents and automations with shared team context","Usage analytics to understand team behavior","Team-wide privacy mode","SAML/OIDC SSO"],"commitment":"monthly","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing","features":["Pooled usage","Invoice/PO billing","SCIM seat management","Repository, model, and MCP access controls","Auto-run, browser, and network controls","Audit logs and service accounts","AI code tracking API","Priority support and account management"],"contactSales":true}],"summary":"Hobby free, Pro $20/mo, Teams $40/user/mo, Enterprise custom","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.cursor.com","retrievedAt":"2026-08-01T15:16:05.790Z","startingPrice":{"amount":20,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` | `{"type":"free","summary":"Free and open source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://code.visualstudio.com","retrievedAt":"2026-10-15T20:21:51.031Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | free |
| pricing.price_level | mid | free |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 6 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.142.0","date":"2026-10-14T19:46:12Z","type":"stable","version":"1.142.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.141.2","date":"2026-10-14T14:32:33Z","type":"stable","version":"1.141.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.141.1","date":"2026-10-13T21:53:53Z","type":"stable","version":"1.141.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.141.0","date":"2026-10-07T11:01:16Z","type":"stable","version":"1.141.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.140.0","date":"2026-09-30T22:00:22Z","type":"stable","version":"1.140.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.139.1","date":"2026-09-25T09:58:03Z","type":"stable","version":"1.139.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.139.0","date":"2026-09-23T10:32:34Z","type":"stable","version":"1.139.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.138.0","date":"2026-09-16T07:14:47Z","type":"stable","version":"1.138.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.137.0","date":"2026-09-09T15:32:58Z","type":"stable","version":"1.137.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.136.2","date":"2026-09-08T17:54:34Z","type":"stable","version":"1.136.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.136.1","date":"2026-09-03T15:25:32Z","type":"stable","version":"1.136.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.136.0","date":"2026-09-02T16:18:16Z","type":"stable","version":"1.136.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.135.0","date":"2026-08-26T16:52:46Z","type":"stable","version":"1.135.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.134.0","date":"2026-08-19T09:08:11Z","type":"stable","version":"1.134.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.133.0","date":"2026-08-12T09:41:17Z","type":"stable","version":"1.133.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.132.1","date":"2026-08-11T22:23:22Z","type":"stable","version":"1.132.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.132.0","date":"2026-08-05T09:49:29Z","type":"stable","version":"1.132.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.131.0","date":"2026-07-29T14:07:58Z","type":"stable","version":"1.131.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.130.0","date":"2026-07-22T17:39:17Z","type":"stable","version":"1.130.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.129.1","date":"2026-07-17T21:32:58Z","type":"stable","version":"1.129.1"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.scorecard | - | 7.4 |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.trust_center | - | https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/agents/run/security |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40typefox%2Fmonaco-editor-core&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (IDEs & Code Editors)

| Capability | Cursor | Visual Studio Code |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Type | Full IDE | Full IDE |
| Language scope | Polyglot | Polyglot |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | Both | Both |
| **Platform support** |  |  |
| OS support | Windows | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Base platform | - | Original |
| **Extensibility** |  |  |
| Extensibility | Extension marketplace | Extension marketplace |
| **DX** |  |  |
| LSP / DAP support | - | ✓ |
| Remote / dev-containers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Integrated debugger / profiler | - | ✓ |
| Code intelligence depth | IDE-grade | IDE-grade |
| Built-in git integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| **AI** |  |  |
| Built-in AI | Native | Native |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Openness | Closed | Open-core |
| **Pricing** |  |  |
| Pricing model | Per-seat subscription | Free |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T18:30:42.905Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*