How Cursor is evolving through its Composer coding models built on Chinese open models, as coding agents like Claude Code threaten to make code editors obsolete
After becoming the hottest, fastest growing AI coding company, Cursor is confronting a new reality: developers may no longer need a code editor at all.
Forbes
Related Coverage
- How to Create Production-Ready Code with Claude Code Towards Data Science · Eivind Kjosbakken
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- Cursor staff returned from the holiday weekend to an all-hands meeting with a slide deck titled “War Time. … Iain Martin
- Anthropic's Claude Code subscription may consume up to $5,000 in compute per month while charging the user just $200 The Decoder · Matthias Bastian
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Discussion
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@tanayj
Tanay Jaipuria
on x
Good piece on the “war time” at Cursor. Some interesting quotes: - The company's new mandate was labeled “P0 #1”—priority zero: “Build the best coding model.” - Cursor estimated last year that a $200-per-month Claude Code subscription could use up to $2,000 in compute, suggesti…
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@itsmechase
Chase
on x
This is exactly why I love Cursor. I don't want to be constrained to one model. [image]
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@bearlyai
@bearlyai
on x
Cursor internal analysis shows how hard Anthropic is subsidizing Claude Code. Last year, a $200 monthly subscription could use $2,000 in compute. Now, the same $200 monthly plan can consume $5,000 in compute (2.5x increase). [image]
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@annatonger
Anna Tong
on x
Another huge priority is enterprise: though it reached $100m ARR with no sales staff, now half the company's staff is in sales. Traditionally, Cursor's enterprise revenue has been a small portion of its total revenue (which is still growing and passed $2b ARR recently). [image]
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@annatonger
Anna Tong
on x
The company believes the real reason behind many developers' switch to Claude Code is Anthropic's aggressive subsidization: a $200 Claude Code individual plan can actually utilize more than $5,000 in compute, according to some estimates.
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@adamrackis
Adam Rackis
on x
Too many people are becoming too helplessly dependent on these tools before it's even clear what the real, eventual cost to consumers will be.
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@edzitron
Ed Zitron
on x
It's so weird how for Anthropic the source has such specifics but Cursor has this wishy washy “profitable margin” business product. Someone I was talking to with a cursor enterprise account who was able to spend $20k+ in credits on a $9k contract, not sure how those margins work
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@dorialexander
Alexander Doria
on x
If they are sincere, this updates me very badly on cursor inference/training capacity.
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@teortaxestex
@teortaxestex
on x
> $5,000 in compute > in compute 🥴 nobody tell him
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@annatonger
Anna Tong
on x
Cursor is now trying to be the best at orchestrating hundreds of agents working together, internally called ‘Grind mode.’ Coding is going through massive changes, and only this is certain: the AI coding wars are only just beginning. I'd say, don't count @cursor_ai out!
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@annatonger
Anna Tong
on x
There has been so much chatter about @cursor_ai and whether Claude Code is killing it, so we did reporting to see if that's true. Here are some highlights, and read our story to go behind-the-scenes at what's going on at Cursor: https://www.forbes.com/... @RashiShrivast18
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@kylebrussell
Kyle Russell
on x
Valon spotted 👀 [image]
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@wesbos
Wes Bos
on x
I ran the numbers on my day yesterday: 10 hour day of coding, no meetings. It was $118 worth of tokens. In one day. I've heard of many devs burning through $350 worth in a day. And this is at subsidized prices
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@rhyssullivan
Rhys
on x
We saw this happen with Uber and Lyft 10 years ago and now it's a duopoly that's bad for the drivers and the riders I don't see how heavily subsidized inference ends well, inference providers drop the costs now build moats and then jack it up later
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@thdxr
Dax
on x
when you see articles like this you have to assume this information was deliberately given to a journalist and ask why - suggests claude code's success comes from subsidization (cursor didn't lose) - they are going to make the best coding model (don't churn you'll be back soon)
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@_heyglassy
Christian
on x
Michael or someone else at Cursor needs to hit the podcast circuit. This narrative feels forced. Cursor is at a point growth wise where a coding model makes sense as a P0. LLMs were always going to get here, they just needed a detour through vscode first.
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@annatonger
Anna Tong
on x
Internally, Cursor see itself as a frontier model company in “war time”, with its primary goal being building the best coding model. But Cursor is *highly* dependent on the Chinese open-source ecosystem, because their own models are based on DeepSeek, Qwen, etc. [image]
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@hanchunglee
Han
on x
the model is the product.
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@rashishrivast18
Rashi Shrivastava
on x
After becoming the hottest, fastest growing AI coding company, Cursor is confronting a new reality: with the rise of powerful AI agents developers may no longer need a code editor at all. With @annatonger. https://www.forbes.com/...