Cursor vs. Vim

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cursor
Score 9.6 out of 10
N/A
Cursor is an IDE and code editor built for programming with AI. Cursor includes an autocomplete that predicts the next edit. Once enabled, it is always on and will suggest edits to code across multiple lines.
$20
per month
Vim
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Vim is an open source configurable text editor.N/A
Pricing
CursorVim
Editions & Modules
Pro
$20
per month
Teams
$40
per month per user
Pro+
$60
per month
Ultra
$200
per month
Enterprise
Custom
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CursorVim
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsEvery plan includes a set amount of model usage. Additional usage is based on the models and features used. The Bugbot add-on is available at $40 per month, per user, or with Custom pricing for Enterprise customers. A discount is available for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
CursorVim
Best Alternatives
CursorVim
Small Businesses
PyCharm
PyCharm
Score 9.2 out of 10
BBEdit
BBEdit
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PyCharm
PyCharm
Score 9.2 out of 10
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
PyCharm
PyCharm
Score 9.2 out of 10
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
CursorVim
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
CursorVim
Likelihood to Recommend
We created a React.js website here in a few hours; the Composer tool just made us be able to create in record time by referecing some of the website pages and then asking for a new page with some different characteristics but the same design/layout. To be honest, we created much faster than we would using a no-code tool like WordPress.
Read full review
If you're doing any sort of text editing, you should consider Vim--once you climb the learning curve, you'll be faster and more efficient at everything you do. Also, Vim is my default search/replace tool--whenever I need to make changes throughout a document, most often, I'll copy and paste into a Vim window so that I can take advantage of regexp-based replacements. Vim isn't for the faint of heart, though--it's hard to learn and super complex. If you use a text editor once or twice a month, or just need a simple way to strip out formatting, Notepad will get you where you want to go without all the confusion.
Read full review
Pros
  • state-of-art IDE
  • Best LLMs one click away
  • Code suggestions very easy to use
Read full review
  • The efficient modal editing makes it very fast to write/edit code as I think of it.
  • The customization and wide range of plugins let me do very specific things and automate parts of my workflow.
  • The fact that it runs inside a terminal simplifies my window management and just becomes another Tmux window in my workflow.
Read full review
Cons
  • Very complex user interface
  • As it generate codes for additional features, it sometimes affects existing funtions
  • Black interface hard to read
Read full review
  • Without a doubt the hardest program to learn. It is a completely different paradigm of thinking compared to other editors
  • By default it doesn't have lots of fancy features you would find in larger IDE programs like code completion and linking
  • It lives in the command line so a user has to be comfortable with this interface
Read full review
Usability
Really easy to use; we've been replacing all other IDEs for it now. As it is a fork of Visual Studio Code, we transitioned to it in a very smooth way, and now our development process is faster than ever. It supports a bunch of languages and we don't need to have a webpage with an LLM open now because it is all with Cursor.
Read full review
I don't consider the steep learning curve to be a hinderance on the overall usability. I would rate this a ten, but to be honest a lot of people do get hung up at the beginning and just abandon it. However, for people who have made the moderate effort to get over the hump, nothing can be more usable.
Read full review
Support Rating
No answers on this topic
The support is somewhat lacking; Vim doesn't really have support outside of its forums. The forums, while notably good, aren't equal to real support though, and the steep learning curve makes you wish there was a help desk that would assist with all of the basic questions. There are several handy books and guides that can be found, and most implementations of the product come with "vitutor" which walks you through its usage.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Softr's chat AI is less sophisticated. However, it is great for building simple database-driven webapps. I have used it together with Airtable to build a very simple webapp. It is drag and drop. Vercel V0's chatAI is faster and more friendly. The user interface is also more visually appealing and user friendly. It is comparable to Cursor though I have only used V0 briefly so have not gone through the learning curve.
Read full review
I think it comes down to usability (and frankly, just preference). There's an old adage that Emacs is a good Operating System with a poor Text Editor! Jokes aside, when looking at different text editors, such as Emacs or Nano, Vim is the one that is usually always preferred because of how simple it is to learn. The learning curve of Vim compared to other text editors just makes it such a natural choice.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • Allow me to build a basic prototype with hiring a developer
Read full review
  • Steep learning curve means lower than average efficiency at the beginning.
  • After getting familiar, it is so efficient that you will never want to use other editors.
  • Good return on investment for serious editor/developers, may not be good for casual ones.
Read full review
ScreenShots