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Best Free Alternatives to Cursor AI (Pro)
Stop paying $20/mo. Discover professional-grade tools that won't break your budget.
Category: AI Code Editor / IDEVerified for 2025
Top Recommended Replacements
Windsurf (Codeium)
FREEBest Direct Rival
Why we like it
The 'Cursor Killer'; features 'Cascade' (a deep-context flow similar to Cursor Composer) that understands your entire codebase; often faster at indexing large repos; generous free tier includes premium model usage.
Keep in mind
Newer ecosystem than Cursor; slightly fewer 'power user' shortcuts.
Cline (VS Code)
FREEBest Open Source Agent
Why we like it
A VS Code extension that acts as an autonomous agent; can create files, run terminal commands, and fix errors automatically (like Cursor Composer); works with *any* model (Local Llama, DeepSeek, Claude); completely open source.
Keep in mind
You must bring your own API key (OpenAI/Anthropic) or use a local model runner (Ollama).
Void Editor
FREEBest for Privacy
Why we like it
A fork of VS Code designed to be a 'Privacy-First Cursor'; creates a direct connection between your computer and the AI provider (no middleman server logging your code); supports local models via Ollama out of the box.
Keep in mind
Less polished UI than Cursor or Windsurf.
Zed Editor
FREEBest for Performance
Why we like it
Built in Rust (GPU accelerated); incredibly fast compared to Electron apps like VS Code/Cursor; features 'Zed AI' for chat; perfect if Cursor feels too slow/laggy on your machine.
Keep in mind
The AI integration is currently less 'agentic' (cannot easily edit 10 files at once like Cursor).
DeepSeek Coder (Model)
FREEBest Brain Swap
Why we like it
If you pay Cursor $20 just to access Claude 3.5, switch to DeepSeek V2.5; it rivals Claude on coding benchmarks but is ~10x cheaper via API; use it inside Cline or Continue.dev.
Keep in mind
It is a model, not an editor (needs a frontend).
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