Cursor Alternatives in 2026
Your code leaves your machine on every keystroke. Ours never does.
Cursor routes every request through AWS, ships with two CVEs patched in August 2025, and operates on negative 30% gross margins. Bodega One Code runs on your machine, is free for everyone in the open beta, and keeps your code off every server -- including ours.
Seven reasons developers leave Cursor.
These are not edge cases. They are the architecture.
Your code hits their servers every keystroke
Every Cursor request routes through AWS before reaching Anthropic or OpenAI -- even if you supply your own API key. Cursor 3's Agents Window adds a cloud execution option for parallel agents, expanding the surface area of your code that can leave your machine. For teams in finance, healthcare, or government, that is an automatic disqualifier.
The pricing changed overnight -- and not in your favor
In June 2025, Cursor switched from 500 fixed requests to a credit-burn model, cutting Pro's effective monthly usage by more than half. They issued a public apology, but the new system is still opaque -- you cannot predict what a heavy refactor session will cost.
Two critical CVEs in 2025 -- architectural, not cosmetic
CVE-2025-54135 (CurXecute) and CVE-2025-54136 (MCPoison) are real vulnerabilities disclosed in August 2025. CurXecute used malicious project files to achieve remote code execution. MCPoison exploited the MCP server attack surface. Cursor patched both, but both exploited the cloud-brokered architecture -- a design choice, not an implementation bug.
Local models technically work -- via an undocumented workaround
Cursor requires a public HTTPS endpoint even for local Ollama models. Inference requests still route through the Cursor cloud broker, so full offline operation is not supported. It is not an option for classified, regulated, or air-gapped environments.
Ownership in flux -- SpaceX $60B option deal, IPO pending
On April 21, 2026, SpaceX struck a deal giving it the option to acquire Cursor at $60B, preempting a $2B funding round Cursor was closing. The acquisition is waiting on SpaceX's IPO -- SpaceX plans to use public stock to finance it. Separately, as of mid-2025, Cursor was paying roughly $650M/year to Anthropic while generating around $500M in revenue. They launched a proprietary model in October 2025 to cut costs. In Cursor 3 and Michael Truell's 'Third Era' essay (February 2026), the IDE was demoted to a fallback. Who owns the roadmap and what they do with it is genuinely open.
Cancel any month and it all goes away
Pro is $20/month. Teams runs $40/user/month for a Standard seat and $120/user/month for Premium. The moment you cancel, your access stops. You own no license, no local copy, nothing. For developers who want predictable costs and no renewal anxiety, there is no path forward.
Bugbot stacks metered usage on top of your editor subscription
Cursor Bugbot automatically reviews pull requests for bugs. In May 2026 it moved to usage-based metering inside the Individual tier -- new customers switched immediately, existing customers transition at next billing renewal starting June 2026. You pay your $20-$200/month editor subscription plus metered charges for every PR Bugbot touches. Heavy reviewers stack two recurring charges that scale with use. Bodega One Code does code analysis as part of the one-time purchase.
Side by side.
| Feature | Cursor | Bodega One Code |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $20-$200/mo subscription | Free in beta / $39 commercial at release |
| Data privacy | Cloud only (code hits AWS) | Local only (zero cloud) |
| Local / offline | No | Yes |
| Air-gap | No | Yes (9 layers) |
| LLM flexibility | Fixed provider list (Claude/GPT/Gemini) | 10+ providers (BYOLLM) |
| IDE type | VS Code fork / cloud agent platform | Full IDE (Monaco, runs local) |
| Platforms | Windows / macOS / Linux | Windows / macOS / Linux |
Cursor Hobby is free. Individual is $20/month. Teams is $40/user/month for a Standard seat, $120/user/month for Premium. Enterprise is custom pricing. Bugbot moved from a separate $40/user/month add-on to usage-based metering inside the Individual tier in May 2026; new customers switched immediately, existing customers transition at next billing renewal starting June 2026. On Teams, Bugbot agentic code reviews are included in the per-seat price. Standard and Premium seats differ on usage limits, not just price (Premium includes 5x the usage). Verified cursor.com/pricing 2026-06-29.
What you get instead.
Not a fork of someone else's editor. A full IDE built for local-first AI.
Free in the open beta. No monthly billing.
No credit burn, no surprise pricing changes. The app is in open beta and free for everyone right now, commercial use included. At full release, Personal stays free (1 machine) and a Pro commercial license arrives at $39 one-time (2 machines). Windows, macOS, or Linux.
Air-gap mode is a first-class feature
Nine enforcement layers verify zero bytes leave the machine. Built for developers in defense, finance, healthcare, or anyone who does not trust third-party servers with their codebase.
10+ provider presets. Your API key. Your choice.
Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM, llama.cpp, Anthropic, Groq, OpenRouter -- and more. No dependency on a single upstream provider means no supply shock if any one of them raises prices or changes terms.
Nothing leaves your machine for training. Ever.
With local inference, there is no upstream recipient. Your code is processed on your GPU, full stop -- no Privacy Mode to toggle, no opt-outs to hunt for.
No per-seat surprise bills for teams
Teams pay once per license. No per-user monthly charges, no credit overages, no line items that spike when a developer goes heads-down on a large refactor.
Full IDE -- not a fork built to sell subscriptions
Monaco editor, 4-layer memory system, 26 built-in tools, and an autonomous coding agent. Nothing gated behind a higher credit tier -- everything runs on your hardware.
The architecture tells the story.
CVE-2025-54135 and CVE-2025-54136
Both vulnerabilities were disclosed in August 2025 and patched by Cursor. CurXecute (CVE-2025-54135) used malicious project files to achieve remote code execution. MCPoison (CVE-2025-54136) exploited the MCP server attack surface. The root cause in both: a cloud-brokered architecture that trusts remote servers. Local-first tools without a cloud broker do not have this attack surface.
The credit-burn math
Cursor's $20/mo plan (called Pro before the May 2026 rename to Individual) moved from 500 fixed requests to a credit model in June 2025. Heavy agent sessions burn credits fast. Power users hit the ceiling in under two weeks. The public pricing page now headlines Hobby / Individual ($20) / Teams ($40 Standard, $120 Premium) / Enterprise (Pro+ and Ultra are sub-options inside Individual). The two-seat Teams structure reached renewing customers on July 1, 2026: the Premium seat charges 3x a Standard seat for 5x the included usage, aimed at the agent-heavy developers who burn through the Standard allowance. The ceiling still exists. It just sits higher. Bugbot (PR review) moved from a separate $40/user/month add-on to usage-based metering inside the Individual tier in May 2026 -- new customers immediately, existing customers at next renewal starting June 2026. You still pay the editor subscription, and heavy PR review now stacks a metered line item on top. Bodega One Code has no credits, no tiers, no ceiling -- because everything runs on your hardware.
Air-gap mode
Nine independent enforcement layers. Not one kill switch. Tool filtering, shell command blocking, auto-updater blocking, git IPC blocking, and more. Disable one and the other eight still hold. Zero bytes leave your machine.
BYOLLM -- any provider, any model
Cursor locks you to its curated model list. Bodega One Code ships with 10+ provider presets. Anthropic, Groq, Ollama, OpenRouter, vLLM, llama.cpp -- if it has an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, it works. No dependency on Anthropic pricing decisions.
Code that lands clean.
Cursor has no verification layer. What the model outputs hits your file. Bodega One Code runs every change through three levels of automated verification before it lands -- pattern checks, compile gates, and a full structural verifier at loop end. Not a linter. A pipeline.
Incremental Verification
Pattern and compile check after every file write.
Micro-Proof Gates
tsc / py_compile runs every second write.
Full Verification
Structural verifier post-loop. Pass threshold 80 for new files.
Switching from
Cursor.
Can't I just use Cursor's Privacy Mode to keep my code safe?+
Privacy Mode stops Cursor from training on your code, but your code still leaves your machine on every request -- routing through Cursor's AWS infrastructure before hitting Anthropic or OpenAI. For regulated industries or developers who want true air-gap, 'off training servers' is not the same as 'never transmitted.'
Cursor 3 just launched -- does it address any of this?+
Not for the issues that matter. Cursor 3 (April 2, 2026) ships an Agents Window that lets you run parallel agents locally, in worktrees, or in the cloud. The cloud option means more of your codebase can route remotely, and the architecture that makes that possible is the same one that caused the CVEs. Cursor 3.3 (May 6-7) added a new PR review experience, Build in Parallel, and Split PRs. Cursor 3.4 (May 13) introduced development environments for cloud agents with multi-repo support and Dockerfile-based config -- another layer of cloud surface area. The pricing structure simplified to Hobby / Individual ($20) / Teams ($40 Standard or $120 Premium) / Enterprise. The pivot from 'IDE with AI' to 'you manage agents across environments' is a direction away from simplicity, not toward it.
What about Cursor Bugbot? Is it included?+
Not really. Cursor moved Bugbot from a separate $40/user/month add-on to usage-based metering inside the Individual tier in May 2026. New customers switched immediately; existing customers transition at next billing renewal starting June 2026. You still pay the editor subscription ($20-$200/month), and now metered PR-review fees stack on top -- heavy reviewers face a separate line item that scales with use. Bodega One Code does code analysis locally as part of the one-time purchase -- no per-PR metering, no add-on tier.
How bad was the June 2025 pricing change?+
Cursor switched from 500 fixed requests to a credit-burn model in June 2025. Power users reported hitting the monthly ceiling in under two weeks. The next tier jumps to $60/month, then $200/month. Cursor issued refunds and a public apology, but the credit model has not changed.
Are the CVEs actually a big deal?+
CVE-2025-54135 (CurXecute) and CVE-2025-54136 (MCPoison) are real vulnerabilities disclosed in August 2025. CurXecute allowed remote code execution via malicious project files. MCPoison exploited the MCP server attack surface. Cursor patched both, but the architectural choice that made them possible -- cloud-brokered execution with remote server trust -- remains. Local-first tools with no cloud broker do not have this attack surface.
Does Bodega One Code support the same models as Cursor?+
Cursor limits you to its curated model list. Bodega One Code ships with 10+ provider presets and works with any OpenAI-compatible endpoint -- local models like Qwen3.6-27B (77.2% SWE-bench Verified) via Ollama, or cloud providers like Groq and OpenRouter. If a better model ships tomorrow, you can use it the same day.
SpaceX just offered $60B for Cursor. Doesn't that mean it's going to dominate?+
SpaceX struck a deal on April 21, 2026 giving it an option to acquire Cursor for $60B -- but the acquisition hasn't closed. SpaceX is waiting until after its IPO to finance the purchase using public stock. Microsoft also explored buying Cursor before the SpaceX deal emerged. In the meantime, Cursor's cloud architecture, pricing model, and patched CVEs are unchanged. As of mid-2025, Cursor was running negative gross margins -- roughly $650M/year to Anthropic on ~$500M revenue. Whether SpaceX closes the deal, and what changes to Cursor's product direction if it does, remains an open question. Bodega One Code's one-time model has no dependency on an acquirer's roadmap.
When is Bodega One Code available?+
Beta is free and open to everyone. Full launch coming later this year. Download free at bodegaone.ai/download.
Stop paying monthly for code that leaves your machine.
Free for personal use. Runs local. Air-gap mode built in. 26 tools and an autonomous agent that verifies its own work. Your code stays on your machine -- not Cursor's AWS, not Anthropic's servers, not anyone else's.
Download FreeFree for everyone in the open beta. $39 Pro one-time (commercial) at full release. Windows, macOS, Linux.