Cursor Alternative
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 runs on your machine, charges once, and keeps your code off every server -- including ours.
Six 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. 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, CVSS 8.6) and CVE-2025-54136 (MCPoison) allowed remote code execution via MCP servers and prompt injection. Both were patched in v1.3.9, 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. True air-gap operation is impossible because the editor still phones home with code metadata. It is not an option for classified, regulated, or air-gapped environments.
Negative gross margins and an uncertain future
Cursor reportedly pays Anthropic roughly $650M/year while generating around $500M in revenue -- negative 30% gross margins. Fortune published a March 2026 cover story questioning whether the business model is sustainable as competition from native IDE integrations intensifies.
Cancel any month and it all goes away
Pro is $20/month, Teams is $40/user/month -- and 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.
Side by side.
| Feature | Cursor | Bodega One |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $20-$200/mo subscription | $79 one-time |
| 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 | Full IDE (Monaco) |
| Platforms | Windows / macOS / Linux | Windows / macOS / Linux |
What you get instead.
Not a fork of someone else's editor. A full IDE built for local-first AI.
Pay $79 once. Use it forever.
No monthly billing, no credit burn, no surprise pricing changes. Buy a license once and the software is yours -- on up to 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, Groq, OpenRouter, Azure OpenAI -- and more. No dependency on a single upstream provider means no supply shock if Anthropic 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, 23 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 patched in Cursor v1.3.9 (August 2025). CurXecute (CVSS 8.6) allowed remote code execution via malicious MCP servers. MCPoison used prompt injection to hijack agent commands. The root cause in both: a cloud-brokered MCP architecture that trusts remote servers. Local-first tools without a cloud broker do not have this attack surface.
The credit-burn math
Cursor Pro ($20/mo) 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 next tier is $60/month (Pro+), then $200/month (Ultra). Bodega One 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 ships with 10+ provider presets. Groq, Ollama, OpenRouter, Azure OpenAI, 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 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.'
How bad was the June 2025 pricing change?+
Under the new credit system, $20/month in credits translates to roughly 200-225 heavy agent sessions -- not the old 500 fixed requests. Power users running large refactors hit that ceiling in two weeks. The next tier jumps to $60/month, then $200/month. Cursor issued refunds and a public apology, but the pricing model has not changed.
Are the CVEs actually a big deal?+
CVE-2025-54135 and CVE-2025-54136 are real vulnerabilities disclosed in August 2025, both with CVSS scores above 8. They allowed remote code execution via malicious MCP servers. Cursor patched them in v1.3.9, but the architectural choice that made them possible -- cloud-brokered MCP with remote server trust -- remains. Local-first tools with no cloud broker do not have this attack surface.
Does Bodega One support the same models as Cursor?+
Cursor limits you to its curated model list. Bodega One ships with 10+ provider presets and works with any OpenAI-compatible endpoint -- local models like Qwen2.5-Coder via Ollama, or cloud providers like Groq and OpenRouter. If a better model ships tomorrow, you can use it the same day.
Cursor has $29B in funding -- won't it be around for a long time?+
High valuation does not guarantee the unit economics work. Cursor's negative 30% gross margins -- paying roughly $650M/year to Anthropic on $500M in revenue -- are a real concern. Fortune's March 2026 cover story raised the question directly: what happens when native IDE integrations from JetBrains, VS Code, and others close the feature gap? Bodega One's one-time model has no such dependency.
When is Bodega One available?+
Beta opens May 2026 for the first 200 users. Full launch is July 6, 2026. Join the waitlist to get notified and lock in $30 off the launch price.
Stop paying monthly for code that leaves your machine.
One-time purchase. Runs local. Air-gap mode built in. 23 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.
Join the Waitlist$79 Personal. $109 Pro. One-time. Windows, macOS, Linux.