Augment Code AI vs. Cursor IDE: Which One Fits Your Needs the best?
I will share some key points about my experience comparing Cursor IDE and Augment Code
Hey fellow devs!
After sharing my thoughts on Cursor IDE, I figured I’d dive into another AI coding assistant that’s been on my radar for some time now: Augment Code! Spoiler: it’s really good at refactoring, “why-didn’t-I-try-this-sooner” good. But let’s break it down.
What’s Augment Code?
Another developer AI rising star — Augment code, is an AI coding agent that plugs right into your IDE (VS Code, JetBrains, etc.) and acts like a supercharged pair programmer. It’s powered by Claude Sonnet 3.7 (at the moment of writing), and it’s built by a team of ehnthusiastics wanting to make developer’s every day life much much better (and their pockets much much thicker :)
Unlike Cursor, which bakes AI in its own editor (VS Code fork), Augment code works as a plugin, so you keep your favorite IDE and existing setup. Nice for us stubborn folks who’ve spent years tweaking our IDE keybindings into oblivion.
How it compares to Cursor IDE
I’ll skip the obvious “both write code and fix bugs” bit and jump to the key differences I have noticed:
1. Speed & Reasoning Process
- Augment code feels snappier-less “hmm… let me think…” lag, at least that was my impression
- It always starts with a plan. Before touching code, it explains, what have he understood, what it’ll do and why. Huge for trust. Cursor does this too, at the end of the processing, but Augment code’s reasoning fells a bit more structured, like a senior dev whiteboarding a solution. And there is another great thing about it — you know from the start in which direction will it go, so you can correct him if needed — on-the-fly!
2. Refactoring: Where augment code shines
Remember my Cursor gripes about half-baked refactors? Augment code nails it!
- moves code cleanly (no orphaned functions left behind… in most cases)
- separates components into own files and references them nicely
- finds, uses and eventually updates already existing interfaces or types
- forgets to move CSS also, but after a gentle punch in head, corrects it
- handles complex, for example AG-Grid (only) specific problems, Cursor choked on (true story)
- leaves less garbage in codebase post-refactor
That said, it’s not perfect- it sometimes marks failing tests as ignored instead of fixing them! Not cool, but at least it’s honest. lol.
3. Real-Time Feedback
Here’s a killer feature: you can jump-in Augment code mid-task. While it’s generating code, you can throw in a “wait, what about this [edge case]” and it’ll adjust. Cursor (last time I checked) makes you wait until it’s done. I find this feature really cool, I used it a lot because it can save some time and eventually do the things right.
You can react during the thinking or implementation process, with the small tips you can pull him back on the road without a problem. Another use case would be if you notice that in his plan he has forgotten something , or got something wrong — it’s still manageable on the first run ;)
Pricing & When to Use Which
Augment code costs more… but you might not care
- Cursor: 20$/month (bargain for small projects — hard to beat)
- Augment code: 30$/month for unlimited agent requests (very worth it if you’re wrestling big codebases). [Edit]: BUT during the time of writing this article, they changed “Developer” pricing to 50$/month for 600 requests. Hmm, now I’ll have to think about it :/
- Both have certain useful but limited free usage. But I find augment code free tier a bit better since you get 50 requests/month, so basically full power of the agent, but with this limit.
- And additionally — Augment code promises not to train on your data — if you sign any from available paid subscriptions. In free tier that is not the case.
My rule of thumb
- Use Cursor for greenfield apps, quick prototypes, or projects where refactoring isn’t a daily battle
- Use Augment code for legacy systems, with larger codebase, needing some refactorings, or anytime you’d otherwise drown in tech debt. AND if you can afford it, of course :/
Final Thoughts
I’ll admit: I’m keeping both in my toolbox. Cursor’s great for spinning up new stuff fast, writing tests and resolving problems, but Augment code become my go-to for untangling old code, or simply more complex stuff. I think free tier would be enough to call augment code for help few times a month.
So much from me for this time, thanks for reading.