Cursor vs Make — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Cursor starts at $20/mo. Make starts at $12/mo. Make is $8/mo cheaper on the entry tier than Cursor.
How pricing works
These two tools don't price the same way, so the headline numbers below aren't directly comparable until you plug in your own volume.
- Cursor (Hybrid) — Cursor is hybrid: a fixed subscription from $20/mo plus metered usage on top (Pro). Your real bill moves with volume, not seat count.
- Make (Per Usage) — Make bills purely on usage — Operations/credits per month. There is no fixed per-seat fee, so the monthly cost depends entirely on how much you consume.
Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.
AI-first code editor built on VS Code, and the reference product in the AI-coding category. Every paid plan includes a credit pool equal to the subscription price, consumed by AI operations at underlying LLM token cost. Pricing: Hobby free, Pro $20/mo, Pro+ $60/mo, Ultra $200/mo, Teams $40/user/mo, Enterprise custom. Annual billing ~20% off. Powers Anysphere's growth to $500M+ ARR.
Visual workflow automation (formerly Integromat), positioned as the power-user alternative to Zapier. Distinctive for its visual scenario builder that handles complex multi-branch logic Zapier can't. Priced per operation with 1,000 free ops/month. Popular with developers, ops teams, and agencies who hit Zapier's complexity ceiling. Growing share from Zapier and losing some to n8n (self-hostable) as low-code automation splinters into three tiers by user sophistication.
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | Cursor monthly | Cursor annual | Make monthly | Make annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | Hobby / Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Entry paid | Pro / Core | $20 | $16 | $12 | $9 |
| Mid tier | Pro+ / — | $60 | $48 | — | — |
| Pro / power | Ultra / Pro | $200 | $160 | $21 | $16 |
| Teams | Teams | $40 | $32 | $38 | $29 |
| Enterprise | Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Tier names differ across vendors. Rows are aligned by tier role, not name. Full tier structures on each tool's page.
What each is best for
Cursor is worth it if… developers who want an AI-native editor where autocomplete, chat, and agent-mode Composer feel like extensions of the IDE — not bolted on. The credit-pool model is the interesting pricing innovation: your $20 subscription IS your $20 of AI usage, so heavy Claude Opus users burn faster than lighter GPT-5 mini users.
Make is worth it if… ops-savvy solopreneurs and small teams that need visual automation across hundreds of apps — particularly if you value flexibility over Zapier's simplicity. Free tier covers 1,000 ops/month; Core adds more ops and premium apps; Pro adds priority execution; Teams adds team collaboration.
Bottom line: Choose based on how you want to pay — Cursor is hybrid, Make is per usage.
Choose Cursor over Make if…
Choose Cursor if…
- You want the most mature agentic editor with the deepest model line-up.
- You're a developer who lives in the editor and wants long-context, multi-file edits.
- You want predictable seat pricing with usage-based headroom when you need it.
Choose Make if…
- You want to pay only for actual usage (per usage, from $12/mo).
- You match the profile Make is built for: ops-savvy solopreneurs and small teams that need visual automation across hundreds of apps — particularly if you value flexibility over Zapier's simplicity.
- You need a general-purpose developer & infrastructure option rather than a vertical-specific one.
At a glance
| Cursor | Make | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | $20/mo | $12/mo |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Hybrid | Per Usage |
| Last verified | September 10, 2026 | September 12, 2026 |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 12, 2026. Tracked daily.
