Cursor is an IDE and code editor built for programming with AI. Cursor includes an autocomplete that predicts the next edit. Once enabled, it is always on and will suggest edits to code across multiple lines.
$20
per month
GNU Emacs
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
GNU Emacs is described as a free extensible and customizable text editor for the Lisp programming language.
N/A
Pricing
Cursor
GNU Emacs
Editions & Modules
Pro
$20
per month
Teams
$40
per month per user
Pro+
$60
per month
Ultra
$200
per month
Enterprise
Custom
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Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cursor
GNU Emacs
Free Trial
Yes
No
Free/Freemium Version
Yes
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
Every plan includes a set amount of model usage. Additional usage is based on the models and features used. The Bugbot add-on is available at $40 per month, per user, or with Custom pricing for Enterprise customers. A discount is available for annual billing.
It is great for non-coders who have some technology knowledge and are comfortable following Cursor's instructions to build and deploy a webapp. Good prompting skills are needed. It is not for those who are not comfortable looking at raw codes. Cursor also is not very creative when it comes to user interface design.
Emacs is best utilized on a Unix system where it can be easily installed and accessed. It allows for quick editing of files on a system whether you are accessing it locally through the console or remotely via an ssh connection. Once users familiarize themselves with the Emacs shortcuts, it becomes a pretty efficient text manipulation program. On a standard Windows computer, it is less likely to use Emacs for code editing, especially if you have a local repository on your host machine.
GNU Emacs is a text editor that can do almost anything that you want to do with it. It is fairly easy to extend the functionality using Emacs Lisp with a large library available.
It can be easily customized using themes as well as custom code to change the look and feel as well as how everything works.
Emacs is old, so it's a little crufty and not too easy to pick up and start using. There is a community package called Spacemacs that simplifies a lot of things that you do with Emacs. It is probably better suited to beginners.
Sometimes, the choices that were made to integrate certain functionality change the basic models for that functionality. This is seen primarily in the version control system support, where multiple version control systems are supported and "unified" to a standard Emacs-y way of doing things. This can be confusing to the new user not familiar with the Emacs way.
Emacs has, as its foundation, a lisp interpreter. This means that the extension language for Emacs is emacs-lisp. Some people find lisp hard to understand and have difficulties writing Emacs extension code, or understanding existing code.
Really easy to use; we've been replacing all other IDEs for it now. As it is a fork of Visual Studio Code, we transitioned to it in a very smooth way, and now our development process is faster than ever. It supports a bunch of languages and we don't need to have a webpage with an LLM open now because it is all with Cursor.
Everything that you need to know about Emacs can be found on the internet. There are many Emacs "cheat sheets" that list out all of the shortcuts for Emacs. There are videos on how to use Emacs. Emacs is easily installed using the standard Linux package managers and can also be easily updated through them as well. There are tutorials on how to customize Emacs to your liking.
Softr's chat AI is less sophisticated. However, it is great for building simple database-driven webapps. I have used it together with Airtable to build a very simple webapp. It is drag and drop. Vercel V0's chatAI is faster and more friendly. The user interface is also more visually appealing and user friendly. It is comparable to Cursor though I have only used V0 briefly so have not gone through the learning curve.
Of course, Vim is a good contender for comparison as well, so I'll include it. I find Emacs much easier to learn, which will help speed up productivity for newer users. It seems much faster than VIM and VSCode, especially under load. It's highly highly customizable, in ways other editors don't stack up against. Its lack of bloat also is a nice addition to a great product.
