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Gabe Perez

Cursor or Claude Code?

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I love @Cursor. It's enabled me to build (vibe code) so many web apps, sites, extensions, and little things quickly that 1. bring me joy and 2. help me with work or realize personal projects.

However... I'm seeing a TON of movement around @Claude by Anthropic's Claude Code. I haven't personally tried it but it's apparently insane (and can also be expensive?)

I'm curious. Should I switch? What are you currently using? Or do they both have their own use case. I right now like cursor because I can build directly in a GitHub repo or locally and it helps me learn my way around an IDE.

Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts!

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The thread debates whether developers should stick with Cursor or switch to Claude Code, with a loose consensus emerging: Claude Code often delivers higher-quality, first-try results, but Cursor excels for IDE-native control, visibility, and cost efficiency.
Several makers reported moving from Cursor to Claude Code for accuracy and fewer iterations—one even cites a ~30% reduction in rework across users (syedahmedz), who also notes a VS Code extension for Claude Code (follow-up). Others echo that Claude Code feels “next level” on the Claude Max plan (sharvin_zlife) and consistently strong in terminal-centric workflows (martin_rue, kyle_gani). Still, price and CLI heaviness are recurring drawbacks (steveb).
Cursor loyalists value its IDE diff view, GitHub repo flow, and hands-on learning, preferring a UI over terminal for control and understanding changes (hi_caicai; priyanka_gosai1). Some blend tools: run Claude Code inside VS Code/Cursor until hitting token limits, then fall back to Cursor (_tijs); use Cursor for planning and MCP tools, then Claude Code for execution (gyasi_sutton). Budget-minded alternatives like Cline + Gemini also surfaced (conduit_design, leandro_sardi).
Takeaway: If you prioritize accuracy, CLI integration, and faster iteration, Claude Code shines; if you value IDE-native control, visual diffs, and steady velocity on small projects, Cursor remains a great choice—many find the best setup is using both, depending on task complexity, budget, and workflow.
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xchen

I really like using cursor, it solves most of the repetitive and simple problems

J.T.

I am using Claude Code terminal for coding. Usually run even up to 6-9 terminal windows across 2-3 different projects + github integration where it does final Code Reviews. It is a powerhouse!

I added cursor plan on top recently as I really lake the browser feature where I can pinpoint exact UI issues I am having (found this harder to do in Claude) and tell it how to fix it. Definitely worth the $20 plan for that alone.

But for work Opus 4.5 on MAX plan. Not even testing other things as I have fineduned my workflows and rules/skills around it so much it just works insanely well.

Mykola Kondratiuk

Different tools for different vibes honestly. Claude Code when I want to explore a quick idea or refactor something small. Cursor when I need full project context - it handles multi-file changes way better.

Biggest pain with both: they'll happily add dependencies without checking if they're maintained or have known CVEs.

Kurt

neither for me — VS Code with Claude (through GitHub Copilot) + Codex. never touched Cursor. shipped 4 SaaS products in 25 days with zero coding background — was literally pouring concrete before this. the IDE matters way less than people think. what actually matters is knowing what you want to build and being clear when you talk to the AI. actually launching one of those products on PH today — VibeShips, a toolkit for vibe coders to ship and validate faster. would love thoughts from this crew

Umair

IMO the whole debate is wrong. the answer isn't Cursor OR Claude Code - it's that the IDE doesn't matter, the model and how you talk to it does.

i run Claude Code through OpenClaw (an open-source AI agent framework) and it controls my entire workflow over WhatsApp. no IDE at all. it reads files, writes code, runs tests, manages git, browses the web - all through shell commands. FWIW the output quality is identical whether Claude runs in Cursor or a terminal because the model is the same. the difference people are noticing is that Claude Code's system prompt and tool-use patterns are better than what Cursor wraps around the same model.

the "I need to see diffs in a UI" crowd is telling on themselves tbh. if you understand the codebase well enough, you don't need a visual diff to know whether the change is right. and if you DON'T understand it well enough - the diff view isn't saving you anyway, it's just making you feel safer while you approve changes you can't actually evaluate

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