3 Months with Cursor AI IDE: An Honest Review

The reason I switched was simple

One day in April, the coworker sitting next to me cranked out an entire API endpoint in 3 minutes using Cursor. I was working on the same kind of task in VS Code, and it was taking me about 12 minutes. (5 minutes and 40 seconds, to be exact.) That evening, I installed Cursor.

Honestly, I was pretty skeptical about AI IDEs. I'd tried GitHub Copilot before, and the autocomplete kept missing context so badly it was more annoying than helpful.

The first week was actually impressive

Cursor's Composer feature blew me away the most. It modifies multiple files simultaneously while seemingly understanding the full context. Say "update the frontend component to match this API response type" and it actually touches 3-4 related files at once.

Productivity in that first week definitely went up. Boilerplate code writing time basically vanished. CRUD endpoints, type definitions, basic component scaffolding -- a conversation or two and you're done.

But about a month in, problems started showing up

The biggest issue was overconfidence. You stop carefully reviewing the code AI generates. "Cursor did it, so it must be right." That mindset is genuinely dangerous.

I got burned once, badly. A database migration script Cursor generated had a column drop statement sneaked in, and I pushed it to staging without proper review. Almost nuked the data. (Thankfully it was staging so I recovered it, but I was drenched in cold sweat.)

After that, I read every single line of AI-generated code. But that takes time, so the initial feeling of "everything is so much faster" fades a bit.

Is $20 a month worth it

The Pro plan is $20/month. My company doesn't cover it, so I'm paying out of pocket. (Actually, I just haven't bothered filing the expense report.)

After three months, I've realized the value of that $20 varies wildly by person. For someone like me who bounces between multiple languages doing fullstack work, it absolutely pays for itself. If you're deep in one language all day, Copilot-level tools might be enough.

In my case, I calculated that Cursor saved me roughly 487,000 KRW (about $360) in overtime per month. (Hourly rate conversion. Whether this math actually holds up is debatable.)

The 3 features I actually use the most

First, inline edit. Cmd+K to modify a selected code block with natural language. Stuff like "add error handling to this function."

Second, Composer. Multi-file editing. When adding a new feature, asking it to create all related files at once is genuinely useful.

Third, codebase questions. Using @codebase to set the whole project as context and asking questions. "How does authentication work in this project?" Great for onboarding questions. I'd recommend it to any new team member.

Moments I still miss VS Code

Extension compatibility isn't quite 100%. Most things work, but occasionally one doesn't. A specific Git extension I relied on kept conflicting with Cursor, and I eventually gave up on it.

Also, Cursor itself is kind of heavy. On an 8GB RAM MacBook, the fans spin up. The AI features seem to be doing something in the background constantly. 16GB or more and you're fine, but on older machines, it honestly struggles.

After 3 months: not going back

I'm not going back to VS Code. It's not a perfect tool, you can't blindly trust the AI, and there are frustrating moments. But even accounting for all that, the productivity gains are real.

My one regret is trusting AI output too much during that first month. The migration incident changed my habits, but I wish I'd been more cautious from the start.

Anyway, I should probably file that expense report next month. Three months at $20 is already $60 just sitting there.