Ask HN: Cursor (LLM) Costs
2 comments
I work at a similar rate to you and on 2 production projects and a number of prototypes daily. I don't pay anything outside the base subscription.
I don't find significant value in Claude Opus. It is slightly better at one-shotting, but not that much better to justify the cost. I've switched to Cursor "auto" mode - I don't pay anything on top of the base subscription cost, I am more diligent with my prompts and use Plan mode a lot and am just as productive if not more.
I don't find significant value in Claude Opus. It is slightly better at one-shotting, but not that much better to justify the cost. I've switched to Cursor "auto" mode - I don't pay anything on top of the base subscription cost, I am more diligent with my prompts and use Plan mode a lot and am just as productive if not more.
use claude code if you want to use opus
I tried different models to maybe get pricing savings yet ultimately only Opus 4.5 kinda oneshots my thoughts still. GPT is kind of autistic and useless at times (but good at research and abstract modeling), other models are „nice“ but still make mistakes or need much more guidance that slows down again or become too sloppy with increasing complexity. And unfortunately I seem to be unable to get Grok 4.1 thinking enabled in Cursor, it’s only grok code fast which is amazing for quick edits but complex issues the full grok model is the closest to Claude yet not properly in cursor.
I also haven’t seen the open models be comparable just yet, let alone one that runs fast enough on a M1 air.
So what do you guys do or think here? Everyone just enjoying the benefits of employers handing out access? Or just swallowing the costs? Or not yet there to fully max out usage day to day? It’s a increasingly serious issue in my head, essentially cursor costs per month would be higher than rent in my area, so this affects job retention/considerations already..