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Head-to-head · Nov 2025 – Nov 2026

Cursor vs Pi: what 2 developers chose.

1,189 opinions. 2 developers named a direct preference: Pi 2–0. Approval is 55% vs 84%.

1,189 opinions935 developersNov 2025 – Nov 2026Methodology
Cursor
55%
766 opinions · 600 developers
90 days: 53%
VS
Pi
84%
423 opinions · 335 developers
90 days: 80%
Our call

If you want UX, choose Cursor. If you want customization, choose Pi. The 2–0 direct split is not a landslide; it is a difference in working style.

Choose Cursor if you…

  • Want a GUI AI IDE with model choice
  • Value a larger discussion base
  • Want more UX and code-quality reports

Choose Pi if you…

  • Prefer a terminal-first open-source agent
  • Want deep customization at low cost
  • Care about reliability and local privacy
Where each wins

UX for Cursor. Customization for Pi.

Net sentiment per topic: praise minus complaints, as a share of mentions. Positive means more praise than complaints. Hover a dot for the raw counts.

CursorPi
TopicMore complaints ← → More praiseNet
UX 160 / 43 mentions
+26 / +67
Customization 30 / 154 mentions
+40 / +95
Cost & pricing 118 / 34 mentions
−2 / +71
Reliability 72 / 33 mentions
−61 / +52
Autonomy 52 / 26 mentions
+15 / +54
Speed 52 / 17 mentions
+69 / +65
−100−500+50+100

Net sentiment = praise minus complaints, as a share of each tool's mentions. The dot lanes are only for readability; position is the score.

View data table
TopicCursorPiMentions
UX+26+67160 / 43
Customization+40+9530 / 154
Cost & pricing-2+71118 / 34
Reliability-61+5272 / 33
Autonomy+15+5452 / 26
Speed+69+6552 / 17
Why developers switched

The same decision, from both sides.

Paraphrased from comments where a developer named a preference or described a switch. Each links to the original.

Picked Cursor 0 developers

No explicit switches recorded.

Picked Pi 2 developers

Cursor is great. I was using it up until recently. Then I switched oh my pi, and honestly I haven't looked back. I've also heard great things about open code.

HN comment · Apr 22, 2026Read on HN ↗

Cursor handled weak prompts better, but well-written prompts in Pi beat anything they had tried in Cursor.

HN comment · Apr 2, 2026Read on HN ↗
Side by side

The numbers.

MetricCursorPi
Approval55%84%
Last 90 days53%80%
Opinions766423
Developers600335
First-hand opinions583338
Direct picks02
TypeAI IDETerminal agent
Made byAnysphereOpen source
WebsiteVisit ↗Visit ↗
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Methodology

How to read this comparison.

Approval is the positive share of opinions that took a side, with the rank based on the lower bound of a 90% confidence interval. Direct picks count comments where a developer explicitly preferred one tool or described switching. Small samples are noisier; check the opinion counts.

Read the full method →