AI Coding Cost Calculator

Enter your monthly requests and see which coding plan — or the raw API — costs least.

Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code and Windsurf all price differently — some flat, some metered per premium request — so the cheapest one depends entirely on how much you actually code. Enter your premium requests a month and the average tokens each, and this cursor vs copilot cost calculator works out the effective monthly cost of every plan, including metered overage once you pass a plan's included allowance. It sits them next to a pure API-only cost for the model you pick, so you can see whether a claude code pricing plan, github copilot usage based billing, or raw tokens is the better deal. If you've wondered whether cursor is worth it at your volume, the ranked table answers in dollars. Allowances shift often, so treat the numbers as a planning estimate.

Read the guide: Cursor vs Copilot vs Claude Code: Real Cost

Your coding workload

Model for the API-only comparison

Cheapest option

$10.00

GitHub Copilot Pro · per month

OptionTypeEffective / mo
★GitHub Copilot ProFlat$10.00
GitHub Copilot BusinessFlat$19.00
Windsurf Proover a flat planUsage-based$19.00
Cursor Proover a flat planUsage-based$24.00
GitHub Copilot Pro+over a flat planUsage-based$39.00
OpenAI Codex (API / usage)over a flat planUsage-based$47.52
API only · Claude Sonnet 4Usage-based$47.52
Claude Code (Max 5×)Flat$100
Cursor Ultraover a flat planUsage-based$200
Claude Code (Max 20×)Flat$200

At this volume, one or more usage-based plans cost more than the cheapest flat plan once metered overage is added. A fixed-price tier may be the safer pick.

Included request allowances are approximate and change often — Copilot, Cursor and Windsurf all revise their metering regularly. Plan prices updated July 2026; model rates updated January 2026. The API-only figure assumes ~70% of each request's tokens are input. Treat every number as an estimate and confirm against the vendor.

How it works

  1. 1

    Set your monthly volume

    Enter how many premium or agent requests you send a month and the average tokens per request. These are the numbers vendors meter, so a rough figure from a week of real use scaled up works well.

  2. 2

    Pick a model to compare against

    Choose the model you'd call directly through an API. That sets the API-only benchmark the subscriptions are ranked against.

  3. 3

    Read the ranked cost

    The headline shows the cheapest route; the table lists every plan and the raw API by effective monthly cost. A tag flags any usage-based plan that ends up costing more than a flat alternative at your volume.

Instant & 100% private — nothing is uploaded

Every calculation runs locally in your browser. The prompts, token counts and numbers you enter stay on your own device and are never sent to a server — nothing is stored, logged or shared.

Frequently asked questions

Is Cursor or Copilot cheaper?
It depends on how many premium requests you send. Copilot Pro is a flat $10, while Cursor Pro is $20 plus usage once its included compute runs out. For light use the flat Copilot tier is cheaper; for heavy agent use the two converge and the metered plans can overtake a fixed tier. Enter your own volume to see which wins.
How does usage-based billing work for these tools?
Plans like Copilot Pro+ and Cursor include a monthly allowance of premium requests, then charge roughly $0.04 per request beyond it. The calculator adds that overage to the flat fee to get an effective monthly cost, and flags when it climbs past a cheaper flat plan.
When is the raw API cheaper than a subscription?
When your volume is low or your token counts are modest, paying per token through the model API can undercut a $10 to $20 subscription. The API-only row prices exactly that, using the model you pick, so you can see the crossover for your workload.
Are the allowances and prices exact?
No, they are approximate. Included request allowances and overage rates change constantly and depend on the model and compute each request uses, so we use rounded planning figures. Subscription prices and model rates come from tables dated on the page. Confirm against each vendor before you commit, and treat the ranking as a guide.

Important

For planning and estimates only. Prices come from a published rate table dated on the page; providers change pricing without notice, and token counts here are approximations. Confirm against the provider’s own pricing before you budget or commit.

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