They never suggest alternatives. They just imply there are some cheaper products. If anything, alternatives like Trae and Kiro are cheaper, but that is probably just temporary, and from my experience they are not as effective IDEs. Cursor runs circles around the cheaper alternatives, unless you are looking to just vibe code, then Cursor probably is unecessary.
The cursor is just as you said. I found that my pay-per-request billing was secretly changed to pay-per-token billing by cursor without my knowledge. When I contacted cursor’s customer service to ask why, their AI assistant Sam resolved the issue by exhausting my patience instead of actually solving the problem.
Yea, they aren’t going to change your account back especially if you were on a monthly subscription.
I am available, hehe.
Ha ha, I thought Sam was a real person
Yes, you are correct.
It happened to me too.
The prices used to be so much lower.
As I see it, this is the Cursor’s glitch in their system.
And if they are not going to fix it, they will lose a lot of customers.
But for some reason, their team doesn’t want to fix this glitch.
They want to believe that the system is undeniable and charging everyone correctly.
I am telling you guys, this is the glitch, an error in the system that will kill your business if you do not fix it. 
And he was. But not anymore… 
He is forced to work as a bot 24/7 now.
Loving the troll
The only way “something small” will cost 50 cents is if:
- You make a ton of MCP calls or massive rules/agents files, which will always cost a bomb
- You’re passing in an absolutely massive file
- Auto has a bug and is using Opus 4.1
I use OpenCode and if a call to Cursor is costing you 50 cents, it’s going to cost you 50 cents via API costs on OpenCode. If you want cheap on OpenCode you will have to manually select a free model like Grok Code, Big Pickle, etc – the same process you would have to do in Cursor
I find cursor crazy expensive, auto mode is mostly useless for what I am doing, some models are so expensive it eats up my $60 in a few days. I have $50 spend cap on top of that, but that gets eaten in a few days! This is crazy, I am now using VS Code mostly. I am not happy at all.
Hi, I used to spend about $80 a month on Cursor, but now I hit $150 so easily. It’s becoming insanely expensive, and the experience hasn’t improved that much. I often have to repeat the same request 3 or 4 times to get the right result, which just wastes my money. It’s unbelievable.
Yep, I just canceled my subscription. I was using it and, all of a sudden I hit my monthly limit in just a few days haha Maybe Cursor should start migrating to B2B, because B2C is becoming unsustainable 
After the free auto-mode was disabled, the pricing skyrocketed. I really need a budget mode — right now even the $60 plan isn’t enough for normal work, and that’s not acceptable.
Also, in these conditions it would be very helpful to see how many tokens each request and/or agent chat consumes.
A budget-friendly option for everyday work is necessary.
Hi everyone,
We will have to pay for both input and output. Input is usually cheaper than output, but input is cached while output is not. This means you will pay 100% token fees for output. So, if we instruct the Agent to minimize output, we will save a lot of tokens. The rule I created aims to minimize the Agent’s output while maintaining maximum reasoning/logic/code/intelligence, and avoiding wasteful token behaviors such as summarizing tasks after completion, creating unnecessary .md and .txt files, and providing lengthy and detailed explanations even when not requested.
import this rule and all Agent will save token maximum for all you:
ACTION-FIRST PRINCIPLE
MAXIMUM QUALITY + MINIMUM VERBOSITY:
MUST BE MAXIMUM:
Thinking depth & reasoning quality
Code quality & logic accuracy
Problem analysis & solution design
Strategic planning & risk assessment
MUST BE MINIMUM:
Text responses (talking/explaining)
Verbose descriptions
Unnecessary elaboration
Redundant explanations
RULE: Think DEEPLY, Speak BRIEFLY
→ Only explain in detail WHEN USER EXPLICITLY REQUESTS
TOKEN OPTIMIZATION RULES
CORE PRINCIPLE: Maximum Intelligence, Minimum Words
WHAT TO MAXIMIZE (Never compromise):
→ Thinking depth & cognitive effort
→ Code quality & correctness
→ Logic & reasoning accuracy
→ Solution completeness
WHAT TO MINIMIZE (Aggressively reduce):
→ Verbal output in responses
→ Explanations (unless asked)
→ Lists, summaries, descriptions
→ Any “filler” text
DOCUMENTATION:
NEVER create .md/README files unless explicitly requested
RESPONSE STYLE:
→ Execute → Confirm briefly → Done
→ NO unnecessary elaboration
→ User will ask if they need details
BROWSER INTERACTION:
When browser encounters block/captcha → STOP, INFORM user, REQUEST access
You probably need to improve your prompt skills or choose a different methodology for working on the task.
You chose the most expensive model and asked it a question that doesn’t make sense, since some models don’t even know their own name.
There is an Ultra for continuous programming through Cursor agents.
Guide to choosing models for cost optimization:
Auto model is no longer unlimited!
Auto model unlimited was very useful…
You’re absolutely right. It’s honestly disappointing that every paid plan still doesn’t include at least one fully unlimited model to fall back on once the premium credits run out. On top of that, the “Auto” model, which used to be unlimited, now consumes tokens — making it even harder to use without worrying about running out.
Cursor auto mode used to consume less tokens than it does in recent updates and it does the same amount of work.
This basically translates to “You should pay more regardless of your mode”, cursor is a great tool, it should be at least affordable for those paying for it.
I usually use cursor in auto mode, my pro subscription used to last for a whole month. i code daily and still will not use up my quota.
Please explain to me how my pro subscription does not last 3 days???
This is so unfair!!!
I noticed, when i open new agents, there is supposed to be a small circle measuring context usage, in recent updates, opening new agent does not mean a new environment, it passes on context usage from old agent thereby using up tokens. this will cost users unknown to then.
Please help us make cursor usable and affordable again. make the context reuse for new agents optional
Please help make cursor affordable.
pathetic, you actually have to beg to use something you paid for, lol