# Cursor Pro – Auto Mode “Unlimited” usage no longer feels unlimited **URL:** \ **Category:** Discussions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2026, 10:06pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050 "2026-01-05T22:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ju5ti5e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e7dd6/32.png) [@ju5ti5e](https://forum.cursor.com/u/ju5ti5e)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 10:06pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/1 "2026-01-05T22:06:02Z")
Hi, I’m using **Cursor Pro** and I’m a bit confused about the current behavior of **Auto mode**. When I subscribed to Pro, Auto mode was described as _included / unlimited_. However, in practice it now feels **rate-limited or throttled** : - Auto mode frequently stops responding or becomes unavailable - Manual model selection works, but hits limits much faster - No clear error message explaining what limit was reached - My usage shows hundreds of millions of tokens marked as _Included_, so this does not seem to be a billing issue This makes it unclear what “unlimited” means in real usage. Is Auto mode now subject to: - soft caps? - temporary throttling based on load? - per-model or per-time limits? I’m not asking for truly infinite usage, but **some transparency** about how Auto mode limits work in Pro would really help users plan their workflow. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Marco\_Quintella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@Marco\_Quintella](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Marco_Quintella)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 12:53am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/2 "2026-01-06T00:53:59Z")
In my account the auto mode started billing me after ~10 days, saying I exceeded the usage and started to consumpt my on-demand quota. ---
**Author:** ![Artemonim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/artemonim/32/56113_2.png) [@Artemonim](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Artemonim)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 1:16am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/3 "2026-01-06T01:16:22Z")
Auto unlimited only if you have an annual subscription purchased before 15.09.2025 ---
**Author:** ![Naufaldi\_Rafif](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/naufaldi_rafif/32/73623_2.png) [@Naufaldi\_Rafif](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Naufaldi_Rafif)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:29am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/4 "2026-01-06T02:29:11Z")
yes this is correct, Automode never unlimited, if you need more quota. Try Grok Code 1 or Gemini Flash 3, its more cheap ---
**Author:** ![Marco\_Quintella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@Marco\_Quintella](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Marco_Quintella)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 5:27am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/5 "2026-01-06T05:27:59Z")
Strange, a couple of weeks ago my auto usage was not counting as usage quota, as auto is doing thing really good lately I have been using it a lot, then I noticed it started to use my extra billing quota today. ---
**Author:** ![Naufaldi\_Rafif](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/naufaldi_rafif/32/73623_2.png) [@Naufaldi\_Rafif](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Naufaldi_Rafif)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 5:47am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/6 "2026-01-06T05:47:05Z")
a weeks ago? maybe its related toCursor Subsidize to people? Around Christmas, they give some generous token for people using it especially Composer-1, Opus or Auto. ---
**Author:** ![sasser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/sasser/32/58222_2.png) [@sasser](https://forum.cursor.com/u/sasser)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 5:50am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/7 "2026-01-06T05:50:54Z")
![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/original/3X/b/3/b316599fc9cf7297ff0df14e0baf5157269472c8.png) Cursor has adjusted its pricing and usage policies several times recently ---
**Author:** ![Hu\_Junqing](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/hu_junqing/32/93346_2.png) [@Hu\_Junqing](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Hu_Junqing)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 5:53am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/8 "2026-01-06T05:53:06Z")
![屏幕截图 2026-01-06 133649](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/original/3X/0/9/09fcd0f8c776ab56ae9dd1177e7edc5ca85b24e9.png) Can’t chat in Auto since last night, maybe I wrote too much docs and reports ? ---
**Author:** ![Marco\_Quintella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@Marco\_Quintella](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Marco_Quintella)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 5:57am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/9 "2026-01-06T05:57:54Z")
I said couple of weeks ago because it was last time I checked, I never overflow the quota unless I am working too much with Claude which I haven’t done at all. But for sure this last 1 or 2 days auto started to count as usage and blew my quota without notice. ---
**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/colin/32/90452_2.png) [@Colin](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Colin)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 9:25am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/10 "2026-01-06T09:25:24Z")
Just to be clear, [Auto is billed at competitive token rates](https://cursor.com/blog/aug-2025-pricing) for all users, including those who subscribed before September 15th. The change took effect at each user’s next billing renewal after that date. > At your next billing renewal after September 15, Auto will contribute to your included monthly usage at competitive token rates. From December 2023 to June 2025, Auto was priced at the same cost as other premium models. Since June 2025, Auto has been unlimited for individuals and priced at the same cost as other premium models for teams. We’ve heavily invested in the quality and overall performance of Auto. ---
**Author:** ![push](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e8c25b/32.png) [@push](https://forum.cursor.com/u/push)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 11:50am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/11 "2026-01-06T11:50:50Z")
@Colin In the current iteration, is there a direct pricing advantage to using auto? In other words, if auto selects a model for me, is it billed at a lower rate than if I had chosen that same model myself? Or will I get more “free” usage beyond my plan limits with auto? I’m trying to experiment with optimizing my workflow, performing more tasks with less expensive models like Grok, but from the docs it’s unclear whether I’m helping or potentially even hurting my overall cost/available volume. More clarity in this area would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![jes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/51bf81/32.png) [@jes](https://forum.cursor.com/u/jes)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 12:14pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/12 "2026-01-06T12:14:59Z")
[https://cursor.com/docs/account/pricing#auto](https://cursor.com/docs/account/pricing#auto) [https://cursor.com/docs/models#model-pricing](https://cursor.com/docs/models#model-pricing) ---
**Author:** ![push](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e8c25b/32.png) [@push](https://forum.cursor.com/u/push)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/13 "2026-01-06T13:20:36Z")
That helps, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Nafeel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Nafeel](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Nafeel)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 4:03pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/15 "2026-01-06T16:03:16Z")
Hi i am getting rate limit hit message even on auto model r u facing same thing ---
**Author:** ![Naufaldi\_Rafif](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/naufaldi_rafif/32/73623_2.png) [@Naufaldi\_Rafif](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Naufaldi_Rafif)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 2:15am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/16 "2026-01-07T02:15:44Z")
i think that there are email for Auto Mode is no longer free. and they have blog for this case, its since September 2025 Auto not free anymore. especially for billing or people use yearly, perhaps you can email [hi@cursor.com](mailto:hi@cursor.com) to ask about this pricing if you dont understand. Here for reference: > **[Updates to Teams and Auto](https://cursor.com/blog/aug-2025-pricing?ref=wheresyoured.at)** > > Built to make you extraordinarily productive, Cursor is the best way to code with AI. ---
**Author:** ![Marco\_Quintella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@Marco\_Quintella](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Marco_Quintella)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 5:02pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/18 "2026-01-07T17:02:29Z")
As a colleague posted in another topic here, the change was based on September announcement, but only took effect now on December 30th as own cursor team answered him on email. Instead of a request based billing they changed all the plans to token based billing. And still people between September and December were able to use auto mode freely without any of the information provided in the September 15th post about auto mode having effect over them, including myself. ---
**Author:** ![Marco\_Quintella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@Marco\_Quintella](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Marco_Quintella)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 5:04pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/19 "2026-01-07T17:04:12Z")
Just adding, personally if I was being charged by token since september I wouldn’t have upgraded my account to Pro+ during this period. ---
**Author:** ![vibe-qa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b3f665/32.png) [@vibe-qa](https://forum.cursor.com/u/vibe-qa)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/20 "2026-01-07T21:49:50Z")
I suspect the Auto model is exhausting all included usage for paid models, and then defaults to one of the free promos available. Right now, only Grok Code is free and unlimited. Manually selecting it, or using Auto, gives similar results in terms of intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![Ryiad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Ryiad](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Ryiad)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/22 "2026-01-27T14:13:58Z")
I really can’t understand their pricing, how is it possible that auto is free or isn’t but what’s the limit ? ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/original/3X/7/1/719979a5d6a6a9d79092ec25e03f760e2491e7fd.png) ---
**Author:** ![DjWarmonger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/djwarmonger/32/28495_2.png) [@DjWarmonger](https://forum.cursor.com/u/DjWarmonger)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 10:08am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050/23 "2026-01-28T10:08:15Z")
Auto is no longer free (for me at least) since January 2026. it’s priced just as much as any other frontier model - no point to use this option at all. You can see “auto” billed in “usage tab”: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/original/3X/6/c/6ce61854340b9557764aa016557e5a9851c8ec55.png) [Next page](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-pro-auto-mode-unlimited-usage-no-longer-feels-unlimited/148050.md?page=2)