Feature request for product/service
Cursor IDE
Describe the request
Feature Request: Inline Multi-Tier Usage Metrics (Single-Line)
Product/Service: Cursor IDE — Billing / Usage UI
OS: All platforms
Summary
Replace the current single-line usage indicator (“You’ve used X% of your included total usage”) with a compact, single-line breakdown that shows all three billing tiers, total USD spend, and billing cycle countdown — without adding any vertical height to the UI.
Community Precedent
This request consolidates a recurring theme across the Cursor forum. Multiple threads from different users describe the same core frustration — billing opacity in the IDE:
- Better spending usage tracking directly in the IDE — Requests seeing dollar consumption in the status bar/footer rather than navigating away to settings.
- Display the $$$ amount when viewing usage stats — Notes that dollar amounts were previously visible in the IDE and were removed; asks for them back.
- On-Demand Usage Invoice in the UI — Requests an on-demand invoice/subtotal view accessible without leaving the editor.
- Token usage and $ costs report per request and per session — Asks for per-message and per-session cost visibility, citing Cline as a model.
- More transparent daily/weekly cost — Heavy user reports it’s “actually impossible without manually calculating with the CSV export” to see daily/weekly spend.
- Display current usage — Points out the dashboard shows breakdowns but lacks a single “X of Y used” or “X remaining” counter.
- Token Usage Transparency, Context Controls & Approval Gates — Reports cases of unexpected massive token consumption with no clear visibility into what’s being sent or spent.
The volume and recency of these threads (spanning September 2025 to March 2026) suggest this is one of the most persistent unaddressed UX gaps for power users.
The Problem
Cursor’s billing model has three distinct usage tiers — Included, Included API Credits, and Pay-as-you-go — but the only in-context signal is a single ambiguous percentage. This creates real friction:
1. The single percentage hides which tier is actually being consumed. When I see “54% of your included total usage,” I don’t know whether my API credits are exhausted, whether I’ve crossed into pay-as-you-go, or how much headroom I have before costs spike. The word “included” is doing a lot of heavy lifting and it’s unclear what it includes or excludes.
2. No dollar figure anywhere in the primary interface. To see actual spend, I have to leave the editor and dig through billing settings. For a tool where every prompt has a variable cost, this is like driving without a fuel gauge. As one forum user put it, it’s “impossible without manually calculating with the CSV export.”
3. No temporal context. A percentage means very different things on day 3 vs. day 25 of a cycle. Without days-remaining alongside usage, I can’t pace my consumption or make informed decisions about when to switch models.
4. Opacity discourages usage. When I can’t see cost impact in real time, I default to being conservative — which defeats the purpose of having powerful models available.
Proposed Solution
A single-line replacement for the current indicator. Same vertical footprint. No expansion, no hover-to-reveal — everything visible at a glance:
Incl ██░░ 54% ·· API ████ 100% ·· PAYG ██░░ 55% $375 · 6d left
Breaking this down:
| Element | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Incl + mini-bar + % | Base plan quota consumed |
| API + mini-bar + % | API credit allocation consumed |
| PAYG + mini-bar + % | Pay-as-you-go overage spend limit consumed |
| $375 | Total USD billed this cycle |
| 6d left | Days until billing cycle resets |
The mini-bars are purely supplementary (tiny, ~36px wide) — the numbers carry the information, the bars give a shape-at-a-glance signal. Color codes shift from green → yellow → red as usage climbs, but the design does not depend on color alone; the percentages are always readable.
Design Constraints (Intentional)
- Same single-line height as the current indicator — no vertical expansion.
- No hover/click required — all data is visible immediately.
- No decoration — abbreviated labels, minimal chrome. Information density over aesthetics.
- Graceful degradation — if a user doesn’t have API credits or pay-as-you-go enabled, those segments simply don’t render, and the line stays clean.
Why This Matters
Power users on Pro/Business plans with pay-as-you-go enabled are the users spending the most and the users with the least visibility into that spend. This is the exact population most likely to churn from billing surprises or frustration, and the exact population asking for this in the forums.
The information already exists on the backend. This is a presentation problem, not a data problem.
Attachments
A React mockup is attached showing a toggle between the current UI and the proposed single-line layout, rendered at the same dimensions as the real Cursor chat input.
Screenshot / Screen Recording
Operating System (if it applies)
Windows 10/11