Using Cursor Pro vs own API Keys

[salimmj]

Hi cursor community,

I wanted to start a conversation around when it makes sense to get a Pro subscription vs using my own API keys. I understand that there are many kinds of usage scenarios and so the best answer will depend on that but was hoping we could still have a productive conversation on this.

Is Pro ever more cost-effective than using API keys? Can people share how much API requests usually cost them? Say for Sonnet-3.5.

If I’m understanding correctly the only way to get Copilot++ is through Pro so that’s a good reason to get Pro.
Also, is the API-key Sonnet request as fast as the Pro premium model fast requests?

Thanks in advance for engaging!

[litecode]

Here is a related post and topic:

I don't get it.. What is advantage to paying Cursor AI vs using a ChatGPT 4 key?

If the API key costs <= for your usage, feel free to use that Often people choose to subscribe to pro because it’s a cheaper (we have bulk OpenAI pricing) + there are some features we can only support on pro because they use custom models (faster diffs, Copilot++)

[James-McMenamin]

And why can I not find the price charts on the website… I am sure I am overlooking them.

[litecode]

Hi @James-McMenamin ,

Does this post have the information you are after?

Optional usage-based pricing information

Just sharing in case anyone didn’t know this feature existed. I just came across it myself now. Go to https://www.cursor.com/settings to enable optional usage-based pricing. The settings page includes pricing information and also links to: https://docs.cursor.com/get-started/usage#optional-usage-based-pricing https://www.cursor.com/pricing-history It is all communicated quite well . Screenshot below is of the relevant settings. [cursor_usage_based_pricing]