GitHub Copilot vs Cursor
Fourteen of fourteen models named GitHub Copilot first on the direct prompt; one named Cursor. Both were named by all fourteen models and GitHub Copilot carries 73 labels and Cursor 57, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in two categories this edition.
Named in four categories this edition.
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the AI coding assistants page.
By framing
GitHub CopilotFirst choices, of fourteen modelsCursor
Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, GitHub Copilot and Cursor were named in the same answer 170 times, of the 234 answers naming GitHub Copilot and the 176 naming Cursor. In those answers Cursor took the first choice eight times and GitHub Copilot ninety-four.
Every model, every framing
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | | | |
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | | |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | ||
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | | | |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | | |||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | ||
| Kimi K2 | | | | | | |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | ||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | | |
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | | | |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | | |
GitHub Copilot Cursor first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, GitHub Copilot on the left and Cursor on the right.The direct prompt
Both were the first choice
1 of 14 modelsThe answer named them together, and the judge labeled each a first choice.GitHub Copilot first, Cursor an alternative
13 of 14 modelsCursor was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
GitHub Copilot63%#1 of 7Cursor13%#3 of 7GitHub Copilot75%#1 of 9Cursor4%#3 of 9GitHub Copilot82%#1 of 9Cursor0%#9 of 9What the models said about GitHub Copilot
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.
“GitHub says it may use Copilot interaction data, including prompts, suggestions, and code snippets, to train and improve models for individual subscribers.” GPT-5.4 mini · negative prompt · soft negative
“GitHub may use individual subscribers’ interaction data—including prompts, outputs, code snippets, and context—to train models unless they opt out.” GPT-6 Luna · negative prompt · soft negative
“GitHub Copilot Free / Pro / Pro+ tiers. Training data opt-out required, deep IDE and repository integration increases exposure” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · soft negative
“The Safe & Scalable Choice: GitHub Copilot ... Go with GitHub Copilot if your priority is security, SSO compliance, and zero friction” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“Prefer autocomplete and chat plugins (like GitHub Copilot or Gemini Code Assist) for low-risk, low-autonomy use cases.” Mistral Small · negative prompt · first choice
“GitHub Copilot if you want the most established solution with strong security compliance and already use GitHub” MiniMax M2.5 · direct prompt · first choice
What the models said about Cursor
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.
“Cursor says it sends prompts and code context to model providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google... If you're on an individual plan, the DPA does not apply.” GPT-5.4 mini · negative prompt · soft negative
“Cursor, Replit, Windsurf, OpenAI Codex. Named in the 43.1% unauthorized file operations taxonomy and in the IDEsaster 100% vulnerable set.” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · soft negative
“Cursor has bugs and inconsistent outputs, where the AI claims to have completed a task but hasn't actually done what it said” Claude Haiku 4.5 · negative prompt · soft negative
“Cursor at $20-40/month offers the most sophisticated agent workflows with Composer mode, multi-file awareness, and autonomous coding capabilities.” Muse Glimmer 30B · comparative prompt · first choice
“It earns the top overall ranking based on its whole-codebase context awareness, multi-file editing capabilities, and strong accuracy scores” Claude Haiku 4.5 · comparative prompt · first choice
“Select two of the above tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot and Cursor) and run a head-to-head pilot” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.