Replit vs Cursor: Hosted Workspace or Editor Agent? What Each One Leaves You to Set Up

Replit runs its agent in a cloud workspace and publishes the app for you. Cursor is a coding agent for a repo you own, and you pick the host. Plans, limits and the move between them, from each tool’s pages as of Nov 3, 2026.

Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash

Pick Replit if you want one place that writes the app, runs it, stores the data and puts it online. Pick Cursor if you already have a repo, or want one, and you’re happy to choose your own host and database. As of Nov 3, 2026, Replit Core is $20 a month ($18 billed yearly) and Cursor’s paid plans start at $8, but the $8 plan only runs Grok models.

Both tools have an agent that writes code from a prompt. The difference is everything around the code. Below is who does each job, what each plan costs, and how to move a project from Replit to Cursor if you outgrow the workspace.

Every fact comes from Replit’s and Cursor’s own pricing pages and docs, read Nov 3, 2026. We haven’t benchmarked either agent, so there’s nothing here about speed or code quality.

Who does each job

• Where the agent works. Replit: In Replit’s cloud workspace, in the browser. Cursor: On your machine, in the Cursor app. Cloud agents run in Cursor’s VMs on Premium and up.
• Where the code lives. Replit: In the Replit project, backed by Git. Cursor: In your own Git repo (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket or Azure DevOps), or Cursor’s Origin on Premium and up.
• Running the app while you build. Replit: Replit’s Preview. Cursor: You run it locally, or a cloud agent runs it in its VM.
• Database. Replit: Replit databases, with monthly credits even on the free Starter plan. Cursor: You choose one and connect it.
• Putting the app online. Replit: Publish button in the workspace. Starter gets one app for 30 days, Core is unlimited. Cursor: You pick a host. Origin has deploy apps for Vercel, Netlify, Render and Cloudflare.
• Custom domain. Replit: Buy or connect one from Replit. Cursor: Handled at your host.
• Phone app. Replit: A “Mobile app” type, previewed on your phone with Expo Go. Cursor: Not covered in the Cursor docs we read.
• Picking the model. Replit: Free Mode routes automatically. Power and Max let Core and Pro users choose. Cursor: Plus: Grok models only. Premium and up: third-party models at API list price.

Sources: Replit Starter plan, Replit Core, Replit agent modes, Replit publishing, Cursor cloud agents, Cursor Origin, Cursor pricing.

Read the Cursor side as “you, with an agent helping.” Cursor’s docs call it “a coding agent for building ambitious software”, and its plans list agents, cloud agents, code hosting and code reviews, with no app hosting or database. Those, and the domain, are yours to pick.

What you pay

• Free. Replit: Starter: daily Agent credits up to a monthly cap, Lite build only, 1 published app that goes down after 30 days. Cursor: Free: $0, “Limited agent requests”.
• Entry paid plan. Replit: Core: $20/month, or $18/month billed yearly. Cursor: Plus: $8/month, Grok models only.
• Next step up. Replit: Pro: $100/month, or $90/month billed yearly. Cursor: Premium: $30/month, 4x Plus usage, cloud agents, Origin, third-party models.
• Higher tiers. Replit: Enterprise (custom). Cursor: Super $100 (15x Plus), Ultra $200 (50x Plus).
• What’s extra. Replit: Usage past your credits, pay-as-you-go on Core. Cursor: Third-party model usage, “billed separately by usage”.

Replit’s Core card lists “Up to 30 hours of chat on Free Mode”, “Up to 60 projects on Free Mode” and “$20 towards more powerful models.” Cursor’s page says third-party model usage “is not included in the monthly prices shown and must be purchased separately.”

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The Starter row doesn’t appear on Replit’s pricing page today. It’s on Replit’s Starter plan docs, which also list what needs Core: Full build, Plan Mode, third-party connectors, more than one published app and removing the “Made with Replit” badge.

Pick Replit if

• You don’t have a host, a database or a domain yet, and you don’t want to choose them this week.
• You want a link to share today. Starter can publish one app, though it “will automatically go down after 30 days.”
• You’re building a phone app and want to try it on your own phone first. Replit’s mobile guide previews the app through Expo Go.
• You’d rather spend credits than set things up. Core’s monthly credits cover Agent, publishing, network transfer and database storage, per Replit’s docs.

More on Replit at Stackdrop.

Pick Cursor if

• Your code is already in a Git repo, or your app has grown past what you want to manage in one workspace.
• You already have a host you like, such as Vercel or Netlify, and a database you’ve chosen.
• You want to run several agents at once without your laptop online. That’s cloud agents, which Cursor puts on Premium ($30) and up.
• You want to pick the model yourself. Plus is Grok only, so that also means Premium or higher.

More on Cursor at Stackdrop.

Moving a project from Replit to Cursor

Replit projects are Git repos underneath, per its version control docs. That makes the move a normal Git move.

1. In the Replit Project Editor, open Tools, then Git under Setup. If there’s no repo yet, select Initialize Git Repository.
2. Use the Git pane’s GitHub sync to push the project to a GitHub repo you own.
3. Clone that repo to your machine and open the folder in Cursor.
4. Pick a host and point your database connection at wherever the data will live.

The last step is where the work is. Anything Replit handled for you, like the database, secrets and the published URL, now needs a home you choose. We wrote about when that trade is worth it in When to Graduate From an AI App Builder to an AI Code Editor.

FAQ

Is Replit or Cursor cheaper? Cursor’s entry plan is cheaper ($8 vs $20), but it runs Grok models only and doesn’t host anything. Replit’s $20 includes publishing and $20 toward more powerful models.

Can Cursor host my app? Not per its pricing page and docs as of Nov 3, 2026. Origin, in early beta on Premium and up, stores your repo and connects to hosts like Vercel and Netlify.

Does Replit’s free plan let me publish? Yes, one app. Replit says the link goes down after 30 days, and the badge stays on until you upgrade to Core.

Can I use Claude or GPT models in Cursor? Cursor’s page says third-party models are available on Premium and up, billed separately by usage. Plus is Grok only.

Can I move back from Cursor to Replit? Replit’s docs say you can import projects from GitHub, so a repo you work on in Cursor can be brought into Replit.

If you’re weighing more than these two, our coding assistant list compares the main options by plan and what each one handles.

From the Stackdrop team. Stackdrop is a directory of AI tools for builders: getstackdrop.com.