Claude Code vs Cursor — My Take on this Debate

Why I tried Claude Code ## How They Work ## Pros vs Cons of Claude Code ## Summary I built my first product, Voyage Bus Tickets (view it here), using just Cursor. Then I built my second product (which is being kept a secret) using both Claude Code and Cursor. I’m building my third product using both Claude Code and Cursor. Here is my opinion on whether Claude Code or Cursor is the better code editor. TLDR: I prefer Claude Code. However, Cursor still has its advantages and, as of Dec 11 2025, I plan on continuing to use it. I started programming using Cursor in 2024. After reading comments from several developers on X and YouTube saying Claude Code was the better coding agent and letting my interest in technology get the best of me, I decided to test Claude Code myself. As I stated in the TLDR, I prefer Claude Code over Cursor. Here are the pros/cons of using Claude Code over Cursor. I'll keep using both. I’ll continue to use Claude Code for most features for its better DX, support for parallel subagents, and large context windows, but I’ll use Cursor in the areas where it has the clear advantage, namely its quick file searching and tab completions Edit (Dec 11, 2025) Revised the article following additions to Claude Code. I also added in some points that I didn't mention in my original post. Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Are you sure you want to hide this comment? It will become hidden in your post, but will still be visible via the comment's permalink. Hide child comments as well For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse - Cursor uses RAG-like indexing. It chunks your codebase, creates embeddings, and runs similarity search when you ask questions. - Claude Code loads files into 200K token context window chats. It doesn't index codebases.