Sourced comparison
SynthHires vs Cursor
A closed-source AI-first code editor built around deep integration with your local editor workflow, with cloud agents available from the Pro tier up.
Every claim on this page was last checked against the vendor’s own material on 2026-09-15. Sources are re-read every 120 days; next review due by 2027-01-13. Leer en español
Where Cursor is the better choice
- Editor integration remains the deepest in the category: inline diffs, context-aware editing and codebase indexing in one surface.
- Cloud agents and Bugbot run on the same subscription as the editor, so there is no second account to manage.
- Privacy mode is a documented switch: code data is then not used for training by Cursor or its model providers.
Where SynthHires is the better fit
- No per-seat subscription for the agent layer: the free tier costs $0 and the paid tier is $9/month, while your tokens are billed by your own provider with no markup from us.
- Keys are encrypted in the browser with AES-256-GCM and are never sent to SynthHires servers — the provider is called with the key from your device.
- Agents are not confined to an editor session: they can be supervised as a workforce, with approval gates and audit over their operations.
Side by side
Each cell links to the source it was read from.
| Cursor | SynthHires | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI code editor (IDE) with cloud agentsCursor — Pricing | AI agent workforce platform (browser-based, multi-agent)SynthHires homepage |
| Source availability | Closed source; subscriptions sold only through cursor.comCursor — Pricing FAQ ("we do not authorize any resellers") | Proprietary platform. The desktop Bridge daemon is published separately.SynthHires homepage |
| Primary interface | Desktop editor (Cursor)Cursor — Pricing | Web app, plus a desktop Bridge daemon for local runtimesRuntimes |
| Model access | Included model usage per plan, with frontier-model access on paid tiers and on-demand overage billed in arrearsCursor also publishes that Cloud Agents are billed at API pricing for the selected model.Cursor — Pricing ("billed in arrears") | Bring your own key (BYOK) across the providers in the model catalogPricing and FAQ |
| Where your API keys live | Not published by the vendor | Encrypted client-side with AES-256-GCM; keys never reach our serversPricing and FAQ |
| Where it runs | Your machine for the editor; vendor cloud for cloud agentsCursor — Cloud Agents docs | Our stateless Cloudflare Workers edge, or your own machine via the Bridge daemonRuntimes |
| Model Context Protocol (MCP) | MCPs, skills and hooks (Pro tier and above)Cursor — Pricing | MCP-native: Streamable HTTP MCP transport plus a connector registryDocumentation |
| Multi-agent orchestration | Not published by the vendor | First-class: spawning subagents, parallel read-only batches and serialized writersAgent StudioShowcase |
| Human-in-the-loop approvals | Not published by the vendor | Approval gates, policy enforcement and audit trails over agent operationsGovernance |
| Entry price | Hobby $0 (limited Agent requests) · Pro $20/mo · Pro+ $60/mo · Ultra $200/mo. Teams seats: Standard $32/seat/month annual ($40 monthly) · Premium $96/seat/month annual ($120 monthly).The Teams seat figures come from Cursor’s own pricing announcement: Standard keeps its price with more included usage, and Premium carries 5× the included usage at 3× the cost. Those rates apply to new customers immediately and to renewing customers from billing cycles starting 1 July 2026. Enterprise is quoted separately.Cursor — Pricing (individual tiers)Cursor — Improvements to Teams Pricing (Standard vs Premium seats) | Free tier (contextual ads) and a $9/month paid tier. No markup on tokens.Pricing |
| UI languages | Not published by the vendorCursor — Pricing | English and SpanishSynthHires homepage |
Frequently asked questions
Is SynthHires cheaper than Cursor?
It depends on what you are comparing. Cursor bundles editor features and a monthly model allowance into a subscription starting at $20/month per user. SynthHires charges $0 on the free tier and $9/month on the paid tier, and never marks up tokens: you pay your own provider at their published rate. The honest comparison is total cost for your workload, and that is why the table above lists both the subscription and the token handling separately.
Where do my API keys live with SynthHires?
In your browser, encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The keys are never sent to SynthHires servers; requests go from your device to the model provider. That is a different model from a cloud editor that keeps your credentials server-side.
Can I run agents outside the editor with SynthHires?
Yes. Agents run in the browser, can be given a repository workspace, and can attach a local runtime through the Bridge daemon. That covers the long-running, supervised work that does not belong in an interactive editing session.
How this comparison is maintained
Every claim about a third party cites the vendor’s own documentation or repository, with the date it was checked. When a vendor does not publish a value we write that instead of guessing. We do not publish ratings, review scores or benchmarks we cannot point at.
SynthHires is one of the products compared here, so the selection of tools and the framing of this page are ours — not a neutral third party’s. Each difference above is stated as a fact with a source you can open, and where the other tool is the better choice we say so. Treat the final judgement as yours to make.
Found a claim that is out of date or simply wrong? Tell us and we will fix the data and re-date this page — a correction we can source is worth more to us than a comparison we got to keep. Report a correction
Sources
- Cursor — Anysphere(primary material)
Try the agents with your own key
Free tier, no card. Bring your own provider key — it is encrypted in your browser and never reaches our servers.