Cursor launches a lower priced subscription plan for India

In short: Cursor has launched a new India-only subscription plan that costs less than its standard plan.

What happened

Cursor, an AI coding tool, announced a new subscription called Cursor Start for people in India. It costs ₹649 per month, or about $7, which is much cheaper than Cursor’s usual $20 per month Pro plan.

Cursor says India is now its third-largest market worldwide. The company also says its user base in India has more than tripled in the past year, and that the country has its highest concentration of “power users,” meaning people who use the product a lot.

The India plan is billed in Indian rupees and supports local payment methods, including UPI (a widely used pay-by-phone system in India). Cursor says it will use checks to limit this plan to individual users located in India, including steps meant to discourage people from using VPNs (tools that can hide where you are, like using a mail forwarding address online).

Cursor Start includes higher usage limits than the free version, plus access to certain AI models and features. It does not include access to some of the most advanced third-party AI models or some advanced Cursor features that are available in the Pro plan.

Cursor is also hiring in India and expanding sales efforts aimed at larger companies. This comes ahead of an expected SpaceX acquisition, a $60 billion all-stock deal that is expected to close in Q3.

Why it matters

Lower local pricing can make paid AI tools more affordable for developers in India, which could increase competition and speed up how quickly these tools spread in everyday software work.

Source: TechCrunch AI