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Cursor changed how a lot of developers write code. A chat sidebar next to your files, an agent that can read your whole project, and inline edits that just apply instead of you copy-pasting from a browser tab. It is a genuinely good editor, and it earned its popularity. But it comes with one structural decision that shapes everything else about it: Cursor picks the model for you, bills you for it, and routes your requests through its own infrastructure.
Orbit Editor is built around the opposite decision. Same editor shape, same agent workflow, but you plug in whichever provider you already use or trust.
If you have used Cursor, Orbit will feel familiar within about five minutes. Both editors give you:
This is not an accident. Developers already learned this workflow with Cursor, and there is no reason to make people relearn a new interaction model just to switch tools. Orbit keeps the muscle memory and changes what happens underneath it.
Cursor bundles model access into its subscription. You pick a plan, and Cursor decides which models are available and how usage is metered. Orbit does not have a bundled model. You connect Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek, Qwen, Mistral, or a local model through Ollama, and you use your own account and your own rate limits with that provider.
This matters more than it sounds. If your company already has an enterprise agreement with Anthropic or OpenAI, Cursor cannot use it. You end up paying for two subscriptions that both ultimately hit the same model APIs. With Orbit, your existing provider account is the only account you need.
Cursor's agent workflow is built around its hosted models. Local models are not a first-class path. Orbit treats Ollama as just another provider, so you can run Llama, Qwen, or DeepSeek locally and use the exact same Ask, Plan, and Agent modes with zero code leaving your machine. For teams working with regulated or sensitive codebases, this is often the deciding factor.
With Cursor, requests are routed through Cursor's servers regardless of which model answers. With Orbit, your API keys and requests go directly to the provider you configured. If you choose a local model, nothing leaves your machine at all. If you choose a hosted provider, your traffic goes straight to that provider, not through a third intermediary.
Cursor sells a subscription that includes model usage, so the price you pay is a bundle of editor plus inference. Orbit is free during its public beta, and you pay your provider directly for whatever you use. If you are a light user, this can be significantly cheaper. If you are a heavy user with an existing enterprise rate on a provider, it is close to a wash on cost but removes the double billing.
Cursor supports macOS, Windows, and Linux. Orbit currently supports macOS and Windows, with Linux support planned. If you are on Linux today, Cursor is still the more complete option until that lands.
Moving from Cursor to Orbit takes about the time it takes to install the app and paste in an API key. Your keyboard shortcuts, workflow, and mental model do not change. The only new step is deciding which provider to connect, and you can change that decision later without reinstalling anything.
Orbit Editor is not a strict upgrade over Cursor for everyone. If you want a single bill, do not want to think about provider selection, and you are on Linux, Cursor is a perfectly reasonable choice, and a well-built one. Orbit exists for a specific kind of developer: someone who already has a provider they trust, wants to use local models some of the time, or does not want their tooling vendor to also be the thing standing between them and the model.
Pick Cursor if you want the model decision made for you and you are fine with a single bundled subscription. Pick Orbit if you already pay for Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google directly, if you want to use Ollama for local inference some or all of the time, or if you want your provider choice to be a setting instead of a subscription tier.
Both editors will keep evolving quickly. But the core difference, bundled models versus bring your own provider, is an architectural choice, not a feature that is likely to change soon on either side. Pick based on which architecture matches how your team actually works.
You can read more about how the provider connection works on the Cursor alternative page, or jump straight to the download page to try Orbit on macOS or Windows.
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