If you're writing code in India, you've probably used or heard of Cursor. It's the AI-first code editor that's taken our developer community by storm over the last year. But a massive piece of corporate news just changed the game. SpaceX is acquiring Cursor creator Anysphere in a stock-based merger valued at 60 billion dollars. Yes, you read that right. Elon Musk's rocket company is buying an AI coding tool. The transaction's expected to close in the third quarter of 2026. This is a massive corporate play, and it's going to send shockwaves through the programming community.
You're probably wondering how this deal affects your daily setup. Honestly, it's a lot. If you ask me, this could completely change how we write code every day.
Reuters reported on June 16 that this deal is part of a bigger enterprise push by SpaceX. The company recently went public on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX. And with this acquisition, they plan to put Cursor's tech directly into their own software systems and their sister company, xAI.
Cursor AI pricing in India and the free tier
Here's the deal. Right now, the pricing for Cursor Pro is still 20 dollars per month. For Indian freelancers and students, that is around 1,670 Indian Rupees (which is pretty steep, actually). It's quite expensive when you compare it to a basic GitHub Copilot subscription. The Hobby tier is still free, giving you 50 slow queries on advanced models like GPT-4o every month. But in my experience, paying for the Pro tier from India is a massive headache.
The Reserve Bank of India has strict rules on automatic recurring payments. Since Anysphere is an American startup, lots of Indian credit and debit cards just fail to process the monthly charge. So you've often got to do manual payments. Or you have to find specific cards that support international e-mandates.
Look, with SpaceX taking over, we might see changes in how they sell the tool. Will they introduce local rupee pricing with support for UPI? I think they might, but I couldn't find any clear official answer, and the roadmap is still speculative. Elon Musk's businesses have always preferred standardized global pricing. But localized billing would really help them tap into India's massive developer base. If they integrate the service with xAI and its Grok models, the underlying costs are going to change. Right now, Cursor is using APIs from OpenAI and Anthropic. Running those models is super expensive. So SpaceX might want to shift users to their own models to save money.
Cursor vs VS Code: where should you code now?
A lot of developers in India switched from Microsoft's VS Code to Cursor because the move is so easy. Basically, you can import all your extensions and settings with just one click. The editor itself is a fork of VS Code. Because of that, the interface feels exactly the same. But the AI features are built right in, instead of being tacked on as an extra extension.
If you ask me, choosing between these two tools comes down to your budget and how much you rely on AI to write code.
| Feature | Cursor | VS Code (with Copilot) | Windsurf |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Editor | VS Code Fork | Standard VS Code | VS Code Fork |
| Free Tier | 50 slow queries/month | Limited free trials | Basic free tier available |
| Pro Pricing (INR) | ~$1,670/month ($20) | ~$835/month ($10) | ~$1,250/month ($15) |
| Primary AI Engine | GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet | OpenAI models | Cascade (proprietary + open) |
| Pros | Excellent multi-file edits, fast codebase indexing | Official Microsoft support, vast ecosystem | Flow state coding, strong context awareness |
| Cons | Expensive for Indian students, payment failures | AI feels less integrated into the core editor | Smaller community, newer product |
Limitations of Cursor for Indian teams
Honestly, even though Cursor is incredibly powerful, it has major drawbacks for teams in India. I think the lack of localized pricing makes it a hard sell for small shops and early startups trying to manage their cash. If you have five developers, you are looking at more than 8,000 Indian Rupees every month just for an editor. Also, a lot of Indian enterprise clients have strict rules about where data sits. They don't want their private source code sent to servers in the United States. And that is a real security risk.
Step-by-step description of setting up Cursor
To get started, you just download the installer from their site. When you open it, the editor asks you to import your preferences. In my experience, you can pull in all your extensions and settings from your old VS Code setup. I tried this last week. It was completely painless. Basically, the whole thing takes less than a minute, and you don't lose any of your local setups.
[Screenshot: The setup wizard showing a toggle button to import all VS Code extensions and keyboard shortcuts into the new editor.]
Alternative AI coding tools to consider
If the SpaceX deal makes you nervous about the future of Cursor, you've got plenty of options. Honestly, the market for AI tools is growing incredibly fast. You don't have to stick to just one editor. In my experience, a lot of pros keep a couple of different tools installed to handle different jobs.
Windsurf and other editors
One big competitor is Windsurf, which is made by Codeium. It offers a similar VS Code fork, but focuses on what they call flow state programming. I think it's got a slightly cheaper price tag, and it is gaining a lot of traction among Indian freelancers. Another option is just staying with standard VS Code. You can use extensions like Continue or GitHub Copilot to control which AI models you use. You can even plug in local models using Ollama to keep your code private (which makes sense if you work on sensitive code).
The founders behind the 60 billion dollar deal
The scale of this deal has shocked the tech world. Anysphere, which is the company behind Cursor, was started by a bunch of young engineers. Among them is Aman Sanger, a twenty-five-year-old co-founder of Indian origin. After the merger, his net worth shot up to around 5.5 billion dollars, according to MSN. Another co-founder, Michael Truell, who dropped out of MIT, is also a billionaire now. If you ask me, it is crazy that the company was valued at a fraction of this amount just a year ago. That's wild.
"SpaceX has signed a merger deal for $60 billion in stock to acquire Anysphere Inc., the parent of AI coding platform Cursor, a move that has made its cofounder Aman Sanger worth an estimated $5.5 billion." - MSN News report, June 2026
It's really rare to see a startup hit this kind of valuation so fast. In my experience, the deal is a massive bet by Elon Musk on developer tools and training models.
How this affects the future of coding in India
Basically, India is home to the largest developer population in the world. What happens to Cursor really matters to millions of programmers here. If SpaceX decides to restrict access, or if they focus on their own enterprise clients, lots of Indian developers will need to find other tools. But there is also a chance that SpaceX's backing will bring more resources and faster servers. I think we might see xAI's Grok model built directly into the editor, which would give us different features compared to OpenAI's models. Honestly, it is a complex situation.
We've also got to think about data security. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, known as CERT-In, regularly puts out guidelines about data privacy and third-party tools. If your code is processed by servers owned by a giant defense contractor like SpaceX, some Indian government agencies and big IT companies will ban the tool. In my experience, this is a real concern for developers working on sensitive government projects or financial software.
Steps to backup your Cursor configurations
If you want to prepare for any sudden changes, you should backup your custom setups. You can export your keybindings and settings files directly from the editor. Go to the settings panel and find the sync settings option. I think this helps if you ever need to move back to standard VS Code or another fork. You won't have to configure your workspace from scratch. It takes two minutes.
[Screenshot: The settings menu in Cursor highlighting the Export Settings button next to the account profile.]
What you should do next
For now, don't panic since the deal isn't closing until the third quarter of 2026. You can just keep using the editor for your daily work. But I think it's smart to watch alternative tools and keep your VS Code settings updated just in case. If you're looking for other AI guides or comparisons, check out our AI tools directory and our developer guides to stay updated on the latest changes.
If you want to understand how other AI systems are changing the industry, read our tech explainers. The tech is moving fast. In my experience, staying flexible is your best bet.
