Copilot vs Cursor vs Cody vs Supermaven vs Aider
I used GitHub Copilot from early 2022 to mid 2024 and switched to Cursor at the beginning of 2024. I've tested Sourcegraph Cody and Supermaven along the way. Currently, I use Cursor exclusively for all my development work, powered by Claude 3.5 Sonnet (New). I'm also planning to incorporate Aider Chat into my workflow, and keeping an eye on Zed Editor once it supports Windows.
GitHub Copilot revolutionized coding with its AI-powered autocomplete. Despite critics dismissing it as "just a fancy autocomplete," it was exactly this simplicity that made it powerful. The magic wasn't just in saving a few keystrokes - it was in eliminating the constant context-switching between coding and documentation/StackOverflow searches.
When GitHub later added features like chat and other integrations, they felt bolted on. I installed them but found myself gravitating toward dedicated chat services like ChatGPT and Claude for those use cases.
Cursor emerged as a comprehensive solution that changed how I approach AI-assisted coding. Its killer feature? The Ctrl+K command. This simple shortcut enables powerful code modifications:
