Cursor: A Versatile Standalone Tool
Cursor is a powerful standalone tool developed by Cursor, designed to offer comprehensive support across multiple operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux. It stands out with its extensive compatibility with advanced language models such as GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo, GPT-4o, GPT-5 (High MAX), Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Gemini, cursor-small, and Supermaven. A unique feature of Cursor is its proprietary custom model, cursor-small, which enhances its performance. With a remarkable context window of 1M tokens, Cursor ensures efficient processing and multi-file agentic editing capabilities. Although it does not support local inference, it provides full terminal access and predictive edits, making it a robust choice for developers.
Pros
- ✓ Supports a wide range of advanced language models.
- ✓ Offers a large context window of 1M tokens.
- ✓ Includes agentic multi-file editing.
- ✓ Provides full terminal access.
- ✓ Free tier available.
Cons
- ✕ Does not support local inference.
- ✕ Limited to the standard privacy policy.
PyCharm: A Comprehensive Development Environment
PyCharm, developed by JetBrains, is a standalone integrated development environment that caters to developers using diverse operating systems such as Windows, macOS, and Linux. It offers compatibility with leading language models like GPT-5, Claude 4.5, Gemini 3.0, o3, and Cursor. PyCharm distinguishes itself with the ability to perform local inference, providing developers with more autonomy and data security options. The tool supports a context window of 200k tokens and features multi-file agentic editing alongside full terminal access. While it requires setup for migration, its robust feature set and certification as SOC2 Type II make it a reliable choice for enterprise-level projects.
Pros
- ✓ Supports local inference.
- ✓ Compatible with a variety of top language models.
- ✓ Enables multi-file agentic editing.
- ✓ Offers full terminal access.
- ✓ Free tier available.
Cons
- ✕ Requires setup for migration.
- ✕ Smaller context window compared to Cursor.
Comparison Table
| Feature | Cursor | PyCharm |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture Type | standalone | standalone |
| Supported Os | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Developer | Cursor | JetBrains |
| Supported Llms | GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo, GPT-4o, GPT-5 (High MAX), Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Gemini, cursor-small, Supermaven | GPT-5, Claude 4.5, Gemini 3.0, o3, Cursor |
| Custom Model | cursor-small | – |
| Context Window | 1M tokens | 200k tokens |
| Agentic Editing | Yes, multi-file | Yes, multi-file |
| Terminal Access | Full | Full |
| Privacy Mode | Standard Privacy Policy | Standard Privacy Policy |
| Certifications | SOC2 Type II (Enterprise) | SOC2 Type II (Enterprise) |
| About Price | Free – $20/mo | Free – $27/mo |
| Config File | .cursorrules | pyproject.toml |
| Migration | Seamless | Requires setup |
Conclusion
Both Cursor and PyCharm offer powerful features tailored to different developer needs, with Cursor excelling in model compatibility and context processing, while PyCharm provides local inference and robust enterprise-level support. Choosing between them will depend on specific requirements such as local processing capabilities or the need for a larger context window.