Cursor AI review and THE low-code alternative

Cursor has quickly gained popularity in the web development space over the past few months. Developers are building applications more efficiently, and even non-technical users are beginning to create prototypes and small apps.

In this article, we’ll look at Cursor AI’s strengths and weaknesses, and see how it compares to a low-code alternative like DronaHQ.

Introduction to Cursor

Cursor is a smart code editor powered by AI, built on top of Visual Studio Code. At first, it looks like a regular code editor, but it has something extra; it uses advanced AI to help you write, understand, and fix code faster.

Unlike AI coding copilots like GitHub Copilot, which auto-suggests code as you type, Cursor gives you a full conversational AI interface that’s tightly context-aware. You can ask it to build features, fix bugs, explain parts of your code, or even run commands, all through a simple chat. It’s like having a helpful coding partner built right into your editor.

Cursor history 

Cursor was launched in 2023 and quickly gained traction among early adopters in the software engineering community. What made it stand out was how seamlessly it embedded AI into the coding workflow, not as a passive assistant, but as an active, flexible agent.

Cursor is especially popular among solo developers and indie hackers for rapid prototyping and exploring new ideas. Its tight IDE integration keeps you focused without requiring you to switch tools. By 2024, Cursor had introduced powerful features like custom chat modes, rule-based control, background agents, and even visual tagging with @references.

Features of Cursor AI

Cursor is an AI-powered code editor built on top of Visual Studio Code, designed to supercharge developer productivity with smart, context-aware capabilities. Here are its key features:

1. AI-powered chat assistant

Cursor provides a conversational interface that allows you to write, fix, and understand code using natural language. It supports multi-turn conversations, accepts image input, and offers detailed explanations for existing code, making it useful for debugging, refactoring, or onboarding.

2. Multiple AI chat modes

You can switch between three interaction modes based on your workflow:

• Agent: Fully autonomous—AI reads, modifies, and writes code across files.
• Manual: The cursor suggests changes, and you approve before applying.
• Ask: Read-only; great for exploring or understanding code without any edits.

3. Agent and model flexibility

Cursor lets you choose from leading large language models like GPT-4o, Claude 3, and others. You can also bring your own API key (BYOK) for added control and customisation.

4. Smart referencing and rule-based behavior

Use @references to point the AI to specific files, lines, or past chat threads. Combine that with custom rules to restrict what the AI can or cannot modify—useful for protecting sensitive code areas or enforcing conventions.

5. Background automation agents

Cursor can automate entire tasks like:

• Creating GitHub branches
• Generating and testing code
• Opening pull requests 
• All of this runs in the background with minimal input from you.

6. Built-in code tools

Cursor includes command-line style tools like grep, search, edit, web, and delete, giving you more direct and granular control over what the AI does within your project. https://docs.cursor.com/agent/tools

7. Multi-language support

Supports a wide range of programming languages, including JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go, Java, Rust, and more, making it versatile across modern tech stacks.

Implementation of Cursor AI 

It is a straightforward and seamless process. Simply install Cursor for your operating system, and it will automatically set up the necessary extension for VS Code. Once installed, it integrates directly with your existing VS Code environment, allowing you to work with all your existing files on the left-hand side of the familiar interface. A dedicated chat panel appears on the right in the place of GitHub Copilot, enabling you to interact with the AI effortlessly. 

What developers think about Cursor AI

When developers or engineers first start using Cursor, they’re often amazed by how powerful and helpful it feels. It offers everything you’d want: your familiar VS Code interface, a built-in AI assistant with different modes (Agent, Manual, or Ask), and support for top LLMs like GPT and Claude. At first, it feels like the perfect upgrade.

But after spending more time with it, or especially after upgrading to the Pro version, many users start to notice the downsides. As seen in the comments of the Reddit community below, the initial excitement often fades once the limitations and performance issues become more apparent.

One of the common issues with Cursor is that it doesn’t perform well on large projects, especially those involving multiple files. It often makes changes to parts of the code you didn’t ask for, which can lead to unexpected problems. You also need to have a solid understanding of the programming language you’re using, because the AI-generated code isn’t always accurate, and you’ll need to fix or adjust it manually.

In addition to these challenges, many developers have raised concerns about Cursor’s pricing, saying it’s too expensive for what it offers. Another common complaint is that whenever Cursor adds support for a new LLM model, it often doesn’t work properly or isn’t stable right away.

I’m not just saying this based on others’ reviews; I’ve experienced it myself. While working on a small project, I found Cursor to be quite helpful for generating JavaScript functions. But when I tried using it for CSS, it fell short. No matter how I phrased the request, the output was never what I needed. Eventually, I gave up, deleted the AI-generated CSS, and rewrote it all manually from scratch.

In the above screenshot, you can see how easily it provided a JS function as per my requirement for validating the email and displaying messages for valid and invalid email input. However, this was not the case when applying CSS. It took numerous prompts to create a responsive media query for the mobile view that met my requirements. After a while, I realised I could have done it on my own with less effort and time.

And more…

Cursor AI: Pros & Cons

 Pros

• Effortless adoption with VS code familiarity – Since Cursor is a direct fork of VS Code, it keeps your extensions, themes, and shortcuts intact, with no learning curve, and no reconfiguration. It feels like VS Code, but smarter.
• Rapid prototyping and code generation – Thanks to its conversational interface and large-context AI, you can go from a vague idea to working code in minutes. Whether it’s a feature, utility function, or even a test case, the assistant can scaffold it fast.
• Flexible AI interaction for all use cases – Choose how much control you want, let the AI act freely, or have it wait for your approval. This flexibility makes it suitable for both experimenting and working in production environments.
• Automation for repetitive developer tasks – Save time by letting background agents handle common dev chores, like creating branches, generating boilerplate, or opening PRs, without switching contexts.
• Highly configurable behavior with rules – Define guardrails for the AI using rule sets, restrict it from editing certain folders, or make sure it follows naming conventions. Ideal for working on teams or regulated projects.
• Multi-modal input support (Text + Images) – You’re not limited to text. Paste screenshots, UI mocks, or snippets, and the AI can use those for context in its response, especially helpful in frontend development scenarios.

Cons

• Still requires strong coding knowledge.
  While Cursor assists with suggestions, it doesn’t eliminate the need for programming expertise. You often need to understand, review, and refine AI-generated code, especially in larger or more complex projects.
• Can produce over-engineered or incorrect code
  Cursor occasionally generates solutions that are too complex, not idiomatic to the language or framework being used, or simply incorrect, especially when dealing with edge cases or unfamiliar syntax.
• Key features are behind a paywall.
  Cursor offers a free tier that includes approximately 100 AI requests per day, which is ideal for basic usage. However, some of its most powerful features, like larger context windows, background agents, and unlimited runs, are only available in the Pro and higher-tier plans, making them less accessible to solo developers working on larger or more complex projects.

Is Cursor AI worth it? — That depends on your use case. If you’re a solo dev or a hobbyist working on small to medium projects, the free tier might suffice. But if you’re expecting consistent performance across monorepos or production-grade systems, the Pro/Ultra pricing may not fully justify the trade-offs in current stability.

• Performance and stability issues in large codebases
  Cursor’s utility shines in smaller projects or microservices, where context retention and agent tasks remain manageable. However, for enterprise-scale codebases or heavily modular apps, the AI can miss key dependencies or produce partial solutions. Users have reported bugs, memory usage spikes, and AI losing context in a large mono repo. Additionally, newly introduced LLM models often show unreliable behavior initially, which can disrupt productivity.
• Pricing concerns
  Many developers feel the Pro tier is overpriced for what it offers, especially considering occasional instability and the free alternatives available. Even BYOK (bring your own key) setups don’t always perform consistently.

Given these limitations, it’s no surprise that many developers are actively seeking alternatives to Cursor, tools that offer similar capabilities without the trade-offs. Here comes DronaHQ –

DronaHQ 

DronaHQ is a powerful low-code platform that helps you build apps, workflows, dashboards, and internal tools without writing complex code. While developers use tools like Cursor to write code faster, DronaHQ significantly reduces the amount of code required.

We empower engineers and developers to rapidly build internal tools, dashboards, and workflows without spending weeks on boilerplate code; they can focus on solving core problems instead of reinventing CRUD apps. For business teams and HRs, DronaHQ offers a way to automate repetitive tasks, streamline approvals, manage employee data, and build custom apps without relying heavily on IT. Whether you’re in tech or operations, it bridges the gap between ideas and execution, fast.

One of our standout features is Veda AI, an AI assistant that accelerates layout generation and logic (action flows), generates data queries, and binds them to the UI. Developers can still do some manual configuration as per their app demands. It can help you generate business logic, build complete app UIs in seconds by simply uploading an image, and much more. We also provide a Figma design system kit with predesigned customizable components like table grids, charts, dashboards, nav bar, and more, making it easier and faster to create polished user interfaces.

With DronaHQ, you can visually design your app, connect to APIs, link databases like MongoDB, PostgreSQL, or REST APIs, and set up app workflows with validations, navigation, custom JS code blocks, and much more.

What DronaHQ offers

• Build with AI, not just code: Accelerate development with AI that converts natural language prompts and wireframes into working UI and logic flows using MetaCode. You don’t need to review multiple lines of code.
• Design interfaces visually: Craft responsive UIs using an intuitive drag-and-drop builder; no need to start from a blank canvas.
• 150+ UI components: Use a rich library of components like forms, tables, charts, and models, optimized for speed and usability.
• Actionflows for logic: Create smart workflows using visual action flows with support for conditional logic, branching, and data operations.
• Automations: Automate recurring actions like sending reports or triggering alerts using built-in scheduler functionality.
• Integrate with DBs, APIs, LLMs: Integrate with 50+ services including MySQL, PostgreSQL, Google Sheets, REST APIs, and more—plus a built-in database.

• Templates: Get a head start using templates for CRMs, dashboards, approval flows, and internal admin panels.
• Host cloud/self-host: Deploy in your own cloud or on-premise to maintain full control over data privacy and compliance.
• Enterprise ready: With robust RBAC, secure architecture, and proven adoption by CleverTap, Purplle, and others, DronaHQ is enterprise-ready.

DronaHQ AI vs Cursor AI

• Robustness and reliability
  DronaHQ is a battle-tested platform used by enterprises, startups, and agencies to build secure, scalable internal tools. It comes with years of stability, built-in UI controls, and ready-to-use connectors—all maintained in a production-ready environment.
  By contrast, Cursor, while powerful as an AI-powered code editor, is still evolving as a development assistant. It’s great for writing and refactoring code quickly, but it lacks the out-of-the-box reliability and infrastructure needed to deploy full-fledged business apps or workflows without extra tooling.
• Smarter logic with less effort
  With DronaHQ’s visual Action Flow builder, users can easily create advanced app logic, using loops, conditions, triggers, and even JavaScript blocks, without having to write full code structures. It’s intuitive and fast, making it ideal for building internal workflows or business rules.
  Cursor, while powerful for writing and editing logic through AI, still relies on manual coding. You have to prompt the AI precisely, review the output, and often debug or tweak the logic yourself, costing time and attention. For non-developers or teams building internal apps, DronaHQ dramatically reduces the complexity involved.
• Superior integration capabilities
  DronaHQ supports plug-and-play integration with MySQL, MongoDB, Firebase, Google Sheets, REST APIs, SAP, and more, plus it comes with a built-in database. You can bind data visually in minutes without writing connection logic.
  With Cursor, while AI can help generate API calls or database queries, you’re still required to write, debug, and manage all integrations manually.

• AI + Low-Code: The best of both worlds
  Both DronaHQ and Cursor leverage AI to boost productivity, but they serve different needs. Cursor helps developers write and refactor code faster inside a traditional coding environment. DronaHQ, on the other hand, blends AI with a visual low-code interface, so you can drag-and-drop components, build workflows visually, and then use AI (like Veda) when you want to speed things up or auto-generate logic. You’re not locked into code or AI; you get flexibility without sacrificing control.
• Built for teams, not just solo builders
  While Cursor is a powerful AI-first code editor ideal for individual developers, it isn’t designed for team-based app development out of the box. DronaHQ, by contrast, includes robust collaboration features like environment management, version control, shared workspaces, and granular role-based access, making it a better fit for cross-functional teams building and managing internal tools at scale.
• Enterprise-grade security by default
  DronaHQ is designed with enterprise security needs in mind, offering built-in features like SSO, audit logs, encryption at rest and in transit, and fine-grained permission controls. These are essential for teams operating in regulated environments. Cursor, while powerful for individual developers, doesn’t come with these out-of-the-box security and compliance safeguards, making it less suitable for sensitive internal tools or enterprise deployments.

• From prototype to production
  Cursor accelerates early-stage development and code exploration, but it’s still rooted in traditional code workflows. DronaHQ goes beyond prototyping, enabling teams to move from idea to production with ease. DronaHQ ensures your internal tools are scalable, maintainable, and ready for enterprise deployment.

While Cursor AI helps you go from idea to working code, DronaHQ helps you go from idea to working product, without piecing together frontend, backend, and infrastructure manually.