Which one should a designer pick?
Pick by how you like to work. Cursor keeps you in an editor watching the code change — best for visual, iterative refinement. Claude Code runs as an agent in your terminal — best for delegating whole builds and reviewing results. Entry price is similar: Cursor Pro is $20 a month, Claude Pro is $17 a month billed annually.
Cursor vs Claude Code, side by side.
| Option | Interface | Price | How you work | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cursor | A standalone AI code editor | Hobby free; Pro $20 per month | You see every file and steer edits live in the editor | Designers who want to watch, tweak, and learn the code |
| Claude Code | An agent in the terminal, desktop app, or web | Included with Claude Pro — $17 per month billed annually, $20 monthly | You describe outcomes; the agent edits files and reports back | Designers who want to delegate whole builds and review results |
When Cursor fits better.
Fine visual iteration — nudging spacing, trying three hero variants, learning what the CSS actually does. The editor keeps the code visible, so every change teaches you something, and the free Responsive Preview command turns layout audits into a chat command. Setup takes ten minutes with the design-work guide.
When Claude Code fits better.
Whole tasks: "build a markdown-to-PDF tool as one HTML file", "add dark mode across the site", "run this launch checklist against my repo". The agent plans, edits many files, and runs commands without you steering each step. The tiny-web-tool guide shows that loop — it is how the free tools on this site were built.
The combined workflow.
They are not exclusive: this site is built with both — Claude Code for scaffolding and multi-file work, Cursor for fast visual edits (see how the shop is built). A common designer split is Claude Code to get a working version, Cursor to shape it until it looks right.
Try either one.
For the editor route, you can use this Cursor referral link for 50 percent off your first month of Pro. For the agent route, this Claude referral link starts a Claude plan that includes Claude Code.