Why Developers Are Quietly Returning to VS Code and Ditching Cursor

Some shifts in tech are loud. Others, like this one, are a silent walk back to a familiar ground. Over the past few weeks, developers have been gradually admitting that they’re switching back from the AI coding tool Cursor to the integrated development environment Visual Studio Code.

The reasons are consistent: reliability, progress of Copilot, and a dawning realisation that features mean little when the basics break. Cursor, once the standout of the AI developer tool scene, is now seeing loyal users migrate, not because it failed, but because Microsoft quietly caught up.

Even those who still like Cursor are leaving without drama.

Copilot Catches Up to Cursor

Santiago Valdarrama, a computer scientist, took to X and said, “I'm officially going back to VS Code. Incredible progress by the Copilot team catching up to Cursor. It's at a point where I can't justify having both subscriptions anymore.”

In a follow-up, he made it clear that the move wasn’t a knock on Cursor. He is returning to VS Code, not because Cursor is inferior, but Copilot has significantly improved recently. He no longer perceives major distinctions between them, so remaining with VS Code and leveraging its top-tier IDE updates seems logical.

Others may seem less diplomatic. Harshith Vaddiparthy, head of growth at JustPaid, described the shift in more emotional terms, “Cursor AI was the golden child, but I've completely ditched Cursor Chat - it's become unreliable and crashes constantly.” 

For Vaddiparthy, the stable option wins over the shiny new thing. Cursor had momentum, but he highlighted that execution matters more than marketing. He now uses Claude Code with vanilla VS Code, echoing a broader trend of pairing newer AI models with older, battle-tested editors.

Arnav Gupta, an engineering manager at Meta, stated on X that he ditched Cursor because he could use DeepSeek/Kimi/Qwen AI models through OpenRouter on VS Code.

Bugs, Beast Mode & Bye-Bye Cursor

Cursor’s fragility seems to be the common thread pushing developers away. 

Prashanth Rao, an AI engineer, summed it up on X with, “Deleted Cursor last week. Moved to Claude Code + VS Code. Zero Regrets… Bye bye cursor.”

Pieter Levels, an indie developer, shared on X, “I'm getting super annoyed how many bugs there are in Cursor. Makes me just close it and go back to Claude Code.”

Valdarrama highlighted specific challenges, stating that while Visual Studio Code consistently releases new features, some are slow to arrive in Cursor, and others never make it. He also mentioned encountering bugs in Cursor related to features they ought not to be modifying, citing a recent issue with Dev Containers.

Meanwhile, Microsoft hasn’t been sitting idle. Burke Holland, a principal developer advocate at the company, replied to Valdarrama by nudging him toward “Beast Mode,” a powerful new workflow built into VS Code’s agent. It adds a guided chat layer that brings planning, research, and task management directly into the coding loop, which can work with any model.

While not everyone is using it yet, the timing of its release may be another reason some users are finding it easier to stay inside the Microsoft ecosystem rather than patch together workflows across tools.

A Familiar Pattern

Cursor’s moment in the spotlight isn’t over, but the edge it has as a Copilot alternative might be fading. Developers seem to be finding their old habits useful again, now supercharged with newer AI.

Vaddiparthy emphasised that reliability, rather than an abundance of features, will determine success in AI coding. He highlighted the importance of dependable tools for developers, stating that developers require tools that function effectively, not just those that are impressive in demonstrations, and that stability is now the most desirable quality in development tools. 

Cursor still has a strong product, but the burden of proof now falls back on its shoulders. It must convince users, many of whom still respect what it is built for.

For now, though, VS Code seems to be winning by reducing the ‘wrongs’. It may not have the same AI-first reputation, but with Copilot improving, Claude Code integrations, and fewer crashes, VS Code has won favours with the developers trying to actually ship code.