These three get lumped together as "AI coding tools," but they're solving genuinely different problems in your workflow, inline completion, full-editor AI integration, and autonomous multi-file agentic work. Here's how they actually differ, and which combination makes sense depending on what you're building.
GitHub Copilot: the widest net
Copilot's real advantage isn't raw capability, it's reach. Native support across VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, Visual Studio, and Xcode makes it the easiest entry point regardless of what editor your team already uses, and it holds the largest market share of any tool in this category. The free tier (around 2,000 completions a month) makes it close to a no-brainer starting point, especially for teams already living inside the GitHub ecosystem for issues, PRs, and CI.
Where it's the clear pick: you want inline, low-friction autocomplete everywhere you already work, without changing editors or workflow.
Cursor: AI woven into the entire editor, not just autocomplete
