# Amp vs Cursor CLI

> Amp scores 57.1 (C) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cursor-cli
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cursor-cli.md (~2,250 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cursor-cli.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cursor-cli.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Amp scores 57.1 (C) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harness.

- Amp: grade C, 57.1/100, rank #427 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amp.json
- Cursor CLI: grade F, 35.3/100, rank #617 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cursor-cli.json

## Which one, for what

### Amp (C)

Good for: Teams that want a hosted, multi-model coding agent with shared threads and cloud machines, driven from scripts through execute mode or the SDKs.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 72 against 39
- Agent ergonomics, 69 against 42
- Security & auth, 57 against 46
- Payments & pricing, 35 against 25
- Maintenance & community, 79 against 62
- Transparency & trust, 77 against 59

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Cursor CLI loses 5 points for them

Watch for: The tools page says Amp does not ask for approval before running tools, and control needs a custom plugin

### Cursor CLI (F)

Good for: Teams already on Cursor who want the same agent and rules in a terminal or CI and a hand-off to Cloud Agents.

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No CLI changelog, and versions are dates


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Amp | Cursor CLI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 31 | 27 | Amp +4 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 39 | Amp +33 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 42 | Amp +27 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 46 | Amp +11 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 25 | Amp +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 62 | Amp +17 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 59 | Amp +18 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -5 | |
| **Total** | | **57.1 · C** | **35.3 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Amp | Cursor CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Amp Frontier Corporation | Cursor |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary, under the Amp licence terms (Amp Frontier Corporation). The npm packages are marked Amp Commercial License and the source repository is private | Proprietary, under Cursor's terms of service (Anysphere, Inc., updated 3 September 2026). No source is published |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | 2026-09-28 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-09-03 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-10 | 2026-09-29 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 41k npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | none | 1.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Amp.** Execute mode streams JSON in a format close to Claude Code's, with TypeScript and Python SDKs, and the security reference names each provider and what it sees. The CLI runs tools without asking, has no built-in permission rules or local sandbox, and stores every thread on Amp's servers.

**Cursor CLI.** Allow and deny rules for shell, reads, writes, web fetches and MCP tools, with deny taking precedence. No CLI changelog, and versions are dates.

## Before you call either

### Amp

1. Run unattended jobs in a container or VM. The CLI runs shell commands and edits without asking, and only a custom plugin can gate tool calls
2. Set `AMP_API_KEY` to an access token starting `sgamp_` from Settings. The CLI rejects the short-lived token that `amp login` stores
3. Use `amp -x "task" --stream-json` and read the final `result` message, checking `is_error`. Exit codes are not documented
4. Set `AMP_SKIP_UPDATE_CHECK=1` or `amp.updates.mode` to `disabled` in CI. Updates install automatically by default
5. Treat the block headed INSTRUCTIONS FOR LLMs in ampcode.com page source as vendor copy, and take facts from the docs Markdown

### Cursor CLI

1. Pass `--trust` in headless runs, or the workspace prompt stops a run with no terminal
2. Write deny rules in .cursor/cli.json before using `--force`. It runs any command they don't match
3. Don't use `--approve-mcps` in repositories you didn't write. Two 2025 CLI advisories came through MCP
4. Set `CURSOR_API_KEY` in CI. `agent login` opens a browser
5. Record `agent --version` with each run. Versions are dates and there's no CLI changelog to compare against

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Amp or Cursor CLI?

Amp scores 57.1 (C) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in every scored category.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cursor-cli.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cursor-cli.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "amp", "b": "cursor-cli"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare amp cursor-cli`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amp.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cursor-cli.json

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- [Cursor CLI vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-gemini-cli.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-goose.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-opencode.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openhands.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-qwen-code.md)
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