# Claude Agent SDK vs Cursor Agent SDK (slim)

> Claude Agent SDK scores 70.1 (BB) to Cursor Agent SDK's 63.6 (B) for agent frameworks. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-cursor-agent-sdk.md (~2,550 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-cursor-agent-sdk.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-cursor-agent-sdk
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-10-27
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Claude Agent SDK scores 70.1 (BB) on agent readiness against Cursor Agent SDK's 63.6 (B), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent frameworks.

- Claude Agent SDK: BB 70.1, rank #177 of 1217 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/claude-agent-sdk.min.md
- Cursor Agent SDK: B 63.6, rank #443 of 1217 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-agent-sdk.min.md
- Claude Agent SDK, good for Agents that work on files, code and shells and want Claude Code's tool set and permission model without building them. Ahead on Reliability, 70 against 45; Schema & documentation, 89 against 82; Agent ergonomics, 94 against 80; Security & auth, 83 against 68; Payments & pricing, 40 against 30; Maintenance & community, 87 against 74; Transparency & trust, 83 against 70. Also Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better.
- Cursor Agent SDK, good for Teams already on Cursor who want version-controlled agents for pull request review, triage and Slack, with evals in CI and one-command hosting. Also No incidents deducted, where Claude Agent SDK loses 8 points for them.

| Category | Claude Agent SDK | Cursor Agent SDK |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 70 | 45 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 89 | 82 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 94 | 80 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 83 | 68 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 40 | 30 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 87 | 74 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 83 | 70 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Claude Agent SDK | Cursor Agent SDK |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Anthropic | Cursor |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Your plan |
| Licence | MIT (Python wrapper), proprietary (TypeScript package and the bundled Claude Code binary) | Proprietary. The package's LICENSE.md reads "© Anysphere Inc. All rights reserved", with use subject to Cursor's Terms of Service (updated 3 September 2026). No source repository is published |
| Last release | 2026-10-16 | 2026-10-25 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-09-03 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-09-29 |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 8.2k stars, 10.1M npm/wk, 6.1M PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (4) | none |