# Cursor CLI vs Qwen Code (slim)

> Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) 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.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-qwen-code.md (~2,300 tokens) · this version ~680 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-qwen-code.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-qwen-code
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-08

Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harness.

- Cursor CLI: F 35.3, rank #617 of 629 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-cli.min.md
- Qwen Code: BB 72.4, rank #88 of 629 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwen-code.min.md
- Cursor CLI, 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.
- Qwen Code, good for Developers and CI jobs that want an open-source harness tied to no single model vendor, with run budgets and SDKs. Ahead on Reliability, 69 against 27; Schema & documentation, 91 against 39; Agent ergonomics, 85 against 42; Security & auth, 53 against 46; Payments & pricing, 60 against 25; Maintenance & community, 88 against 62. Also Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better; Open source; No incidents deducted, where Cursor CLI loses 5 points for them.

| Category | Cursor CLI | Qwen Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 27 | 69 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 39 | 91 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 42 | 85 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 46 | 53 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 25 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 62 | 88 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 59 | 63 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Cursor CLI | Qwen Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Cursor | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| Licence | Proprietary, under Cursor's terms of service (Anysphere, Inc., updated 3 September 2026). No source is published | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-03 | 2026-10-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-29 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 28k stars, 105k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 1.5/5 (2) | none |