1 min lesson
How Cursor is priced: list vs negotiated
Consider this situation. "A buyer says: 'Teams is $30 a seat, so 1,500 seats is what we should expect to pay for Enterprise.' Which response is right?" Start with the decision, then the evidence.
Step 1 of 2
The two worlds: self-serve list and enterprise negotiated
Cursor has a published, self-serve tier and a negotiated enterprise motion. The published number is a starting point, not the deal. Treat list price like the sticker price on a car: it anchors the conversation, but an enterprise deal is negotiated from it, not read off it.
Never let a buyer multiply list × headcount and call that 'the price.' That math ignores enterprise features, pooled usage and negotiated terms. Any discount, and the seat count where it starts, is the AE's to set, so you name no threshold. If you let that number stand unchallenged, the buyer anchors on a figure nobody has negotiated.
Enterprise isn't 'list plus a markup.' It adds the admin plane buyers need at scale: SSOSingle Sign-On. One company login (usually via SAML or OIDC) instead of a separate password per tool. Press Enter for the full definition./SCIMSystem for Cross-domain Identity Management. A standard for automatically creating and removing user accounts when people join or leave. Press Enter for the full definition./RBACRole-Based Access Control. Granting permissions by role rather than configuring each person individually. Press Enter for the full definition., audit logs, and allowlists for models, MCPModel Context Protocol. A standard that lets an AI agent pull in context from outside the repo, like Jira tickets or internal docs. Press Enter for the full definition. servers and repos. The price reflects that governance surface and whatever the AE negotiates, rather than seat count alone.
Self-serve seats at $30, $100 or $200 a month
Mix seat tiers on one team
Centralized billing, usage analytics, team-wide privacy settings
Right for pilots and small teams
Negotiated contract, custom price
Pooled usage, invoice/PO billing
Org admin plane: SCIMSystem for Cross-domain Identity Management. A standard for automatically creating and removing user accounts when people join or leave. Press Enter for the full definition., RBACRole-Based Access Control. Granting permissions by role rather than configuring each person individually. Press Enter for the full definition., SSOSingle Sign-On. One company login (usually via SAML or OIDC) instead of a separate password per tool. Press Enter for the full definition.
Allowlists, audit logs, AI-code tracking