Like many others I was very pro cursor a year or so ago, but unfortunately since then 3 significant things have severely impacted its appeal:
VS Code accepted the challenge and upped its game.
Claude Code changed the game.
Cursor's own heavy value decrease (always part of the strategy but poorly communicated and managed) hit Cursor users hard when the cheap premium tokens honeymoon ended in recent months.
Existing users are disappointed, potential new users no longer see it as the clear class leader, because it isn't.
VS Code accepted the challenge and upped its game.
Claude Code changed the game.
Cursor's own heavy value decrease (always part of the strategy but poorly communicated and managed) hit Cursor users hard when the cheap premium tokens honeymoon ended in recent months.
Existing users are disappointed, potential new users no longer see it as the clear class leader, because it isn't.