September 15, 2025: The Day the Industry Admitted AI Subscriptions Don't Work
8 hours ago
- #developer tools
- #AI pricing
- #subscription models
- Cursor and Kiro announced pricing changes on September 15, 2025, moving away from flat-fee models.
- Cursor's 'competitive' pricing is significantly more expensive than competitors like Grok Code Fast 1.
- Cursor's auto mode dynamically selects cheaper models, reducing user control over AI model selection.
- Cursor's Teams plan shifted from per-request pricing to variable token costs with a markup fee.
- Kiro introduced a convoluted pricing model based on 'spec' and 'vibe' requests, making cost prediction difficult.
- The article criticizes opaque pricing models and advocates for transparent, usage-based pricing.
- Kilo Code promotes honest AI coding with no hidden fees, offering credits to new users.