📖 The AI Tool Bible

Cursor vs pgMagic

A side-by-side look at pricing, capabilities, pros, cons, and our editorial scores.

 
Cursor
Coding
pgMagic
Coding
TaglineAI-first VS Code fork — chat, edit, and agentic coding in one IDE.Mac desktop client that lets you chat with your Postgres database in natural language using your own OpenAI key.
CategoryCodingCoding
PricingFreemium· Free hobby; Pro $20/mo; Business $40/moPaid· AU$22 one-time license; bring your own OpenAI API key
ModelClaude / GPT (configurable)OpenAI (user-supplied API key)
Editorial score9.5 / 10—
Use cases
codingrefactorsagentic editsIDE
natural-language-to-sqlpostgres-clientschema-explorationsql-autocompletead-hoc-querying
Pros
  • Best-in-class multi-file edits
  • Choice of underlying models
  • Composer agent is genuinely useful
  • Tab completion is faster than Copilot
  • One-time AU$22 license instead of a subscription
  • BYO OpenAI key means no per-query markup from the vendor
  • Native Mac client with schema-aware SQL autocomplete and highlighting
  • Runs locally; only the LLM call leaves your machine
Cons
  • Heavier than vanilla VS Code
  • Pricing creeping up
  • Some extensions lag VS Code
  • macOS only at the moment, no Windows or Linux build
  • Postgres only, no MySQL/SQLite/other engines
  • Requires you to manage and pay for an OpenAI API key separately
  • Closed source, single-developer project with limited support footprint
Websitecursor.compgmagic.app
Pick Cursor if
  • ✅ Best-in-class multi-file edits
  • ✅ Choice of underlying models
  • ✅ Composer agent is genuinely useful
  • ✅ Tab completion is faster than Copilot
Pick pgMagic if
  • ✅ One-time AU$22 license instead of a subscription
  • ✅ BYO OpenAI key means no per-query markup from the vendor
  • ✅ Native Mac client with schema-aware SQL autocomplete and highlighting
  • ✅ Runs locally; only the LLM call leaves your machine
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