Cursor’s cloud agents, formerly called background agents, run in isolated virtual machines in Cursor’s cloud and hand back merge-ready pull requests. They need a Premium plan or higher. If you want to run your coding agents on your own computer instead, with a task board and no account, Friday is a free, MIT-licensed desktop app, and it can run Cursor’s own agent too. Facts about Cursor are from its own docs, pricing page and changelog, checked 4 November 2026.
Why would you look for an alternative to Cursor’s cloud agents?
Your work shouldn’t own your day, and agents that keep working on a cloud machine while you do something else are a real way to get that. Cursor’s docs describe each agent in its own VM with your repository, dependencies and secrets, working on a separate branch and producing merge-ready pull requests with artifacts such as screenshots and video. You can start one from the Cursor app, Slack, GitHub or Bitbucket comments, Linear, iOS or the API.
People look for an alternative for practical reasons. Cloud agents are on Cursor’s Premium plan ($30 a month) and above, not on Free or Plus, and their usage is billed at the model’s rate on your plan. Your repository also has to be connected to Cursor first, with read-write access. Others want their agents on their own computer, and from more than one maker.
How does Friday compare with Cursor’s cloud agents?
| Friday | Cursor cloud agents (from Cursor’s own pages) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A free desktop app that runs your coding agents side by side on your own computer | Cursor’s agents running in isolated cloud VMs, started from the app, Slack, GitHub, Linear, iOS or the API |
| Where agents run | On your own computer, under your own accounts; they stop if it sleeps | In Cursor’s cloud, in a VM for each agent; its changelog also describes self-hosted machines |
| Which agents | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and 13 more by name, plus any ACP agent | Cursor’s agent, with models from several labs; third-party models are billed at API prices |
| Parallel work | Each agent can work in its own git worktree, on a task board | Its docs say you can run as many agents in parallel as you want |
| What comes back | Each run’s changes, reviewed line by line with notes sent back to the agent, and git built in | Merge-ready pull requests with artifacts such as screenshots and videos |
| Agents working together | Agents message each other, and when one hits its usage limit the task moves to another with a record of what the first did and changed | Its August 2026 changelog describes subagents on their own VMs; we found no cross-maker messaging in what we read |
| Cost | Free, MIT, no account; you use your own coding tools’ plans | Premium at $30 a month or higher, and Teams; not on Free or Plus; usage at the model’s rate, with a spend limit you set |
Last checked: 4 November 2026
Check Cursor’s cloud agent docs, its pricing page and changelog for what has changed since 4 November 2026. We did not read its GitHub integration or security pages, so we say nothing about what access the connection grants.
Where are Cursor’s cloud agents stronger?
They keep running on Cursor’s machines, not yours, so your laptop can be closed. They come with a full development environment per agent, can be started from Slack, GitHub or Linear without opening an app, and hand back pull requests with screenshots or video. Teammates on your team who also have access to the repository can watch a run, read-only. If you already pay for Cursor Premium, that is a lot of capability for no extra tool.
When is Friday the better pick?
If you want your agents and code on your own computer, a free app with no account, many coding tools side by side instead of one, and agents that work as a team on a task board. Friday’s agents run on your computer, so they stop if it sleeps.
Friday also runs Cursor’s own agent next to Claude Code and Codex. See how to use Claude Code, Codex and Cursor together, and how to run multiple coding agents at once.
What is Friday?
Friday is a free, open-source (MIT) harness for coding agents that work as a team. It runs on your own computer with no account: the desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, or one command with Node.js 22 and Git.
- Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and 13 more coding tools (16 by name, plus any ACP agent) run side by side on their own plans and sign-ins.
- One agent splits a job into a task board, the others pick up tasks, and every finished task is checked before it counts as done.
- Agents message each other as they work, and each can work in its own copy of the repository.
- When a tool runs out of usage mid-task, the task moves to the agent best placed to finish it.
- Review each run’s changes line by line, with git built in.
- No account; anonymous usage counts you can turn off; it listens on 127.0.0.1 only.
Install it with npx github:splashxmoon/friday or from GitHub; see the docs. Friday Team, the hosted version for several people in one session, is available to companies: talk to us.