Amp Code vs Claude Code vs Cursor: Which AI Coding Agent in 2026?

Amp Code vs Claude Code vs Cursor: Which AI Coding Agent in 2026?

Quick Answer: Claude Code is the market leader for terminal-based agentic coding with the deepest skills ecosystem. Cursor is the strongest AI-first IDE with the best in-editor experience. Amp Code (by Sourcegraph) is the newest serious contender, built for large mono-repos with the best code intelligence. Most developers end up using two of the three depending on the task.

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The AI coding agent market consolidated fast in 2026. Three tools now dominate developer workflows: Claude Code, Cursor, and Amp Code. Each takes a fundamentally different architectural approach, which means the "best" one depends on how you work, not on benchmarks.

The 30-second version

Claude Code is a terminal-first agent. It runs in your shell, reads your codebase, executes commands, and makes multi-file changes. It has the largest skills ecosystem (300+ on Agensi alone), the deepest MCP integration, and runs as a VS Code extension, GitHub Action, and web agent. Best for developers who think in terms of commands and workflows.

Cursor is an AI-first IDE. It rebuilt the editor around AI from scratch. Composer mode lets you give natural language instructions to refactor entire files. Background agents run tasks on isolated VMs. Best for developers who want AI tightly integrated into their visual workflow.

Amp Code is Sourcegraph's entry, built on their code intelligence platform. It understands repository-level context better than either competitor, which matters in large codebases. Its multi-agent orchestration lets specialized agents work in parallel. Best for teams working on large mono-repos with complex cross-service dependencies.

Skills to install right now

code-reviewer

Free

Run a structured code review on your recent changes without waiting for a teammate. This skill checks for security vulnerabilities (SQL injection, XSS, authentication bypasses), logic errors, edge cases, performance issues, and style violations.Findings are organized by severity: Critical, Warning, and Suggestion. Each finding includes the file, line number, a description of the issue, and a concrete fix. Use it as a first pass before peer review, or as your only reviewer on solo projects.

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git-commit-writer

Free

Stop writing vague commit messages. This skill reads your actual staged diff and generates precise, informative commit messages following the Conventional Commits specification. It detects the commit type (feat, fix, refactor, docs, chore, etc.), identifies the scope from the changed files, flags breaking changes, and suggests splitting commits when multiple logical changes are staged. Works with any git repository.`

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readme-generator

Free

Point this skill at any project and it generates a real README from your actual codebase. It scans package.json, pyproject.toml, Cargo.toml, or equivalent to detect your language, framework, and dependencies. It reads your .env.example for setup instructions, checks for Dockerfiles and CI config, and produces a README with only the sections that apply to your project. No placeholder text, no generic filler. Every line is derived from what it actually finds in your repo.

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Feature comparison

Code intelligence and context

This is where the three diverge most:

Claude Code relies on file reads, terminal commands, and search to understand your codebase. It's effective but sequential. When it needs to understand how a function is used across services, it searches file by file.

Cursor indexes your workspace and uses its own embedding layer for context retrieval. It's faster than Claude Code for in-project references but doesn't extend well across repositories.

Amp Code has the strongest code intelligence because it's built on Sourcegraph's code graph. Cross-repository references, dependency chains, and usage patterns are pre-indexed. In the JWT validation test, Amp was the only tool that traced an inconsistency across services. For teams with large or multi-repo codebases, this matters significantly.

Skills and customization

All three support SKILL.md, but the depth varies:

Claude Code has the most mature skills ecosystem. 300+ curated skills on Agensi, built-in plugin marketplace, hooks for event-driven automation, and the deepest frontmatter support (context: fork, allowed-tools, effort, model). If you invest heavily in skills, Claude Code is where the investment pays off most.

Cursor supports SKILL.md in project directories (.cursor/skills/) but has no global skills and fewer supported frontmatter fields. The .cursorrules file handles always-on project context well. Cursor's strength is its native UX, not its extensibility.

Amp Code supports SKILL.md and AGENTS.md. Its Intent feature uses a Coordinator agent that breaks tasks into living specs and delegates to specialist agents, which is a different model from Claude Code's single-agent-with-skills approach. If multi-agent orchestration is your priority, Amp's architecture is more purpose-built for it.

Pricing and access

Pricing has become a real differentiator in 2026:

Claude Code on Anthropic's Max plan costs $100/mo (5x usage) or $200/mo (20x usage). This is the cleanest pricing: you pay the model maker directly with documented caps. No middleman.

Cursor Pro is $20/mo with 500 fast requests. Good for lighter usage. Heavy users hit limits and need to pay more or wait for slow requests.

Amp Code is free with an ad-supported model. For teams that want to avoid per-seat costs, this is compelling. The tradeoff is ads and potentially less control over model routing.

Which to choose

Choose Claude Code if you work primarily in the terminal, want the deepest skills ecosystem, need CI/CD integration (GitHub Actions), or are building automated workflows with scheduled tasks. Best single-agent for solo developers and small teams.

Choose Cursor if you want the best in-editor AI experience and spend most of your time in a visual IDE. Best for frontend developers, designers-who-code, and anyone who prefers IDE-based workflows over terminal.

Choose Amp Code if you work on large mono-repos with complex cross-service dependencies where code intelligence is the bottleneck. Best for teams at companies with 50+ services and shared libraries.

Use two of them if you work across different contexts. Many developers use Claude Code for terminal-heavy automation and Cursor for visual editing. The skill files are portable between them.

Installing skills across all three

The same SKILL.md file works in all three agents. Install once, copy to each:

# Claude Code
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && curl -sL https://www.agensi.io/api/install/code-reviewer | tar xz -C ~/.claude/skills/

# Cursor
mkdir -p .cursor/skills && curl -sL https://www.agensi.io/api/install/code-reviewer | tar xz -C .cursor/skills/

# Amp Code
mkdir -p ~/.amp/skills && curl -sL https://www.agensi.io/api/install/code-reviewer | tar xz -C ~/.amp/skills/

Or symlink for a single source of truth:

ln -s ~/.claude/skills ~/.amp/skills
ln -s ~/.claude/skills .cursor/skills

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Browse 300+ skills compatible with Claude Code, Cursor, Amp, and 20+ agents at agensi.io/skills. For the full config file comparison, read AGENTS.md vs SKILL.md vs CLAUDE.md vs .cursorrules.