Compare AI tools

	Cursor S	Claude Code S	Adobe Firefly A	Perplexity S
Tagline	VS Code fork that made AI coding actually work.	Anthropic's CLI agent. Opus-powered, operates on your repo directly.	Commercially safe image gen, deeply integrated with Photoshop.	AI search done right. Cited answers, not chat theater.
Category	coding	coding	image	research
Pricing	Free + $20/mo Pro + $40/mo Business	Part of Claude Pro/Max/Team plans	Free + included with Creative Cloud	Free + $20/mo Pro
Best for	Developers. Non-developers who want to ship working code.	Developers who want an agent, not autocomplete. Large refactors, tests, docs.	Anyone in Creative Cloud. Brands that need copyright clarity.	Replacing Google for any question where you want a cited answer in seconds.
Strengths	Tab completion feels like mind-reading Composer for multi-file edits Runs Claude, GPT, Gemini — you pick	Runs locally, edits your actual files Strong on large codebases with 1M context Great at multi-step tasks	Trained on licensed content — commercially safe Generative Fill in Photoshop is incredible Native to Adobe ecosystem	Sources every claim Fast, current answers Pro Search runs multi-step research Spaces for persistent context
Weaknesses	Can feel overwhelming for non-coders Expensive at scale	Terminal-based — learning curve Can't be used without Claude subscription	Aesthetic ceiling below Midjourney Tied to Adobe subscription	Not a general chatbot Answers can be shallow on complex topics
Kai's verdict	S-tier for coding. If you write code of any kind, this pays back the $20 in a day.	S-tier if you live in the terminal. Different shape than Cursor — complementary, not replacement.	S-tier inside Photoshop (Generative Fill). B-tier standalone.	S-tier for search. I use it before Google now. If you're still Googling everything, try this for a week.
Link	Open →	Open →	Open →	Open →