How to Use Cursor with an Affordable AI API

Cursor + Cheap AI API = Best Developer Experience

Cursor is one of the most popular AI-powered IDEs. It supports custom API endpoints, which means you can route requests through a cheaper provider.

Why Use a Custom API?

Option	Cost	Limitation
Cursor Pro	$20/month	Rate limited
Cursor + Official API	$3-5/M tokens	Expensive at scale
Cursor + APIVAI	Less than half the official rate	No limits, over 50% cheaper

Setup in 2 Minutes

Step 1: Get Your API Key

Sign up at apivai.com
Top up your balance ($10 minimum)
Copy your API key from the dashboard

Step 2: Configure Cursor

Open Cursor Settings (Cmd+, or Ctrl+,)
Go to Models section
Set Override OpenAI Base URL to:

https://api.apivai.com/v1

Set your API Key to your APIVAI key

Step 3: Select Your Model

Choose from:

claude-sonnet-4-6 — Best balance (recommended)
claude-opus-4-7 — Most powerful
claude-haiku-4-5 — Fastest, cheapest
gpt-5.5 — OpenAI alternative

Cost Savings Example

With your own API key you pay per request instead of a fixed subscription, and there is no monthly request cap. What you spend depends on the model you pick and how long your prompts are; the pricing page lists the per-token price of every model.

Each API key allows 60 requests per minute by default, which is plenty for Cursor and Claude Code.

Also Works With

VS Code + Continue extension
Neovim + avante.nvim
JetBrains + AI Assistant
Any tool that supports OpenAI-compatible APIs