I'm building a lightweight, local-first alternative to Cursor. Which pricing model do you hate the least?

ArcIDE — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 16:21:33 +0000

Hey everyone! 👋

I've been working on ArcIDE, an AI-powered IDE built from the ground up using Tauri + React. It’s designed to be extremely lightweight (no Electron bloat like VS Code/Cursor) and has native support for both cloud models (Claude, DeepSeek) and 100% local, offline execution via Ollama.

As a solo developer, I’m getting close to launch but I’m really struggling to decide on the fairest pricing model. I know developers absolutely despise "double billing" (paying for a software subscription AND your own API costs), but flat-rate subscriptions are also super risky for indie devs due to unpredictable LLM API costs.

I’m currently debating between 3 business models. I'd love to hear which one you would actually prefer:

Option 1: The "Cursor" Model (All-Inclusive Subscription)

~$15/month.
API costs are covered by me. You don't need your own API keys.
Totally hassle-free, but there would have to be some reasonable monthly usage caps so I don't go bankrupt.
Option 2: The "Bring Your Own Key" (One-Time Purchase)

~$39 ONE-TIME lifetime payment for the IDE.
No monthly subscriptions, ever.
You plug in your own API keys (Anthropic, DeepSeek, etc.) and pay them directly.
Local models (Ollama) are obviously 100% free forever.
Option 3: The "Pay-As-You-Go" (Token Model)

The IDE software itself is completely FREE.
Local Ollama usage is completely FREE.
If you want to use premium cloud models (Claude 3.5 Sonnet, etc.) without the hassle of setting up your own API keys, you just top-up "Credits" in the app (e.g., buy $10 worth of tokens) and it deducts as you code.
As developers, which model feels the most fair to you? Option 2 seems the most indie-friendly, but I'm worried it might turn off beginners. Would love your brutal feedback!

DEV Community: ArcIDE

I'm building a lightweight, local-first alternative to Cursor. Which pricing model do you hate the least?