How I Paid Cursor $40 and Ended Up With a Free Account

tuoxie — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 06:55:57 +0000

My confusing experience with Cursor Team billing, dashboard usage, and subscription status.

I have been a paying Cursor customer for a long time.

For months, I subscribed to the Individual plan for $20/month and was generally satisfied with the product. I even recommended Cursor to people around me because I believed it was one of the best AI coding tools available.

That is why I decided to upgrade to the Team plan.

Unfortunately, that decision turned into one of the most confusing subscription experiences I've ever had.

Step 1: Upgrade to Team

I created a Team and paid the initial $40 Team subscription fee.

I invited one colleague to join so we could collaborate.

Everything seemed normal.

We started coding.

Step 2: After One Day, The Dashboard Showed 18%

After only one day of use, I checked the dashboard.

It showed:

18% Used

I thought:

"That's a bit fast, but maybe Team usage works differently."

At that moment, I still believed I had most of my subscription remaining.

Step 3: Cursor Told Me My Actual Usage Cost Was $46

Later, Cursor support replied to my billing inquiry.

They told me:

The actual cost of the 86 requests made on June 11 was around $46.

This completely confused me.

The dashboard showed:

18% used.

But support explained:

The actual usage cost had already exceeded the subscription price.

As a customer, I genuinely don't understand:

What does the dashboard percentage actually represent?
If 18% can equal $46, how should users interpret the remaining 82%?
Is dashboard usage related to billing at all?

I still don't have a clear answer.

Step 4: I Canceled Team And My Account Became Free

After realizing Team was much more expensive than I expected, I decided to stop using it.

I removed my teammate.

Canceled the Team.

Then I logged in again.

What I saw was:

Free Plan
No Team settings
"Create a Team"

It looked as if I had never subscribed at all.

This was especially surprising because I had already paid the $40 Team subscription fee.

Step 5: The Contradictory Emails

The most confusing part was the emails I received afterward.

First, Cursor support told me:

Your Team subscription is set to end on July 11.

Naturally, I thought:

"Okay, at least I can continue using the Team until then."

But when I logged in:

My account was Free;
I had no Team access;
The dashboard asked me to "Create a Team."

So I asked for clarification.

Later, support replied:

If you want to keep your Team plan, you'll first need to pay the unpaid prorated charge of $39.99.

At this point, I honestly no longer understood:

Does my Team subscription exist?

Or does it not?

The Most Confusing Question

The question I still cannot answer is:

If:

I paid $40;
The dashboard showed 18%;
Support said my actual cost was already $46;
My account became Free;

Then:

What exactly does the dashboard mean?

And:

What exactly are customers paying for when they subscribe to Team?

Why I'm Sharing This

I am not writing this article to attack Cursor.

I was actually a happy customer and recommended the product to others.

I am sharing this experience because I believe billing transparency is important.

I have attached screenshots of:

My Team payment;
Dashboard usage;
The "Free" account page;
The support emails.

I hope other users who are considering upgrading to Team can better understand how the billing system works before making a decision.

And I sincerely hope Cursor can improve the clarity of its Team subscription and billing model in the future.

DEV Community: tuoxie

How I Paid Cursor $40 and Ended Up With a Free Account