I've been building three macOS/iOS apps as a solo dev, and I spent the last month rotating between Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and Claude Code as my primary AI coding tool. Here's an honest breakdown of which one actually helped me ship faster.
The Setup
I was working on a Swift-based menu bar app, a macOS focus tool, and an iOS nutrition tracker — all simultaneously. Each project had different needs: SwiftUI layouts, background processes, HealthKit integration, and App Store submission quirks.
I gave each tool roughly equal time and tracked how much I was spending on tokens across all three.
GitHub Copilot: The Autocomplete King
Best for: Boilerplate and repetitive patterns
Copilot is still the fastest at filling in obvious code. When I'm writing a ForEach loop for the tenth time or creating a standard CRUD function, it nails the completion before I finish the thought.
Where it fell short: Anything beyond single-line or single-function suggestions. When I needed to refactor a view model or restructure how my app handles background token counting, Copilot gave me fragments, not solutions. It doesn't understand project context well enough for architectural decisions.
Monthly cost: $19/mo (Individual plan)
Cursor: The IDE Replacement
Best for: Multi-file edits and codebase-aware refactoring
Cursor impressed me the most for complex changes. Its ability to reference multiple files and propose edits across your project is genuinely useful. When I needed to refactor my feed-blocking logic to work at the WebKit level instead of blocking entire apps, Cursor understood the full picture.
Where it fell short: It's an entire IDE, which means you're leaving Xcode behind. For Swift/SwiftUI development, that's painful. The Swift LSP support is functional but not at parity with Xcode. Also, the token costs on Pro add up quick when you're doing heavy agentic coding sessions.
Monthly cost: $20/mo (Pro) + overages
Claude Code: The Terminal Companion
Best for: Deep problem-solving and architecture decisions
Claude Code runs in the terminal, which sounds limiting until you realize it pairs perfectly with Xcode. I'd keep Xcode open for building and previewing, then hop to the terminal when I needed Claude to reason through a problem. It excels at the "I have no idea how to implement this" moments — like figuring out how to intercept specific social media feed URLs without blocking the entire app.
Where it fell short: It's the most expensive by token usage. The Opus model burns through tokens fast on complex tasks. And since it's terminal-based, there's no inline code suggestion — you have to explicitly ask for help.
Monthly cost: $20/mo (Max plan) — but I regularly hit limits
The Actual Verdict
Here's what I landed on: I use all three, but for different things.
- Copilot stays on for passive autocomplete in Xcode
- Cursor comes out for big refactors and multi-file changes
- Claude Code handles architecture, debugging, and "think hard about this" tasks
The real insight wasn't which tool is "best" — it's that tracking your actual token spend matters. I was burning through $100+/month across these tools without realizing it until I started monitoring usage closely. I ended up building TokenBar partly for this reason — a simple menu bar counter that tracks LLM token usage in real time. Knowing exactly what each coding session costs changed how I allocate my AI budget.
Tips If You're Choosing
- Don't switch IDEs unless you have to. If you're in Xcode or a JetBrains IDE, Cursor's VSCode base might slow you down more than the AI speeds you up.
- Track your spend. The "$20/month" headline price is misleading when every tool has usage-based overages.
- Mix tools based on task type. Autocomplete, refactoring, and deep reasoning are three different jobs. No single tool does all three well.
- Test with YOUR stack. AI tool quality varies wildly by language. Swift support is weaker than TypeScript across the board.
The AI coding tool market is moving fast, and what's true today might change next month. But for now, the "use all three strategically" approach has been the biggest productivity win in my solo dev workflow.
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