I Tried Warp and Cursor, Then Went Back to the Plain Mac Terminal

I write software all day, so when the AI-powered terminals and editors started taking over my feed, I actually paid for them and lived in them for a while. I ran Warp as my daily terminal and I subscribed to Cursor as my editor. Both are genuinely clever pieces of software. And yet I ended up back on the plain macOS Terminal that ships free with every Mac. Here’s the honest, first-hand story of why — and what I think it says about chasing AI tooling.

This is one developer’s experience, not a verdict. Plenty of people are happy with both tools. But if you’ve felt the same friction, you’re not imagining it.

Why I tried Warp

Warp is a modern, Rust-based terminal with a slick interface, command “blocks” you can scroll through like chat messages, and built-in AI that can suggest commands and explain errors. On paper it’s everything a classic terminal isn’t: pretty, discoverable and AI-native. I wanted to like it, and for the first week I did.

What pushed me off Warp

The shine wore off fast, and for boring, practical reasons:

It was heavy. A terminal is supposed to be the lightest thing on your desk. Warp wasn’t. This isn’t just my impression — there are long-running GitHub issues about Warp’s memory use (people reporting it sitting at gigabytes of RAM) and about it draining MacBook batteries, including forcing the power-hungry discrete GPU on dual-GPU Macs even when idle. On a laptop, that matters every single day.
The account requirement. Warp historically required you to sign in just to use a terminal, and while that’s been relaxed, full functionality — AI, settings sync — still leans on an account and a live connection. I don’t want my shell to need a login.
AI I didn’t ask for. The AI features are the whole pitch, but I rarely wanted them mid-task, and having them front-and-center felt like noise rather than help.
Fiddly to make mine. Getting the fonts and styling exactly how I like took more poking through settings than it should have. Warp is customizable, but the path there wasn’t friction-free.

None of these is a dealbreaker alone. Together, they made me realize I was paying a daily tax — in battery, memory and attention — for features I wasn’t really using.

Then I paid for Cursor — a lesson in annual billing

Everyone was talking about Cursor, the AI-first code editor built on VS Code, so I signed up for Pro to give it a fair trial. Two things went wrong.

First, I accidentally bought the annual plan instead of paying month to month — an easy slip at checkout, and an expensive one, since Cursor Pro runs around $192 for the year. Second, once I was in, it didn’t fit my workflow. In mid-2025 Cursor had moved to usage-based billing, where your subscription buys a pool of dollar-denominated model credits that different models burn through at different rates, and in my experience the meter drained fast. I wasn’t alone — the pricing change drew enough confusion that Cursor publicly apologized and promised to refund unexpected charges.

So I asked for a refund on the annual plan I’d bought by mistake. It was declined. The reply — from Cursor’s AI support assistant — said my request didn’t meet their refund eligibility requirements, and pointed me to cancel before the next cycle instead. In fairness, refusing a refund on an accidental purchase isn’t unusual for software subscriptions, and a year-long plan I clicked by mistake is partly on me. But it’s a sharp reminder: with annual SaaS plans, one misclick can cost you a year up front — check the billing toggle and the refund policy before you commit. I cancelled the renewal, uninstalled it, and moved on.

Back to the plain Terminal

So I did the unfashionable thing: I went back to the macOS Terminal. The one that’s already on the machine, costs nothing, and asks nothing of me.

What I got back was the stuff I’d quietly missed:

It’s light. It opens instantly and doesn’t sit on my battery or RAM.
It’s mine, offline. No login, no sync, no connection required to run a command.
No AI in the way. When I want AI, I open it deliberately in a separate window — it isn’t woven into the one tool I use most.

Is it as flashy? No. There’s no command palette of AI suggestions, no pretty blocks. For the rare moments I want a command explained, I ask an assistant like Claude or ChatGPT in a browser tab and paste it over. That small bit of friction is a price I’m happy to pay for a terminal that’s fast, private and out of my way.

Who these tools are actually for

I want to be fair, because my experience isn’t universal:

Warp makes real sense if you love a discoverable, AI-forward terminal and you’re on a desktop or plugged in, where battery isn’t a concern. The block-based UI genuinely helps people newer to the command line.
Cursor still has a big, happy following — it ranks well for power users in my AI coding assistants guide. If you lean hard on agentic, multi-file edits and the credit model fits your budget, it can be worth it. Just go in clear-eyed about how usage-based billing adds up.

My takeaway isn’t “AI tools are bad.” It’s that the most hyped option isn’t automatically the right one for your setup. The best tool is the one that disappears into your workflow — and for me, after the detours, that turned out to be the plainest one on the menu. If you want to understand the models behind all these tools first, start with what an LLM is.

FAQ

Is Warp worth it?

It depends on your machine and taste. If you want an AI-forward, modern terminal and you’re not worried about battery, many developers love it. But it’s heavier on memory and battery than a classic terminal — well-documented in its own GitHub issues — and full features lean on an account, which pushed me back to the plain Terminal.

Why does Warp use so much battery on a MacBook?

Warp is a GPU-accelerated app, and on dual-GPU MacBooks it has been reported to force the high-power discrete GPU, which drains the battery even when idle. Combined with high memory use, that makes it noticeably heavier than a standard terminal on a laptop.

Is Cursor Pro worth the $20?

For some, yes. But since Cursor switched to usage-based billing, the model credits can deplete quickly depending on which models you use, and several users (myself included) found the meter ran out faster than expected. Try it with clear awareness of how the credits work before committing.

Can you get a refund from Cursor?

Not always. Cursor reviews refunds case by case, and in my experience a refund on an annual plan I’d bought by mistake was declined as not meeting their eligibility requirements — the reply came from their AI support assistant. If you only want to test it, start monthly and double-check the billing toggle, because an accidental annual purchase can lock you in for a year.

What terminal should I use instead?

Honestly, the macOS Terminal that comes with your Mac is fast, free and private, and it’s enough for most workflows. If you want more power without the AI overhead, iTerm2 is a popular classic alternative. Reach for an AI terminal only if its specific features solve a problem you actually have.

This is a personal, first-hand account from one developer’s workflow. Tools, pricing and performance change over time; check each product’s current details before deciding.