Cortex vs Cursor vs Devin vs Zoo/Roo
Honest positioning (August 2026): Cortex is a Cursor-class edit surface on the OpenCode runtime — your editor, your subscription, your code on your machine. No fork, no Cortex account, no token markup, no Docker.
| Cortex | Cursor | Devin Desktop | Zoo / Roo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Editor | Your VS Code / compatible fork | Own editor (VS Code fork) | Cognition desktop / command center | VS Code extension (Roo/Cline fork) |
| Runtime | OpenCode local serve (thin layer) | Cursor agents (local + cloud) | Multi-agent via ACP (Devin/Codex/Claude/OpenCode) | In-process agent (~70 deps) |
| AI billing | Your OpenCode plan / BYOK — no Cortex markup | Cursor subscription ($20–200/mo) | Cognition subscription ($20–200/mo) | Zoo Gateway with token markup |
| Account | OpenCode only (no Cortex signup) | Cursor account required | Cognition account required | Zoo account / gateway |
| Code stays | On your machine | Local + optional cloud agents | Local desktop + cloud agents available | Local + gateway path |
| Fork / Docker | No fork · no Docker required | Full editor fork | Product desktop (not a VS Code fork) | Fork of Roo/Cline · often Docker-heavy |
| Rules / skills | .cursor + .cortex rules & skills | .cursor/rules & skills | Product-specific policies | Roo/Cline rules / modes |
| UI languages | 7 (en, es, pt, fr, de, ja, zh) | Product UI locales | Product UI locales | ~18 locales |
| Embeddings | Local hash or MiniLM (optional) | Proprietary index | Product context stack | Qdrant + API embeddings |
Figures change; verify current pricing on each product’s site. Cortex never sells AI tokens — you pay OpenCode (or BYOK) directly.