Previous articleCursor AI: why new accounts do not save from limits

But you squeezed a free trial, the limits are over. You create a new Gmail, you go through a VPN, and the error is the same

**Too many free trial accounts used on this machine. Please upgrade to pro. We have this limit in place to prevent abuse.” **

## How Cursor's Limits Are Done Now (2026)

Cursor hasn’t counted “requests per month” as it did in 2024. After the price update in June 2025, everything switched to the credit system:

• Hobby (free) - highly limited Agent requests and Tab-complices.
• Pro ($20/month) - $20 credits for frontier models (Claude, GPT-4o, etc.), unlimited Tab + Auto mode without limit.
• Ultra/Business for heavy users and teams.

A free 14-day Pro Trial is given to all new accounts, but only once per car. After that, hello, mistake.

## Main culprit: Machine ID (CUID)

Cursor does not tie limits to an email or account. He's tying them to your unique computer print.

When first installed, the IDE generates:

• Machine ID
• Dev Device ID
• Storage Machine ID
• SQM ID

These values are stored in Cursor files (usually in ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor on macOS or C:\Users\Ты\AppData\Roaming\Cursor on Windows) and are counted based on:

• motherboard serial number,
• MAC addresses,
• other hardware-fingerprints,
• telemetry.

Therefore:

• new email
• incognito + VPN
• cleaning of cache and cookies
• even a complete reinstallation of Cursor

The system still understands, "This is the same guy who already ate the trial.".

Cursor: “We have this limit in place to prevent abuse.” And they're not kidding -- the detection is very tough.

## Real solutions

** Option 1. The most reliable is to pay for the Pro** $20 a month. Unlimited Tab + Auto. For most Vibcoders, this pays off in 2-3 days of time savings. Plus, students sometimes get full access for free via school email.

** Option 2. Machine ID reset (works but with risks) ** On GitHub, open source tools are still alive:

• go-cursor help / yuaotian/go-cursor-help
• yeongpin/cursor-free-vip (0.49.x+ support)
• old cursor-auto-free forks (some already archived)

What are they doing

1. They're closing Cursor.
2. Delete / modify files with ID.
3. Generate new prints.
4. Create a fresh account.

Many YouTube guides show that it still works. But:

Risks:

• Violation of ToS → possible permanent ban of the account.
• Cursor is constantly improving the detection.
• If you use the same IP + card, it is faster.

** Option 3. Virtual Machines/Separate Computer** The cleanest way. Run Cursor in VM (VirtualBox, Parallels, UTM) or on an old laptop. The new hardware fingerprint is a new trial. Minus: slow, uncomfortable.

** Option 4. Alternatives that don't piss off limits**

If you don't want to dance with the ID

• Claude.dev/Claude Projects – often cheaper and without such aggressive protection.
• VS Code + Continue.dev (open-source) - free + your models.
• Windsurf (ex-Codeium) - similar to Wibe, other limits.
• **Aider in the terminal - no IDE at all.
• Local models via Ollama + Cursor (but the quality is lower).

## My advice

If you’re just trying Cursor, take a 14-day trial and make the most of it

If you like it and the limits are over, pay $20. It's cheaper than spending evenings on dumps and fearing the ban.