There's been a LOT of chatter recently about Cursor's GPT-5 Free Week, & frankly, a lot of it hasn't been positive. If you've been on Reddit or the Cursor community forums, you've probably seen threads with titles like "scammed" or posts from frustrated users. So, what's the deal? Is it a legitimate offer that's been poorly communicated, or something more deceptive? Let's break it down.

Here's the thing, the main source of frustration seems to stem from the definition of "free." When users hear "free week," they understandably assume they can use GPT-5 without any strings attached. However, that's not quite how it's been playing out.

A significant number of users have reported that while the GPT-5 usage during the promotional week is marked as a "bonus" & doesn't directly deduct from their paid credits, it is still being tracked & is subject to rate limits. This has led to a lot of confusion & feelings of being misled. One user on the Cursor community forum noted, "Even it says cost to you 0 dollars, but the bottom line is increasing and getting closer to the limit. I mean, do they keep what they claim and promise?"

This has been a major point of contention. Users who were excited to put GPT-5 through its paces for serious work, like heavy refactoring, found themselves hitting a rate limit mid-task & being prompted to upgrade. As you can imagine, this is incredibly frustrating & feels like a bait-and-switch. It's not the unlimited, "free" experience many were expecting.

The communication around the end of the free week has also been a source of confusion. Users have been unsure if it ends on a specific date or if it's a rolling seven-day period, leading to more uncertainty & frustration.

Adding fuel to the fire, many users have been less than impressed with the performance of GPT-5 within the Cursor environment. The complaints range from the model being slow & buggy to providing subpar code compared to other models like Claude 3.5.

On one forum, a user detailed their experience, saying, "I don't know if its Cursor or GPT-5, but my experience with GPT-5 so far has been very underwhelming. It makes weird choices, doesn't remember or follow instructions well, and the code it writes hasn't been great." Another user went as far as to say GPT-5 in Cursor is "next to useless compared to Claude," citing instances of the model ignoring rules, introducing bugs, & making "absurd decisions."

The speed of the model has also been a major pain point. One user lamented, "The worst part is that its so darn slow! It is absolutely painful to use! Sure I can ask GPT-5 do refactor something but it will faster if I just do it myself." When you're a developer trying to be more efficient, a slow AI assistant is counterproductive.

There's also been some debate on whether the version of GPT-5 being offered is the "real" deal. A Reddit thread suggested that the default GPT-5 model in Cursor might not be the highest-performing version, with a user claiming, "THIS ISNT THE REAL GPT 5. It is only true for the highest reasoning version of gpt-5 (gpt-5-thinking-high)." This has led to further speculation & disappointment among users who feel they aren't getting the true GPT-5 experience.

These issues with the GPT-5 Free Week have also brought up some broader concerns about Cursor's pricing & customer support. Some users have pointed to a lack of clear communication around pricing changes, with one Redditor sharing a story of being unexpectedly charged a large number of requests without any warning.

Customer support has also been a sore spot. A Hacker News thread revealed a situation where a user's complaint about a technical issue was met with what they perceived as an inadequate, AI-generated response. A Cursor co-founder did apologize & explain the situation, but the incident left a bad taste in the mouths of many, who felt that a company building AI tools should be more transparent about its own use of AI in customer-facing roles. The use of AI for customer support is becoming more common, & for businesses looking to implement similar solutions, it's a reminder of the importance of transparency.

For businesses that want to use AI to enhance their customer service without creating this kind of negative experience, a platform like Arsturn can be a great solution. Arsturn allows you to build no-code AI chatbots trained on your own data. This means you can create a chatbot that provides instant, accurate support to your website visitors 24/7, answering their questions & engaging with them in a way that feels helpful & personalized, not deceptive.

Calling the GPT-5 Free Week an outright "scam" might be a stretch for some, but it's undeniable that it has been a poorly executed promotion that has left a lot of users feeling frustrated & misled. The core of the problem seems to be a disconnect between user expectations & the reality of the offer.

The term "free" comes with certain connotations, & when those aren't met, it's natural for people to feel like they've been taken for a ride. The performance issues with GPT-5 in Cursor have only compounded the problem, making the "free" week feel like a disappointing trial of a product that isn't ready for primetime.

Ultimately, this situation serves as a valuable lesson for any company offering a "free" trial or promotion: clarity & transparency are EVERYTHING. If there are limitations, be upfront about them. If the product is still in a beta or experimental phase, set those expectations from the beginning.

For businesses looking to engage with customers on their website & generate leads, building trust is paramount. One way to do that is by providing a seamless & helpful user experience. Arsturn can help with this by enabling you to create a custom AI chatbot that provides instant answers & personalized interactions, boosting conversions & fostering positive customer relationships.

I hope this breakdown was helpful in shedding some light on the controversy surrounding Cursor's GPT-5 Free Week. Let me know what you think in the comments below.