# cubic

Aiolum story: https://aiolum.com/story/cubic/ · added 2026-11-12 · updated 2026-11-12

**In short.** cubic (AI code review platform for pull requests on GitHub, United Kingdom): Paid team plans with named customers, November 2026. Evidence grade E: no revenue figure was checked. Team: 2 founders at launch in April 2025; 6 people on the Y Combinator profile read in November 2026. Launched 15 April 2025; still running.

AI code review platform for pull requests on GitHub · United Kingdom · AI-native · team of 2 to 10 · still running · group: Developer tools and coding agents

- Outcome: Paid team plans with named customers, November 2026 (evidence grade of the headline number: E; no revenue figure)
- Launch: 15 April 2025; months from launch to the outcome: 19
- Team: 2 founders at launch in April 2025; 6 people on the Y Combinator profile read in November 2026
- Outside funding: Y Combinator Spring 2025; amount not found
- Main factor: Own problem
- Meters, 1 to 4: evidence strength 1, copyable pattern 2, capital needed 2
- Tags: AI-native, Small team, Funded, Running, B2B, Developer tools

Links:

- Visit cubic.dev: https://www.cubic.dev/

**The product.** A service that reads every pull request on GitHub and leaves comments on the changed lines. It checks the change against the whole codebase and the team's own rules. Developers then review the change in a web or desktop app that orders the files by logic, not by name.

**Why it worked.** The two founders built it for a problem they had at their last startup: code review had become their biggest bottleneck. They launched on Hacker News in April 2025, when it was free, and said they would charge per seat later. The company's pricing page now lists paid plans per developer.

Evidence grades: A = disclosed by a public company, a filing or a payment processor, or verified by one; B = two or more independent reports agree, or a journalist confirmed it; C = a founder claim that no one else verified; D = reported, not verified: one founder claim or a third-party estimate with no second source; E = no revenue figure found, so the headline is a non-money fact and the other facts carry their own grades; calc = computed on this page from graded facts.

## Summary

cubic is an AI code review platform. Code review is the step in which a developer reads a colleague's change before it is merged into the shared code. A pull request is the GitHub name for such a proposed change. cubic runs an AI reviewer on each one. It posts comments on the lines it flags.

The product was called mrge until 2025. On 15 April 2025 the founders wrote a Launch HN post on Hacker News under the title "mrge.io (YC P25)". They signed it "Allis and Paul" and said early users included Better Auth, Cal.com and n8n. Y Combinator names Paul Sanglé-Ferrière as the founder and chief executive, and lists the company as founded in 2025.

No revenue figure was found, so this story has grade E. The company's pricing page lists Team, Pro and Max plans per developer, and its terms describe fees. No source states what any customer pays or how many customers pay.

## Why did cubic work?

### The founders built it for a bottleneck they had themselves

The launch post says the founders worked together at their last startup, where code review became their biggest bottleneck. They write that AI coding tools produced more pull requests to review. The product answers that pressure with an AI reviewer and an app that orders changes by logic.

### It launched in public and named known open source users

The Launch HN post named Better Auth, Cal.com and n8n as early users and drew 108 comments. One commenter wrote that they used it for an open source project. Another tested it on a pull request and called most of the 11 flagged issues wrong.

### It moved from free use to three paid plans per developer

In April 2025 the founders wrote that mrge was free for now. By November 2026 the company's pricing page lists Team, Pro and Max plans, each priced per developer. Public repositories stay free, which keeps open source teams as users.

## How it was built

These details come from the launch post, the company's own pages and its terms. They are grade C.

- The launch post says each review runs in a temporary sandbox with shell access and a Language Server Protocol server. The sandbox is deleted after the review.
- The company's terms say it may use third-party AI providers, and name OpenAI and Anthropic as examples.
- The product connects through a GitHub app. The launch post says GitLab support was on the roadmap in April 2025.
- A desktop app and a web app show the reviews. The launch post gives keyboard shortcuts and a Linear-style design as reasons for the desktop app.
- The company's site is built with Framer, as the page source of the home page shows.

Sources: [10, 3, 1]

## Who tried this before cubic, and why did they fail?

Three companies in our database of failed startups sold code-review or code-understanding tools to developers. The values below are from that database and are not independently verified.

The failed startups come from our database of dead startups, retold here in our own words; Its entries are AI-assisted summaries of public sources, so they carry no evidence grade.

### Sider (2012 to 2024; funding US$7.0M burned; cause: Free and enterprise rivals)

- Promise: Automated code review and static analysis for software teams, as part of continuous integration.
- Why it died: The record says the market split between free open-source tools and large enterprise platforms, which left little room for a standalone tool.
- Record: 

### CodeSee (2020 to 2024; funding US$10.0M burned; cause: Value not proven)

- Promise: Automatic visual maps of code, so developers can understand large codebases faster.
- Why it died: The record says it failed to prove a return to engineering leaders in a category full of free alternatives.
- Record: 

### Kite (2014 to 2024; funding US$21.0M burned; cause: Too early, weak pricing)

- Promise: An AI code completion engine in the editor that suggested code for developers.
- Why it died: The record calls it too early for a market that later grew, with missteps in how it earned money.
- Record: 

## What changed

All three records sold a tool next to the daily work of developers, and each met free or larger rivals. Sider faced open-source checkers, CodeSee faced free alternatives and Kite faced the big coding assistants. Each record points to trouble in turning use into paid contracts.

cubic sells to the same buyers. Its pricing page lists three paid plans, but no source here says how many teams pay. The Launch HN thread also shows a commenter from a free-software project who wrote that paying was highly unlikely.

## Can one person copy cubic now?

**Verdict: Partly. The start is easy to copy; the proof that teams pay is not yet visible.**

A small team can build a reviewer on top of a public model and sell it per developer. The founders chose a problem they had met themselves and launched in public with known open source users. This page cannot say whether that turned into paying teams.

1. Choose a bottleneck you have lived through, such as review of AI-written code.
2. Launch where developers read, and let well-known open source projects use it free.
3. Add paid plans per developer when use grows, and keep public repositories free.
4. Ask early customers for a named quotation that can be read in full.

**What is still open.** Other steps that slow teams after AI writes the code: test writing, release notes, security triage and migration of old code.

## How much revenue does cubic make? The numbers, graded

No revenue figure is public. The facts below show a renamed product, a price list, a team of six and customers that the company names itself

| Fact | Value | Grade | Note | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product launch on Hacker News | 15 April 2025 | C | The founders posted "Launch HN: mrge.io (YC P25) – Cursor for code review". The post says "mrge is currently free while we're still early" and gives a plan to charge per seat later. | [10] |
| Earlier name | mrge; cubic by 21 May 2025 | C | The April 2025 post uses the name mrge.io. The Y Combinator launch post, created on 21 May 2025, uses the name cubic. The company's terms name "MRGE, Inc." as the provider. | [10, 13, 3] |
| Company start | 17 March 2025 (UK company register); 2025 on the Y Combinator profile | C | The UK company register lists MRGE LIMITED, incorporated on 17 March 2025, with Paul Sanglé-Ferrière as an officer. The Y Combinator profile reads "Founded: 2025" and "Batch: Spring 2025". An Internet Archive copy of mrge.io of 12 December 2024 already shows the product as "Coming Soon". | [17, 12, 14] |
| Older page on the same domain | 26 March 2022, "Built for Creators" | C | An archived copy of mrge.io describes a platform for students. The UK register lists another company, MRGE LTD, incorporated on 26 May 2021 and dissolved on 28 May 2024. Its only director has a name that matches neither founder of cubic. The 2022 page is not counted as the start. | [15, 18] |
| Founders | Allis and Paul; Paul Sanglé-Ferrière, Founder/CEO | C | The launch post is signed "Allis and Paul". The Y Combinator profile names Paul Sanglé-Ferrière as the active founder. The second founder's surname was not found. | [10, 12] |
| Team size | 2 at launch; 6 in November 2026 | C | The launch post says "We (Allis and Paul)". The Y Combinator profile lists "Team Size: 6" and no date for that number. | [10, 12] |
| Funding | Y Combinator Spring 2025; amount not found | C | The profile lists the batch. No page read states a funding amount or an investor other than Y Combinator. | [12] |
| Plans and prices | Team, Pro and Max per developer; a free Starter plan | C | The company's home page and pricing page, read on 12 November 2026. The company's pricing page has a "Continue" button under each paid plan. The home page has "Start 7 day trial". | [1, 2] |
| Fees and refunds | fees are non-refundable | C | The company's terms, updated 15 September 2025, say that features may require payment and that all fees are non-refundable. The terms require users to be 18 or older. | [3] |
| Named customers | Cal.com, n8n, Better Auth, Browser Use, Legora | C | The company's home page names four quotation authors. Its customer stories page links ten stories. The company wrote them, and no source says what these customers pay. | [1, 5, 6, 7, 8] |
| Counters and benchmark claims | "Hundreds of companies"; "#1 on every independent benchmark" | C | The customers page and the home page carry these claims with no list or figures. The Y Combinator launch post says it helps teams ship code "28% faster". | [1, 5, 13] |
| Time from launch to the headline | 19 months | calc | Calculated: 15 April 2025 to November 2026. | [10, 2] |

How to read this table. Grade C is a statement by the company, its founders or a profile page. A grade E story has no dated money figure, so no row here is a revenue number.

## Pricing

cubic prices per developer as read on the company's home page and pricing page on 12 November 2026 (grade C)

| Plan | Per month, billed yearly (US$) | Per month, billed monthly (US$) | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 0 | 0 | 20 PR reviews a month |
| Team | 30 | 40 | 40,000 reviewed lines per developer a month |
| Pro | 79 | 99 | 80,000 reviewed lines per developer a month |
| Max | 160 | 200 | 160,000 reviewed lines per developer a month |
| Enterprise |  |  | custom; SSO, audit logs and custom terms |

The home page shows yearly prices and says "Save up to 25% yearly". The pricing page shows the monthly prices and a toggle marked "Yearly -20%". The home page says the Starter plan is free, with 20 pull request reviews a month. The company says cubic is free for public repositories and for open source teams.

## When did cubic launch, and how did it grow? Timeline

From a domain with a waitlist in December 2024 to a price list with named customers in November 2026. Each entry carries its grade.

- **26 March 2022** (grade C [15]): The Internet Archive stores a page of mrge.io titled "Mrge - Built for Creators", for students who want to build communities and earn funds. No source ties it to this company.
- **12 December 2024** (grade C [14]): The Internet Archive stores mrge.io as a page that reads "mrge is the fastest way to review code" with the words "Coming Soon" and a waitlist.
- **15 April 2025** (grade C [10]): The founders post Launch HN as mrge.io. They say it is free for now and that they plan per-seat prices for closed-source projects.
- **21 May 2025** (grade C [13]): The Y Combinator launch post for the same product is created under the name cubic. It says the product helps teams ship code 28% faster.
- **15 September 2025** (grade C [3]): The company updates its terms, which name MRGE, Inc. and describe fees for paid features.
- **12 November 2026** (grade C [2, 5, 12]): The company lists Team, Pro and Max plans and ten customer stories. Y Combinator shows a team of six.

## What could go wrong for cubic?

- **What is not verified.** No revenue figure was found. The pages read were the company's site, terms, privacy policy and customer stories. Also read were the Y Combinator profile and launch post, the Hacker News thread and Internet Archive copies. No payment-processor profile, filing or press piece with a figure was found. The pricing page lists prices and the terms describe fees, but no source states that a customer has paid. The customer stories are the company's own text. No independent source confirms them.
- **Earlier owner or earlier product of the domain.** The 2022 page on mrge.io appears to belong to an earlier company with a different owner. An Internet Archive copy of 26 March 2022 shows "Built for Creators" for students. The UK register lists MRGE LTD, incorporated on 26 May 2021 and dissolved on 28 May 2024. Its only director has a name that matches neither founder of cubic. The register lists MRGE LIMITED, incorporated on 17 March 2025, with Paul Sanglé-Ferrière as an officer. The archive's list for mrge.io has only a redirect from April 2023 between the 2022 copy and the "Coming Soon" copy of 12 December 2024. No page read states who owned the domain in 2022.
- **Counters, badges and testimonials.** The home page says "#1 on every independent benchmark" and "Trusted by hundreds of engineering teams" with no list. Its "Backed by" row names no investor in the text. It shows "SOC 2 compliant" with no report. In April 2025 the founder who posted the launch wrote in the Hacker News thread that the SOC 2 process had started the week before. The four quotations on the home page name a person and a company each. The pricing page spells one author's surname differently from the home page.
- **Blog and pricing history.** The blog index lists 36 posts dated 16 October 2026. Many compare AI code review and coding tools and favour the company's product. The company's terms say users must be 18 or older. In April 2025 a Hacker News commenter wrote that the pricing page listed US$20 a month while the post said the service was free. That earlier price list was not found in an archive.

## Sources

1. cubic home page — https://www.cubic.dev/ (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Source for the product, the yearly prices, the quotations, the counters and the badges.
2. cubic pricing page — https://www.cubic.dev/pricing (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Source for the monthly prices, the plan limits and the yearly toggle. The yearly figures load by script and were not read there.
3. cubic terms of service — https://www.cubic.dev/terms (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Updated 15 September 2025. Source for MRGE, Inc., the fee terms, the age limit and the AI providers.
4. cubic privacy policy — https://www.cubic.dev/privacy (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Last updated 16 February 2026. It names no payment processor.
5. cubic customers page — https://www.cubic.dev/customers (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Source for the ten customer stories and the claim of hundreds of companies.
6. cubic customer story: n8n — https://www.cubic.dev/customers/n8n (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Company text with a named quotation from an engineering manager at n8n.
7. cubic customer story: Better Auth — https://www.cubic.dev/customers/better-auth (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Company text with a named quotation from its maintainer.
8. cubic customer story: Legora — https://www.cubic.dev/customers/legora (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Company text with named quotations. Browser Use, a fifth customer, was read the same way in its own story page.
9. cubic blog index — https://www.cubic.dev/blog (grade C). Read the list, 12 November 2026. Source for the number of posts dated 16 October 2026.
10. Launch HN: mrge.io (YC P25) – Cursor for code review, Hacker News, 15 April 2025 — https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43692476 (grade C). Read in full, with the comments, 12 November 2026. Founder post. Source for the launch, the early users, the free start and the way it works.
11. Hacker News profile of the user pomarie — https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=pomarie (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. The about line reads "Founder @cubic.dev (YC X25)".
12. cubic at Y Combinator — https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/cubic (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Source for the founder, the start year, the batch, the location and the team size.
13. Y Combinator launch post: cubic – Cursor for code review — https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/NYz-cubic-cursor-for-code-review (grade C). Read the data record, 12 November 2026. Source for the creation date of 21 May 2025 and the 28% claim.
14. Internet Archive copy of mrge.io, 12 December 2024 — http://web.archive.org/web/20241212203421/https://www.mrge.io/ (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. The archive named it as the closest copy to 1 January 2024 and to 1 June 2024.
15. Internet Archive copy of mrge.io, 26 March 2022 — http://web.archive.org/web/20220326234431/http://www.mrge.io/ (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. A page for students titled "Mrge - Built for Creators". The archive named it as the closest copy to 1 June 2022 and 1 June 2023.
16. Database of failed startups, local export — /method/#dead (grade C). Record pages read on the website on 12 November 2026. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors.
17. UK Companies House: MRGE LIMITED, company number 16320438 — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/16320438 (grade A). Read the overview and the officers page, 12 November 2026. Source for the incorporation date of 17 March 2025 and the officer's name.
18. UK Companies House: MRGE LTD, company number 13422935 — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/13422935 (grade A). Read the overview and the officers page, 12 November 2026. An earlier company with another director, incorporated on 26 May 2021 and dissolved on 28 May 2024.

Contact: aiolum@livyden.com. Run cubic? Send corrections or a verified figure to aiolum@livyden.com (subject: Correction: cubic).