📖 The AI Tool Bible

Cursor vs Windsurf

A side-by-side look at pricing, capabilities, pros, cons, and our editorial scores.

 
Cursor
Coding
Windsurf
Coding
TaglineAI-first VS Code fork — chat, edit, and agentic coding in one IDE.AI-native IDE turned agent command center, now folded into Cognition's Devin lineup.
CategoryCodingCoding
PricingFreemium· Free hobby; Pro $20/mo; Business $40/moFreemium· Free; Pro $20/mo; Max $200/mo; Teams $80/mo + $40/seat; Enterprise custom
ModelClaude / GPT (configurable)SWE-1.6 Fast (plus Claude Agent, OpenCode via ACP)
Editorial score9.5 / 10—
Use cases
codingrefactorsagentic editsIDE
ai-idecoding-agentscode-completioncodebase-searchagent-orchestration
Pros
  • Best-in-class multi-file edits
  • Choice of underlying models
  • Composer agent is genuinely useful
  • Tab completion is faster than Copilot
  • Full IDE plus multi-agent command center in one app
  • Free tier with unlimited SWE-1.6 Fast usage
  • Agent Client Protocol opens it to Claude, OpenCode, and others
  • Spaces with Git worktrees keep parallel agents from clobbering each other
  • Deep MCP integrations (Slack, Linear, Figma, Stripe, 15+ more)
Cons
  • Heavier than vanilla VS Code
  • Pricing creeping up
  • Some extensions lag VS Code
  • Recent rebrand to Devin Desktop; branding and docs still settling
  • No public REST API; extensibility is MCP-only
  • Closed source
  • Max tier at $200/mo is steep for solo devs
Websitecursor.comwindsurf.com
Pick Cursor if
  • ✅ Best-in-class multi-file edits
  • ✅ Choice of underlying models
  • ✅ Composer agent is genuinely useful
  • ✅ Tab completion is faster than Copilot
Pick Windsurf if
  • ✅ Full IDE plus multi-agent command center in one app
  • ✅ Free tier with unlimited SWE-1.6 Fast usage
  • ✅ Agent Client Protocol opens it to Claude, OpenCode, and others
  • ✅ Spaces with Git worktrees keep parallel agents from clobbering each other
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