Cursor vs Windsurf
Cursor and Windsurf side by side: what each one is, what it costs to start, and whether you can try it free. Everything below comes from the vendors' own sites and other public sources, not from hands-on testing.
At a glance
| Cursor | Windsurf | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Code & Dev Tools | Code & Dev Tools |
| Starting price | Free; paid plans from $8/mo (checked October 2026) | Free; paid plans from $20/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Profile | Read profile | Read profile |
Prices are in US dollars unless shown otherwise. Confirm the current price on the vendor's site before you buy.
Key differences
Both list a free tier, so you can try each before paying.
Cursor has the lower starting price ($8/mo against $20/mo for Windsurf). The cheapest plan rarely has the same limits or features, so compare plans before choosing on price.
Both are in our Code & Dev Tools category.
About each tool
Cursor
AI code editor for Windows, macOS and Linux with Agent, Chat and Tab. Free plan with limited usage; paid plans from $8 a month with a weekly usage pool, up to $200 for Ultra.
Who it is for
Individual developers on the Free, Plus, Premium, Super or Ultra plans. Teams and Enterprise plans add shared billing, admin controls and SSO for organizations.
Strengths
- A Free plan includes Agent, Chat and Tab completions with Cursor's own models, with limited usage
- Paid plans have one weekly usage pool for Cursor models, shared across Agent, the command line and Cloud Agents, and the docs say it refreshes weekly
- With Privacy Mode on, Cursor says customer data will not be used for training by Cursor, and that it has zero-data-retention agreements with all its model providers
- The desktop app is offered for macOS (Apple Silicon, Intel, Universal), Windows (x64, ARM64) and Linux (x64, ARM64; .deb, RPM, AppImage)
- Teams and Enterprise list SAML and OIDC SSO, usage analytics and team-wide privacy settings, and Enterprise adds SCIM, audit logs and invoice billing
Limitations
- Free usage is limited for Agent, Chat and Tab, and no numeric limits are published
- Plus ($8) does not include Auto, Cloud Agents, Automations, Bugbot or third-party models, which are listed from Premium ($30) up
- Third-party models are not covered by the weekly pool. They are billed at API list price from prepaid credit, and a monthly additional-usage limit caps extra spend
- With Privacy Mode off, Cursor may use and store codebase data, prompts, editor actions and code snippets to improve its AI features and train models
Windsurf
AI coding editor from Cognition, renamed Devin Desktop in June 2026 per the vendor. Runs local and cloud agents in a VS Code-compatible IDE. Free plan; Pro is $20 a month.
Who it is for
Developers and software teams who want an AI-assisted editor that can run agents inside it. The vendor also sells a Teams plan and an Enterprise plan for organizations.
Strengths
- The vendor says the editor stays backwards-compatible with Windsurf and VS Code extensions, and installed extensions are copied over when you migrate
- It supports third-party agents through the open Agent Client Protocol; the vendor names Codex, Claude Agent and OpenCode as examples
- An Agent Command Center (a Kanban view) manages local and cloud agents, and Spaces share context between agents
- The quota docs say free models are not counted against the usage quota
Limitations
- Usage is metered by a daily and a weekly token-based quota, and the docs publish no specific numbers
- Free plan users wait for the next daily or weekly reset when they hit the limit. Paid users can buy extra usage billed at API list prices
- Priority and speed model variants use more of the quota or more extra usage
- The Windsurf JetBrains plugin is in maintenance mode, and the vendor recommends switching to Devin over the Agent Client Protocol
