Cursor vs Windsurf (2026)

Side-by-side comparison of Cursor vs Windsurf: pricing, capabilities, integrations, deployment complexity, and ratings. Last updated July 2, 2026 by The AI Agent Index Editorial Team.

Data sourced from The AI Agent Index

Editorial Verdict

Windsurf was rebranded to Devin Desktop on June 2, 2026 after Cognition acquired Windsurf in July 2025. Developers searching this comparison are likely deciding between Cursor and the product formerly known as Windsurf, which is now part of the Devin platform. Both remain strong agentic coding IDEs built on VS Code foundations, but their product trajectories have diverged. Cursor is an independent AI-first IDE with autonomous agent mode, cloud subagents, and the proprietary Composer 2.5 model. It holds 4.7 stars from 298 G2 reviews and an editorial rating of 4.8 out of 5 on this index, making it the highest-rated AI coding IDE in the directory. Pricing starts at Free with a Pro tier at $20 per month. Cursor holds SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and CCPA certifications. MCP is supported. Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) is now the IDE surface for the Devin platform by Cognition. It combines the local editor with cloud agent orchestration, letting developers manage fleets of autonomous Devin Cloud sessions from a single surface. Pricing is shared with the Devin platform: Free, Pro at $20 per month with frontier model access and Devin Cloud, Max at $200, and Teams at $80 plus $40 per seat. Devin Desktop holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and CCPA certifications. G2 shows 4.2 stars from 34 reviews under the Windsurf name. Our editorial rating is 4.1 out of 5. Choose Cursor when you want the most mature standalone agentic IDE with the largest community, the highest independent rating, and no dependency on a broader platform. Choose Devin Desktop when you want the combined IDE plus autonomous cloud agent experience under a single subscription, especially if delegating entire tasks to Devin Cloud sessions appeals to your workflow. Cursor is the safer independent bet. Devin Desktop is the more ambitious integrated play.

Cursor

by Anysphere

AI-first code editor with autonomous agent mode, cloud subagents, an iOS app and the proprietary Composer 2.5 model. Free tier, with Individual from $16/month billed annually (USD).

Best for

Developers who want the highest-rated standalone agentic coding IDE with the largest community and ecosystem independence at $20 per month

freemiumBOTH

Visit Cursor →

Windsurf

by Cognition

AI-powered IDE from Cognition, formerly Windsurf, pairing a local editor with asynchronous cloud agents and MCP in both directions. Free tier, Pro $20 per month, Max $200 (USD).

Best for

Teams that want a combined IDE plus autonomous cloud agent platform where local editing and delegated Devin Cloud sessions share a single subscription from $20 per month

freemiumB2B

Visit Windsurf →

Cursor

Windsurf

Pricing model

freemium

Starting price

$16/mo, billed annually

$20/mo

Pricing transparency

mostly public

Contract type

both

monthly

Customer segment

BOTH

B2B

Deployment

desktop, cli, cloud, mobile

desktop, cli, cloud, ide

Setup difficulty

easy

Avg setup time

—

Editorial rating

4.6 / 5

4.0 / 5

G2 rating

4.6/5 (312 reviews)

4.3/5 (35 reviews)

MCP

Client

Server + client

GitHub stars

N/A

Data training

opt out

Human in loop

optional

Security certs

SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, CCPA, AIUC-1

SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, CCPA

Capabilities

Cursor

idemulti-file-editingautocompleteagentic-codingmobileautomations

Windsurf

ideagentic-codingmulti-file-editingautonomousterminal-agentcode-generation

Pros & Limitations

Editorial assessment

Cursor

Pros

✓Agent mode plans and implements features autonomously across multiple files, and cloud subagents run in parallel on their own VMs and branches, turning well-scoped work into reviewable diffs.
✓Full VS Code compatibility means near-zero migration cost, because existing extensions, keybindings, themes and workflows carry over immediately.
✓Privacy Mode is available on every plan including the free tier, and Cursor states that with it enabled customer data is not used for training and retention is zero.

Limitations

⚠Privacy Mode is off by default, and Cursor states that with it off it may store and use codebase data, prompts, editor actions and code snippets to improve the product.
⚠All AI requests route through Cursor's cloud infrastructure even when using your own API keys, so code always leaves the local environment and strict data-residency requirements are not met below Enterprise.
⚠Expensive model usage depletes included credits faster than standard models, and agentic code review with Bugbot runs on usage-based billing on Individual rather than being included as it is on Teams.

Windsurf

Pros

✓Bundles interactive IDE coding with asynchronous cloud agents under one subscription, so a developer can keep editing locally while delegating longer tasks to Devin Cloud sessions and reviewing the results in the same surface.
✓MCP works in both directions, which is rare in this category. Devin Desktop connects out to external MCP servers such as the Slack MCP Server, and Cognition publishes its own MCP server with documented setup instructions for streamable HTTP clients.
✓Pricing is public and self-serve up to the Teams tier, with a permanently free plan and a documented usage-quota model, so a team can evaluate and adopt the product without talking to sales.

Limitations

⚠SAML and OIDC single sign-on, virtual private cloud deployment, teamspace isolation and centralized admin controls are all Enterprise-tier items, so the $20 Pro plan carries none of them and concurrent sessions are capped at ten.
⚠Customer data may be used for model training by default under Cognition's platform terms, and the contractual opt-out is restricted to paid tiers, so free-plan users have no opt-out at all. On the Teams tier only an administrator can exercise it.
⚠Cognition publishes customer outcome figures only against anonymized categories such as Financial Institution or Technology Company, and publishes no autonomous task-completion rate at all, so buyers cannot tie any result to a named reference or verify autonomy claims independently.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Cursor vs Windsurf?

Which is best for my team: Cursor vs Windsurf?

Cursor is best for: Developers who want the highest-rated standalone agentic coding IDE with the largest community and ecosystem independence at $20 per month. Windsurf is best for: Teams that want a combined IDE plus autonomous cloud agent platform where local editing and delegated Devin Cloud sessions share a single subscription from $20 per month.

How does pricing compare between Cursor vs Windsurf?

Cursor uses a freemium model, starting at $16 per month on an annual commitment (month-to-month costs more). Windsurf uses a freemium model, starting at $20 per month.

View full Cursor profile

Pricing, reviews, integrations →

View full Windsurf profile

Pricing, reviews, integrations →

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