This is week 4 of my “I Used It for a Week” series. I’ve tested Cursor ($20/mo), Kiro (usage-based), and GitHub Copilot ($10/mo). Now: Windsurf at $15/month. The underdog.

Windsurf started life as Codeium — an AI autocomplete tool competing with Copilot. In late 2024, they rebranded, launched a full IDE, and in early 2026 got acquired by Cognition AI (the Devin people). Through all that corporate drama, the product kept shipping. It hit #1 on LogRocket’s AI Dev Tool Power Rankings in February 2026.

At $15/month for Pro, it’s the cheapest full-featured AI IDE. But is cheaper actually good enough?

Day 1: Familiar Territory

Like Cursor and Kiro, Windsurf is a VS Code fork. Extensions, keybindings, themes — everything carried over. By now, switching between these VS Code forks feels like changing clothes, not changing houses.

The first thing I noticed: it felt fast. The editor itself was snappy, and the AI responses came back quickly. One review claimed it’s “13x faster than Claude 3.5 Sonnet” — I can’t verify that number, but subjectively, it felt quicker than Cursor on initial responses.

What Blew Me Away

Cascade is genuinely good

Cascade is Windsurf’s answer to Cursor’s Composer. You describe what you want, and it builds a step-by-step plan before making changes across multiple files. It reads your codebase, understands dependencies, and executes.

The key difference from Cursor: Cascade shows you its plan before executing. You see exactly which files it’ll touch and what changes it’ll make. Cursor’s agent tends to just go — which is faster but sometimes means undoing unwanted changes. Cascade’s approach felt safer, especially on unfamiliar codebases.

For a $15/month tool, the multi-file editing quality surprised me. It’s not quite Cursor’s subagent level, but it’s closer than the price difference suggests.

The free tier is actually usable

Windsurf’s free tier gives you 25 credits per month. That’s not a lot, but it’s enough to genuinely evaluate the tool — unlike Copilot’s free tier which caps at 50 agent requests, or Kiro which removed spec mode from free entirely.

For students or hobbyists, Windsurf Free might be all you need.

Model flexibility

Like Cursor, Windsurf supports multiple models — Claude Opus 4.6, GPT-5.3-Codex, Gemini 3.1 Pro. You can pick the model that works best for your task. Copilot is primarily locked to OpenAI models, which is a real limitation.

Security-first architecture

Windsurf was built with enterprise security in mind from day one. Zero Data Retention (ZDR) is the default — your code isn’t stored or used for training. For developers working on proprietary code, this matters. Cursor offers privacy mode but it’s not the default.

What Frustrated Me

Cascade quality on large codebases

Here’s where the price difference shows. On my larger project (~8,000 files), Cascade’s suggestions were noticeably less accurate than Cursor’s. It would miss dependencies between files, suggest imports that didn’t exist, and occasionally lose track of the plan mid-execution.

One comparison test found that Windsurf created an API but failed unit tests on 5 out of 15 endpoints, while Cursor handled the same task more reliably. For small to medium projects, the difference is minor. For large codebases, Cursor’s deeper indexing wins.

Credit system is confusing

Windsurf uses a credit-based system instead of flat pricing. Pro gives you 500 credits per month, but different actions cost different amounts depending on the model used. It’s hard to predict how far your credits will go. By day 5, I was checking my credit balance like a prepaid phone plan.

Cursor’s flat $20/month with unlimited completions is simpler and more predictable. You know what you’re paying, period.

No spec workflow

After Kiro’s spec-driven development, I missed having a structured planning phase. Windsurf, like Cursor, is a “vibe coding” tool — you describe what you want and it builds. There’s no requirements phase, no design document, no task breakdown. For quick work that’s fine. For complex features, I found myself opening ChatGPT to think through the architecture first.

The Cognition acquisition uncertainty

Windsurf was acquired by Cognition AI (makers of Devin) in early 2026. The product has kept shipping features, but there’s uncertainty about the long-term direction. Will Windsurf stay independent? Will it merge with Devin? Will pricing change? Nobody knows yet.

For a tool you’re building your workflow around, that uncertainty matters. Cursor ($29B valuation, $1B ARR) and Copilot (backed by Microsoft/GitHub) feel like safer long-term bets.

The Series So Far

Five weeks, five tools — and I’m not done yet. Here’s where things stand:

Category	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Daily coding	Cursor	Windsurf	Copilot	Kiro	ChatGPT
Multi-file refactoring	Cursor	Windsurf	Kiro	Copilot	ChatGPT
Planning features	Kiro	ChatGPT	Windsurf	Cursor	Copilot
Learning new tech	ChatGPT	—	—	—	—
IDE flexibility	Copilot	—	—	—	—
Budget-friendly	Windsurf ($15)	Copilot ($10)	Cursor ($20)	ChatGPT ($20)	Kiro (varies)
Large codebases	Cursor	Copilot	Windsurf	Kiro	ChatGPT
Security/privacy	Windsurf (ZDR)	Copilot (enterprise)	Kiro (AWS)	Cursor	ChatGPT
Code quality	Kiro	Cursor	Windsurf	Copilot	ChatGPT

My Verdict After 7 Days

Windsurf is the best value in AI coding tools right now. At $15/month, you get 80% of Cursor’s capabilities at 75% of the price. Cascade is solid, the editor is fast, and the security defaults are best-in-class.

But that missing 20% matters if you code professionally. Cursor’s Tab predictions, deeper codebase indexing, and subagent system are genuinely better for complex work. The question is whether that’s worth $5/month more to you.

Would I keep paying? If I were budget-conscious, absolutely — Windsurf Pro at $15/month is the smart choice. But since I’m already paying for Cursor, I’d stick with Cursor for the better experience on large projects.

Who should use it:

• Developers who want a full AI IDE but find Cursor too expensive
• Students and hobbyists (the free tier is generous)
• Teams that prioritize security and zero data retention
• Anyone who wants to try an AI IDE without committing to $20/month

Who should look elsewhere:

• Developers working on large, complex codebases (→ Cursor)
• Anyone who wants spec-driven development (→ Kiro)
• JetBrains users (→ Copilot)

The Story So Far

Five weeks, five tools, one honest takeaway so far: there is no single best AI coding tool. The right choice depends on how you work:

• Speed and power: Cursor ($20/mo)
• Structure and quality: Kiro (usage-based)
• Budget and security: Windsurf ($15/mo)
• Ecosystem and flexibility: Copilot ($10/mo)
• Thinking and learning: ChatGPT ($20/mo)

My current stack: Cursor for daily coding, ChatGPT for thinking, and Kiro when I’m starting something complex from scratch. Total cost: $40/month. Worth every cent.

But there are more tools to test. Next up: Claude Code — the terminal-native coding agent with a 1M token context window. Can a tool with no GUI beat the IDEs? See my Claude Code vs Cursor comparison for the full breakdown.

Next week: I Used ChatGPT Plus for a Week — the tool everyone already uses but nobody thinks of as a coding tool.

FAQ

Is Windsurf worth it?

At $15/month for Pro, Windsurf delivers about 80% of Cursor’s capabilities at 75% of the price — making it the best value full-featured AI IDE. It’s especially worth it for budget-conscious developers and students who want multi-file editing and agent features without paying $20/month.

Is Windsurf better than Cursor?

Cursor is better for large codebases, complex refactoring, and Tab-based next-edit predictions. Windsurf is better on price, security defaults (zero data retention by default), and its plan-before-execute Cascade workflow. For small to medium projects, the difference is minor; for enterprise-scale work, Cursor pulls ahead.

Is Windsurf free?

Windsurf offers a free tier with 25 credits per month — enough to evaluate the tool but not enough for daily professional use. The Pro plan at $15/month is needed for serious work, though the free tier is more generous than most competitors for students and hobbyists.

Related: How to Choose an AI Coding Agent