Decision comparison
Cursor vs Windsurf (now Devin Desktop)
Compare Cursor with the current Windsurf offering, presented as Devin Desktop, using the same repository and engineering tasks. Cursor separates subscriptions from third-party model charges; Devin Desktop combines subscriptions, refreshing quotas and optional purchased usage. For teams, include Devin's base charge and Cursor's seat mix before comparing costs. Select around measured usage and required controls, not list prices alone.
Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) is now sold under new ownership
Cognition announced a definitive agreement to acquire Windsurf on 14 July 2025, covering its IP, product, trademark and brand. The editor is now sold as Devin Desktop and priced inside Cognition's Devin plans: windsurf.com redirects to devin.ai/desktop, and the Windsurf name no longer appears on the product or pricing pages.
Direct comparison. These are reviewed substitutes bought for the same job, so the differences below are the ones that decide between them.
All 2 are AI coding assistants.
Quick Comparison
| Decision factor | Cursor | Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) |
|---|---|---|
| Best For | Teams or individuals validating an AI-assisted VS Code-oriented workflow with their existing repositories and controls. | Teams or individuals validating the Windsurf editor and Cascade workflow with their existing repositories and controls. |
| Architecture | An AI-assisted development environment that should be tested with the team's Git, APIs, MCP connections, and CI/CD process. | Current offering presented as Devin Desktop, with local editor and cloud-agent workflows; subscriptions, refreshing quotas and optional purchased extra usage. |
| Pricing Model | Free; Plus $8/month (Grok models only); Premium $30/month; Super $100/month; Ultra $200/month; Teams from $30/user/month; Enterprise custom. The shared Cursor/Grok pool refreshes weekly. Third-party models require Premium or above and are billed separately at API list price, with no included allowance. Purchased top-offs, Grok API usage, taxes and fees are additional. Bugbot code reviews are included on Premium and above. Verified 2026-10-23 against https://cursor.com/pricing. | Sold as part of Cognition's Devin plans. Free $0 (light quota, unlimited Tab completions). Pro $20/month (frontier models, Devin Cloud, extra usage at API pricing). Max $200/month (higher quotas). Team $80/month for the team plan plus $40/month per full dev seat. Enterprise custom, with SAML/OIDC SSO and VPC deployment. Usage allowances refresh daily and weekly; overage is purchased at API pricing. |
| Ease of Use | Evaluate the editor, agent workflow, diff review, and test path with representative developer tasks. | Evaluate the editor workflow, generated diff, test path, and usage reporting with representative tasks. |
| Scalability | Validate team administration, identity controls, privacy, reporting, and plan usage before rollout. | Validate current Teams or Enterprise administration, identity controls, privacy, and usage terms before rollout. |
| Community/Support | Use official product documentation and the current plan terms for support and administration details. | Use official documentation, current plan terms, and vendor support channels for deployment details. |
Cursor
- Best For:
- Teams or individuals validating an AI-assisted VS Code-oriented workflow with their existing repositories and controls.
- Architecture:
- An AI-assisted development environment that should be tested with the team's Git, APIs, MCP connections, and CI/CD process.
- Pricing Model:
- Free; Plus $8/month (Grok models only); Premium $30/month; Super $100/month; Ultra $200/month; Teams from $30/user/month; Enterprise custom. The shared Cursor/Grok pool refreshes weekly. Third-party models require Premium or above and are billed separately at API list price, with no included allowance. Purchased top-offs, Grok API usage, taxes and fees are additional. Bugbot code reviews are included on Premium and above. Verified 2026-10-23 against https://cursor.com/pricing.
- Ease of Use:
- Evaluate the editor, agent workflow, diff review, and test path with representative developer tasks.
- Scalability:
- Validate team administration, identity controls, privacy, reporting, and plan usage before rollout.
- Community/Support:
- Use official product documentation and the current plan terms for support and administration details.
Windsurf (now Devin Desktop)
- Best For:
- Teams or individuals validating the Windsurf editor and Cascade workflow with their existing repositories and controls.
- Architecture:
- Current offering presented as Devin Desktop, with local editor and cloud-agent workflows; subscriptions, refreshing quotas and optional purchased extra usage.
- Pricing Model:
- Sold as part of Cognition's Devin plans. Free $0 (light quota, unlimited Tab completions). Pro $20/month (frontier models, Devin Cloud, extra usage at API pricing). Max $200/month (higher quotas). Team $80/month for the team plan plus $40/month per full dev seat. Enterprise custom, with SAML/OIDC SSO and VPC deployment. Usage allowances refresh daily and weekly; overage is purchased at API pricing.
- Ease of Use:
- Evaluate the editor workflow, generated diff, test path, and usage reporting with representative tasks.
- Scalability:
- Validate current Teams or Enterprise administration, identity controls, privacy, and usage terms before rollout.
- Community/Support:
- Use official documentation, current plan terms, and vendor support channels for deployment details.
Public signals
Verified factual signals only. Bars appear only for like-for-like metrics with five weekly assessments for every tool; missing evidence stays explicit. These signals do not establish enterprise adoption, product quality, or total cost.
| Metric | Cursor | Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub commits, 90d(Developer adoption) | 0 | Not available |
| GitHub stars(Developer adoption) | 33,000+ | Not available |
| Search interest(Market interest) | 0 | 0 |
| Hacker News mentions, 90d(Community interest) | 0 | Not available |
| npm weekly downloads(Developer adoption) | 1.3M | Not available |
| Product Hunt comments(Community interest) | 0 | 63 |
| Product Hunt rating(Community interest) | Unavailable | 4.7/5 |
| Product Hunt reviews(Community interest) | 0 | 68 |
| Product Hunt votes(Community interest) | 23 | 348 |
| Stack Overflow questions(Community interest) | 59 | Not available |
As of November 9, 2026 — updated weekly.
Health & risk evidence
Observed public-source checks for mapped package versions and repositories.
Cursor
November 9, 2026Package vulnerabilities
npm · @cursor/sdk@1.3.1
0 vulnerabilities
across 1 package
Repository security score
Not available
Windsurf (now Devin Desktop)
Package vulnerabilities
Not available
Repository security score
Not available
Interface Preview
Cursor
Windsurf (now Devin Desktop)
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Cursor | Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) |
|---|---|---|
| Development workflow | ||
| Repository-based evaluation | Test edits, diffs, terminal actions, and test execution in a non-production Git repository. | Test the editor and Cascade workflow in the same non-production Git repository. |
| Code review | Keep generated changes within the existing pull-request and review process. | Keep generated changes within the existing pull-request and review process. |
| Project context | Validate project instructions, repository context, and excluded files in the pilot. | Validate project context, repository instructions, and excluded files in the pilot. |
| Security and governance | ||
| Identity controls | Review SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and administrator workflows for the selected plan. | Review SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and administrator workflows for the selected plan. |
| Data handling | Review privacy, retention, secret exclusion, and API or MCP access before rollout. | Review privacy, retention, secret exclusion, and API access before rollout. |
| Usage reporting | Confirm plan usage, billing, and administrative reporting during the pilot. | Check quota consumption, purchased extra usage and required Enterprise reporting during the pilot. |
| Commercial model | ||
| Individual plans | Free; Plus $8/month (Grok only), Premium $30/month, Super $100/month, Ultra $200/month. Third-party models require Premium or above and cost extra at API list price, with no included allowance. | Devin Desktop: Free $0, Pro $20/month, Max $200/month; refreshing quotas and optional purchased extra usage at API pricing. |
| Team plans | Teams from $30/user/month, varying with seat mix; Enterprise custom. Check required administration and separately billed model usage. | Devin Teams: $80/month base plus $40/month per full developer seat, up to 200 users; Enterprise quote. Extra usage is additional. |
| Usage approach | Weekly shared Cursor/Grok pool; optional top-offs. Third-party models on Premium and above have no included allowance and are billed separately at API list price; Grok API usage, taxes and fees also cost extra. | Daily and weekly quotas refresh; optional purchased extra usage at API pricing. Check the current Enterprise quote rather than applying legacy ACU assumptions. |
| Data engineering pilot | ||
| Code surface | Test SQL, Python, TypeScript, dbt, Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes, and API changes. | Test SQL, Python, TypeScript, dbt, Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes, and API changes. |
| Release controls | Run the normal CI/CD suite and inspect the resulting pull request before accepting changes. | Run the normal CI/CD suite and inspect the resulting pull request before accepting changes. |
| Decision evidence | Record workflow results, usage, and administrative evidence from the same task set. | Record workflow results, usage, and administrative evidence from the same task set. |
| Implementation boundaries | ||
| External connectivity | Approve configured MCP servers and API connections before the tool accesses external systems. | Approve configured API connections and tool actions before the tool accesses external systems. |
| Source control | Use ordinary Git branches, commits, tests, and pull requests as the change record. | Use ordinary Git branches, commits, tests, and pull requests as the change record. |
| Production access | Keep the initial pilot outside production and use least-privilege credentials. | Keep the initial pilot outside production and use least-privilege credentials. |
Development workflow
Repository-based evaluation
Code review
Project context
Security and governance
Identity controls
Data handling
Usage reporting
Commercial model
Individual plans
Team plans
Usage approach
Data engineering pilot
Code surface
Release controls
Decision evidence
Implementation boundaries
External connectivity
Source control
Production access
Which to choose
Compare Cursor with the current Windsurf offering, presented as Devin Desktop, using the same repository and engineering tasks. Cursor separates subscriptions from third-party model charges; Devin Desktop combines subscriptions, refreshing quotas and optional purchased usage. For teams, include Devin's base charge and Cursor's seat mix before comparing costs. Select around measured usage and required controls, not list prices alone.
Best-fit scenarios
Choose Cursor if:
Choose Cursor when its current editor workflow, published plan structure, integrations, and team administration meet the organization's requirements in a representative pilot.
Choose Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) if:
Choose Windsurf when its editor and Cascade workflow, current plan model, usage controls, and administration model meet the same requirements in a representative pilot.
These scenarios reflect the available product evidence. Your requirements, existing stack, and team expertise should guide the final decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main difference between Cursor and Windsurf?
Cursor and Windsurf are both AI-assisted development environments. Evaluate their editor workflow, repository controls, model usage, integrations, and team administration with the same pilot rather than assuming feature parity from a plan table.
What are Cursor's published plan prices?
Cursor offers Free, Plus $8/month (Grok only), Premium $30/month, Super $100/month, Ultra $200/month and Teams from $30/user/month. Its shared Cursor/Grok pool refreshes weekly. Third-party models require Premium or above and are billed separately at API list price, with no included allowance. Top-offs, Grok API usage, taxes and fees are additional; confirm team controls and seat mix before procurement.
How does Windsurf's current usage model affect evaluation?
The current Windsurf offering is presented as Devin Desktop. Free is $0, Pro $20/month and Max $200/month. Teams costs $80/month plus $40/month per full developer seat, for up to 200 users; Enterprise requires a quote. Daily and weekly quotas refresh, and purchased extra usage is billed at API pricing. These subscriptions and quotas are not equivalent to Cursor's shared pool or separately billed third-party model usage.
Can a team evaluate both editors safely?
Yes. Use a non-production Git repository, apply normal code review, exclude secrets, run the existing test suite, and have security review identity, data handling, API or MCP access, and administrative controls before standardizing either editor.