Pick Cursor if
- You want the most established AI editor workflow
- You want Bugbot reviews on pull requests
- Your team is small and pays per seat
Pick Windsurf (Devin Desktop) if
- You want to run local and cloud agents from one board
- You want other vendors' agents (Claude Agent, Codex) inside the editor
- You want frontier models included at $20
Short answer: Cursor is the safer pick for a developer or team that wants a polished editor-and-agent workflow today. Windsurf, now Devin Desktop, is the more interesting pick for people who run many agents at once and want several vendors' agents side by side, at a lower individual price, but it's a product still settling after its June rename. Facts come from both vendors' pricing pages and Cognition's rename announcement, checked November 1, 2026; see our Cursor and Windsurf reviews.
Side by side
| Feature | Cursor | Windsurf (Devin Desktop) |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Coding agent | Coding agent |
| Cheapest paid plan | $30/mo (Premium) | $20/mo (Pro) |
| Free tier | Limited agent and chat requests | A light agent quota, unlimited inline edits and Tab completions |
| Billed in | A shared usage pool (Cursor plus Grok) refreshed weekly; third-party models billed separately at API list price | Quotas that refresh daily and weekly; extra usage at API pricing |
| Works in | Its own editor (a VS Code fork), a CLI, cloud agents, Slack and Linear | Devin Desktop (VS Code-compatible editor), plus Devin cloud agents |
| Models | Cursor's Composer models and Grok, plus Anthropic, Google and OpenAI models at API price | Not applicable |
| Backend | None: it works on whatever stack your repo uses | None: it works on whatever stack your repo uses |
| Ownership | Your repository; nothing to export | Your repository |
| Agents | Not applicable | Devin Local (Cascade's successor) and third-party agents over the Agent Client Protocol |
| Rubric score | 3.5/5 | 3.3/5 |
Sources: cursor.com/pricing, devin.ai/pricing (windsurf.com/pricing redirects here), and the docs linked in each review. Prices checked Nov 1, 2026, USD before tax.
Scores
- SpeedEven
- DepthCursor
- BackendEven
- ExitEven
- PricingWindsurf (Devin Desktop)
- TeamCursor
Scores out of 5 on our published rubric. The reasons for each score are in the Cursor and Windsurf (Devin Desktop) reviews.
Cursor leads on depth and team readiness; Windsurf on pricing predictability, because Pro includes frontier models without an API-priced line on top. They tie on speed, backend and exit.
The differences that matter
What "Windsurf" means now
The Windsurf editor is Devin Desktop. Its default view is an Agent Command Center, a Kanban board of local and cloud agent sessions; Spaces group sessions, pull requests and files; and Devin Local, a Rust rewrite, replaced Cascade (available until July 1, 2026 for migration). If you're comparing against the Windsurf of 2025, compare against this instead.
Agents
Cursor has its own agent window, cloud agents (including self-hosted machines), subagents and Bugbot. Devin Desktop has Devin Local, Devin Cloud agents on Pro, and, through the Agent Client Protocol, third-party agents such as Codex, Claude Agent and OpenCode running in the same editor.
Models and price
Devin Desktop Pro at $20 includes frontier models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and SpaceXAI plus Cognition's SWE-2, with extra usage at API pricing. Cursor's $8 Plus is Grok-only; Premium at $30 adds third-party models billed at API list price on top. Neither publishes numeric quotas.
Teams
Cursor Teams starts at $30 per user with SSO and analytics. Devin Desktop Teams is a flat $80 plus $40 per developer seat, up to 200 users, with SSO on Enterprise only. For five developers that's about $150 on Cursor versus $280 on Devin Desktop at list price.
Which to pick
| Situation | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One developer, wants Claude and GPT included | Windsurf Pro | Frontier models included at $20 |
| Team of 5 standardising this quarter | Cursor | Lower team price, stable workflow |
| You run several agents in parallel all day | Windsurf | Agent Command Center and Spaces |
| AI code review on every PR | Cursor | Bugbot |
| You mostly use Grok | Cursor Plus | Grok bundle at $8 |
Questions people ask
Is Windsurf still a Cursor alternative?
Yes, as Devin Desktop. Cognition renamed Windsurf on June 2, 2026, made an agent command center the default view, and replaced the Cascade agent with Devin Local. The VS Code-compatible editor is still there, and existing plans carried over.
Which is cheaper, Cursor or Windsurf?
For individuals, Devin Desktop Pro is $20 a month with frontier models from several vendors included, while Cursor's first plan with non-Grok models is Premium at $30, with those models billed on top at API price. For teams, Cursor starts at $30 per user; Devin Desktop Teams is $80 a month plus $40 per developer seat. Checked November 1, 2026.
Which is more stable to standardise a team on?
Cursor, for now. Both changed this year (Cursor's plans after the SpaceX agreement, Windsurf's rename and new agent), but Cursor's editor and agent workflow didn't change shape, while Devin Desktop's default view and local agent did.