Cursor vs Windsurf: Features, Pricing and Verdict

Cursor starts at $8 a month but its cheapest plan only includes Grok models. Devin Desktop Pro costs $20 and includes frontier models from several makers.

By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-10T07:24:17+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-10T07:24:17+00:00

Cursor vs Windsurf: Features, Pricing and Verdict

Cursor and Windsurf are the two best-known agent-first code editors. But Windsurf no longer exists under that name. It is now Devin Desktop, owned by Cognition since July 2025 and renamed on 2 June 2026. So the real question in 2026 is Cursor vs Devin Desktop. This comparison covers features, pricing, model access, and the verdict for different kinds of developers.

Short answer: Cursor starts cheaper at $8 a month, but its cheapest plan only includes Grok models. Devin Desktop Pro costs $20 a month and includes frontier models from OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, and SpaceXAI in that price. The right pick depends on which models you use and how much agent work you do each week.

Cursor vs Windsurf at a glance

What each tool is

Cursor is an AI code editor built on VS Code. It adds an agent that can read your codebase, edit several files at once, and run terminal commands. It offers chat, tab completions, and inline edits. It also offers cloud agents that work while you do something else, automations, code hosting through Origin, and code review through Bugbot. Cursor is sold through The X Subscription, which also covers Grok and X benefits.

Devin Desktop is the editor that began as Codeium and became Windsurf. Cognition, the company behind the Devin agent, acquired it in July 2025. The editor was renamed Devin Desktop in June 2026. Its original agent, Cascade, has been replaced by Devin Local. The editor works as the local front end to Devin's cloud agents. It offers tab completions, inline edits, and agent coding with frontier models. The windsurf.com address now redirects to devin.ai.

Cursor vs Windsurf pricing

Cursor pricing changed in October 2026. New customers buy through The X Subscription. Free costs $0 with limited agent and chat requests. Plus costs $8 a month and includes Grok models only. Premium costs $30 a month and adds four times the Plus usage, cloud agents, automations, Origin code hosting, and Bugbot. Super costs $100 a month with 15 times the Plus usage and priority model access at peak times. Ultra costs $200 a month with 50 times the Plus usage and earliest access to new products. Annual billing costs $80 a year for Plus, $300 for Premium, $1,000 for Super, and $2,000 for Ultra. Teams start at $30 per user a month. Prices exclude tax.

The key detail is model billing. Third-party models such as Claude, GPT, and Gemini are not included in any Cursor plan. On Premium and above, they bill at API list price from prepaid credit. Plus cannot use them at all. So a Premium user who codes with Claude all day pays $30 a month plus whatever Claude usage costs. That can add up fast.

Devin Desktop pricing is simpler. Free costs $0 with a light agent quota, limited models, unlimited inline edits, and unlimited Tab completions. Pro costs $20 a month and includes increased quotas, full model availability, free use of the SWE-2 model, and access to Devin Cloud agents. Max costs $200 a month with significantly higher quotas. Teams cost $80 a month for the team plan plus $40 per full developer seat, for up to 200 users. Enterprise pricing is custom. Usage allowances refresh daily and weekly. Extra usage is billed at API pricing. Existing Windsurf users keep their old prices: $15 a month for Pro and $30 per seat for Teams.

On price alone, Cursor wins at the entry level. Plus at $8 a month undercuts Pro at $20 a month by more than half. But the comparison flips once you need third-party models. Devin Desktop Pro includes those models in its $20 price. Cursor Premium costs $30 a month and still charges extra for Claude or GPT usage. For a developer who uses Claude daily, Devin Desktop Pro is likely cheaper in practice.

Features compared

Both editors cover the basics well. Both offer agent mode, chat, tab completions, and multi-file edits. Both let an agent run commands and edit code across your project. The differences sit in the extras.

Cursor's extras lean toward workflow. Cloud agents run tasks in the background. Automations repeat routine work. Bugbot reviews code and flags issues. Origin hosts code with AI review built in. These features arrive on Premium at $30 a month. They suit developers who want the editor to handle review and background tasks as well as writing code.

Devin Desktop's extras lean toward model access and cloud power. Pro includes Devin Cloud agents, which can run larger tasks on Cognition's servers. It includes free use of SWE-2, Cognition's latest model. It offers up to 10 concurrent sessions on paid plans. These features arrive on Pro at $20 a month, which is $10 less than Cursor's Premium.

Both editors support many languages and work on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Both are built on familiar editor foundations, so most developers can start quickly. Neither tool requires you to change your language or your stack.

Model access: the deciding factor

Model access is where the two tools differ most. Cursor's Plus plan only includes Grok models. That is fine if Grok handles your work. It is a problem if you rely on Claude for careful reasoning or GPT for a specific task. To use those models in Cursor, you need Premium at $30 a month, and you still pay API prices on top.

Devin Desktop Pro includes frontier models from OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, and SpaceXAI, plus leading open source models, inside its $20 monthly price. You pay for usage through the plan's quota, not per model at API rates. That makes costs easier to predict. If you exceed the quota, extra usage is billed at API pricing.

So the model question decides the winner for most people. If you are happy with Grok, Cursor Plus at $8 a month is a bargain. If you need Claude or GPT every day, Devin Desktop Pro at $20 a month is the better deal. If you need several models and heavy usage, compare Cursor Super at $100 a month with Devin Desktop Max at $200 a month, and check which quota fits your week.

Who should pick Cursor?

Pick Cursor if you want the lowest entry price and you are happy with Grok models. Pick it if you want cloud agents, automations, and Bugbot code review in one editor. Pick it if you already use X and Grok, since the subscription covers those too. Cursor's free plan is a good way to test the editor before paying.

Be careful about one thing. If you switch to Premium for third-party models, set a spending cap. API-priced model usage can grow quickly, and the $30 subscription does not cover it.

Who should pick Devin Desktop?

Pick Devin Desktop if you want several frontier models inside one flat fee. Pick it if you use Claude, GPT, or Gemini daily and you want predictable costs. Pick it if you want Devin Cloud agents for larger tasks. Existing Windsurf users on the grandfathered $15 Pro plan have an even better deal, and they keep that price.

Be careful about one thing. The quota system refreshes daily and weekly, so a heavy day can eat your allowance. Check how much quota your work actually needs before you commit to Pro over Max.

Bottom line

Cursor wins on entry price. Plus at $8 a month is the cheapest way into an agent-first editor. Devin Desktop wins on model value. Pro at $20 a month includes frontier models from several makers, while Cursor charges $30 a month for Premium and still bills third-party models separately. For most developers, the choice is simple: happy with Grok, pick Cursor. Need Claude or GPT daily, pick Devin Desktop. Try both free plans on your real code for a week. The editor that saves you more time is the right one.