Cursor and Windsurf both cost $20/month for Pro, but their roadmaps and agent ecosystems now separate them more than their base feature lists do.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Windsurf | Cursor |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Free available | Free available |
| Paid price | $20/mo USD | $20/mo USD |
| Autocomplete | ||
| Agentic Mode | ||
| Multi File Editing | ||
| Terminal Integration | ||
| MCP support | ||
| Cloud Agents | ||
| Free Tier | ||
| VS Code compatible | ||
| Custom Models | ||
| Teams Features | ||
| JetBrains support | — | |
| Github Integration | — | |
| Score | 7/10 | 9/10 |
Cursor
9
Windsurf
7
Runner-up
Cursor is the better pick for most developers because it has a bigger ecosystem, a more stable roadmap, and MCP support that compounds as your workflow grows. Windsurf is worth considering on a budget because its free tier includes SWE-1.6 Slow, but the acquisition uncertainty remains.
What Happened to Windsurf
Cognition acquired Windsurf for $250M in December 2025. The editor is still being developed, but windsurf.com now redirects to Devin, pricing was restructured in March 2026, and the product's direction is tied to Cognition's autonomous coding plans.
Meanwhile, Cursor continued shipping, grew its user base, added MCP support, launched Bugbot for automated PR review, and introduced cloud agents, making it the market leader.
Pricing
Both charge $20/month for Pro, but their free tiers differ sharply.
Windsurf Free includes unlimited inline edits and Tab completions, with SWE-1.6 Slow as the default model. That recent addition turns the free tier from a trial into something you can use day to day.
Cursor Hobby limits Agent and Tab completions enough that most developers will outgrow it within a week of serious use.
Windsurf wins on free, while Cursor has the edge on paid with MCP support, Bugbot, and a more mature plugin ecosystem at the same price.
Agent Capabilities
Windsurf's Cascade handles multi-file edits and multi-step planning well, and it now connects to Devin Cloud for fully autonomous runs. This integration suits developers who want to hand off a task and return to it later.
Cursor's Agent, combined with MCP support, can pull external tools, databases, and APIs into its context, while Bugbot adds automated PR review. The more of your stack you connect through MCP, the more useful Cursor's agent becomes compared with Windsurf's.
Both perform well for standard refactoring, debugging, and feature-building tasks, but the gap grows with workflow complexity.