Cursor vs Windsurf

Detailed side-by-side comparison to help you choose the right tool

Cursor

🔴Developer

AI Coding IDE

AI-first IDE built as a VS Code fork, with the Composer agent, Cursor Tab autocomplete, and native MCP and skills marketplaces.

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Starting Price

Custom
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Windsurf

🔴Developer

AI Coding

Agentic IDE from the Codeium team (now under Cognition after the OpenAI acquisition drama) built around the Cascade agent — a flow-first editor that keeps you and the AI in sync as it edits, runs, and iterates across a whole codebase.

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Starting Price

Free
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Feature Comparison

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FeatureCursorWindsurf
CategoryAI Coding IDEAI Coding
Pricing Plans192 tiers97 tiers
Starting PriceFree
Key Features
  • • AI code editor with agent requests and Tab completions
  • • Cloud agents plus terminal, Slack, and GitHub workflows
  • • MCPs, skills, hooks, and frontier model access on paid plans
  • • Cascade agentic coding workflow inside an AI-native IDE
  • • First-class support for major model providers and premium models
  • • SWE-1.6/SWE model positioning, Fast Context, tab completions, and plan-based Cascade allowances

Cursor - Pros & Cons

Pros

  • ✓Multi-line Tab completion can accelerate repetitive edits
  • ✓Composer can plan and apply coordinated changes across files
  • ✓Choice across Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, DeepSeek, and Cursor models
  • ✓Paid team controls include privacy mode, administration, and SSO

Cons

  • ✗Current prices and model allowances require vendor confirmation
  • ✗Large agent changes can look plausible while introducing subtle regressions
  • ✗Cloud execution requires careful handling of secrets and repository access
  • ✗Teams may need editor migration, rules, and review standards

Windsurf - Pros & Cons

Pros

  • ✓Cascade is the strongest IDE-native multi-file planner in the category
  • ✓SWE-1.7 is competitive with Claude and GPT-5 on real refactor tasks
  • ✓First-class MCP client works across both Cascade and inline chat
  • ✓Shared umbrella with Devin — one vendor for IDE agent + autonomous runs
  • ✓Enterprise SSO and on-prem options make procurement easy for regulated orgs

Cons

  • ✗Post-acquisition roadmap has caused some model-availability churn
  • ✗Max tier at $200/month is only justified if you burn Cascade quotas daily
  • ✗Smaller extension ecosystem than a vanilla VS Code environment
  • ✗MCP server catalog isn't as curated as Cursor's or Cline's marketplaces

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🔒 Security & Compliance Comparison

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Security FeatureCursorWindsurf
SOC2—✅ Yes
GDPR—✅ Yes
HIPAA——
SSO—✅ Yes
Self-Hosted—✅ Yes
On-Prem—✅ Yes
RBAC—✅ Yes
Audit Log—✅ Yes
Open Source—❌ No
API Key Auth—✅ Yes
Encryption at Rest—✅ Yes
Encryption in Transit—✅ Yes
Data Residency—US, EU
Data Retention—configurable
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