Smithery vs Windsurf

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

Smithery

🟡Low Code

AI Agents

Smithery is the registry and hosted runtime for Model Context Protocol servers — discover, install and run MCP servers for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf and more.

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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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FeatureSmitheryWindsurf
CategoryAI AgentsAI Coding
Pricing Plans78 tiers97 tiers
Starting PriceFree
Key Features
  • • Searchable registry of thousands of MCP servers with install counts and reviews
  • • One-line install for Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, OpenClaw and VS Code
  • • Hosted streamable HTTP runtime for remote MCP servers
  • • 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

Smithery - Pros & Cons

Pros

  • ✓Install commands genuinely work first-try across Claude, Cursor and Windsurf.
  • ✓Schema-driven configuration prevents the most common MCP setup errors.
  • ✓Hosted runtime removes ops burden and unlocks cloud and browser-based clients.

Cons

  • ✗Hosted runtime cold starts can be slow on rarely-used long-tail servers.
  • ✗Some catalog entries in the long tail are unmaintained or abandoned.
  • ✗Monetization for free OSS server authors is still an evolving story.

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 FeatureSmitheryWindsurf
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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