Windsurf vs Continue

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

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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Continue

🔴Developer

AI Coding

Open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains with a hub for custom assistants, MCP tools, prompts, and rules — the go-to when a team wants a Copilot-shaped experience they fully control.

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Starting Price

Custom
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Feature Comparison

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FeatureWindsurfContinue
CategoryAI CodingAI Coding
Pricing Plans97 tiers187 tiers
Starting PriceFree
Key Features
  • • 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
  • • Open-source AI assistant for configurable developer workflows
  • • Source-controlled AI checks on every pull request
  • • Custom team standards that can be reviewed like code

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

Continue - Pros & Cons

Pros

  • ✓Supports chat, autocomplete, edits, and agents in VS Code and JetBrains
  • ✓Works with hosted, self-hosted, and local model providers
  • ✓Versioned assistants package models, rules, docs, prompts, and tools
  • ✓Apache 2.0 licensing gives teams meaningful control over deployment

Cons

  • ✗Model and embedding configuration can be more work than a bundled assistant
  • ✗Local models require capable hardware and careful quality testing
  • ✗Team-tier prices and exact entitlements were not independently verified
  • ✗A broad provider matrix can create inconsistent experiences across developers

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🔒 Security & Compliance Comparison

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Security FeatureWindsurfContinue
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 ResidencyUS, EU—
Data Retentionconfigurable—
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Review WindsurfReview Continue