Windsurf alternatives in 2026: 8 editors and agents to use instead

Disclosure: Enjoy is our product. We checked every app below against its maker’s own pages on November 4, 2026, and we say where another app is the better pick, Devin Desktop included.

Windsurf alternatives compared

If you’re looking for Windsurf, it’s now Devin Desktop: Cognition’s page says “Devin Desktop is the new name for Windsurf.” Some apps people weigh against it are editors that suggest code as you type; others are agents you hand a task to. Several work together, so leaving doesn’t always mean changing editors.

App	Best for	Price, checked November 4, 2026	Runs on	Models
Devin Desktop, formerly Windsurf	Several labs’ models on one plan, with cloud agents	Free; Pro $20 a month; Max $200	Mac, Windows, Linux	OpenAI, Claude, Gemini and SpaceXAI models from Pro
Cursor	The closest AI editor	Free; Plus $8 a month, Grok only; Premium $30, other labs at API prices	Mac, Windows, Linux	Grok and Composer; Claude, GPT and Gemini billed separately
GitHub Copilot	JetBrains and other IDEs, from $10 a month	Free; Pro $10 a month; Pro+ $39; Max $100	VS Code, JetBrains IDEs and others	A selection on Pro; premium models from Pro+
Antigravity	A free agent with Gemini	Free; Google AI Pro $19.99 a month; Ultra from $99.99	Mac, Windows, Linux, Googlebook	Gemini 3.8 Flash free; Claude Sonnet and Opus 5.5 from paid Pro
Zed	A fast, open-source editor	Free with your own keys or agents; Pro $10 a month	Mac, Windows, Linux	Any provider’s key, or Claude Code, Codex and other agents
Cline	An open-source agent inside your editor	Free for individuals; you pay for models	VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Cursor, Windsurf, Zed and others	Any provider’s key, or Cline’s own
Claude Code	Claude, on your Claude plan	Included in Claude Pro ($20 a month) and Max (from $100)	Mac, Windows, Linux; VS Code, Devin Desktop and other editors	Anthropic’s Claude models
Codex	GPT, on your ChatGPT plan	Free and Go ($8) in the desktop app; Plus $20; Pro from $100	Mac, Windows, Linux; VS Code, Windsurf and other editors	GPT-6 Luna on Free and Go; GPT-6.1 Sol from Plus
Enjoy	Several labs’ agents side by side, on your own plans	A monthly subscription, free for 7 days, with your phone and other computers (pricing)	Mac, Windows, Linux	Claude Code, Codex, Grok Build, Antigravity, Muse Code, OpenCode

Prices are per month as each maker lists them in the US, before tax.

Why people look for a Windsurf alternative

Four things on Cognition’s own pages send people looking:

• Cascade has left the editor. On June 2, 2026, Cognition introduced “Devin Local, which is the successor to Cascade,” and kept Cascade “through July 1st.” Its docs now say “Devin Desktop no longer starts new Cascade conversations and no longer opens old ones.”
• Workflows need moving. The same page says “Workflows are specific to Cascade” and that Devin Local “does not support them,” so “Migrate your workflows to skills.” The rename FAQ still says “Nothing is getting removed,” and links to how Devin Local “replaces memories and workflows with rules and skills.”
• Credits became quotas. “In March 2026, Devin Desktop replaced the credit-based system with a quota-based usage system,” say its docs, with “a daily and weekly budget.” Its pricing page lists no numbers for them.
• The JetBrains plugin is in maintenance mode. “The Windsurf JetBrains plugin is in maintenance mode. Newer JetBrains IDE releases can break the legacy plugin,” says the FAQ, which recommends Devin over ACP instead. The plugin “continues to be available for download.”

Cursor

Best for: the AI editor closest to Windsurf, if Grok and Composer do your work or you’ll pay API prices for other labs.

Cursor calls itself “your coding agent for building ambitious software,” and its download page says “The Cursor desktop app is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.” Cursor is now part of SpaceX, and is “sold as part of The X Subscription, one subscription for Grok, Cursor, and X.”

Price: Cursor’s pricing has Free, Plus at $8 a month, Premium at $30, Super at $100 and Ultra at $200.

Watch for: on Plus, “Only Grok models are available on this plan.” From Premium, other labs’ models come “at the model’s API list price from the first request,” paid from prepaid credit. OpenAI’s help center says “We have proposed a transition period of November 12, 2026” for its models there. Devin Desktop’s Pro, at $20, includes several labs’ models in its quota, so moving can cost more if you use Claude a lot. Our Cursor alternatives guide covers why people leave Cursor too.

GitHub Copilot

Best for: JetBrains users whose plugin is in maintenance mode, and anyone who wants several labs’ models from $10 a month.

GitHub Copilot’s plans page says “All plans include Copilot CLI and the Copilot app,” and it offers inline suggestions as you type. Its model list covers Claude, Gemini and GPT, across VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode and Eclipse.

Price: Copilot Free costs nothing. Pro is “$10 USD per month (free for some users),” with 1,500 GitHub AI Credits a month; Pro+ is $39, with 7,000; and Max is $100, with 20,000.

Watch for: “On Copilot Free and Copilot Student plans, access to models is available through auto model selection only,” so you can’t pick a model there. Inline suggestions are “Limited to 2000 completions per month on Copilot Free.” Pro has “A selection of models”; “Access to premium models” starts at Pro+.

Antigravity

Best for: a free desktop agent with Gemini, and Claude on one flat Google plan.

Antigravity is Google’s, “Available on macOS, Windows, Linux, and Googlebook.” Its pricing includes “Unlimited Tab completions” on the free plan.

Price: free, with Gemini 3.8 Flash. Google AI Pro is $19.99 a month and Ultra starts at $99.99. Its models page puts Claude Sonnet and Opus 5.5 on Pro and Ultra, “for non-trial subscriptions only” on Pro.

Watch for: free accounts get “A meaningful quota, refreshed weekly,” per its plans page, and the Claude 4.6 models on free accounts “Will be removed on November 18, 2026.” Our memo has the details.

Zed

Best for: a fast, open-source editor, free with your own API keys or with Claude Code and Codex.

Zed calls itself “a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter,” and “Zed source code is licensed primarily under GPL-3.0-or-later,” says its GitHub. It has downloads for macOS, Windows and Linux, and it runs other agents in the editor: “Zed does not charge for External Agents.”

Price: its pricing has Personal at $0, with “Unlimited use with your API keys or external agents like Claude Agent, Codex CLI, and more.” Pro, at $10 a month, adds “Unlimited edit predictions” and “$5 of tokens included.” Business is $30 a seat.

Watch for: on the free plan, the AI is whatever you bring, and an external agent such as Codex “owns its own authentication and billing.” Beyond Pro’s $5, tokens cost “API list price +10%.” Zed isn’t built on VS Code, so don’t expect Devin Desktop’s extensions to come with you.

Cline

Best for: keeping the editor you have, Devin Desktop included, with an open-source agent and your own keys.

Cline’s docs say it “works across all major editors,” naming VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, JetBrains, Antigravity and Zed. It’s under Apache 2.0 on GitHub.

Price: “The Cline open source extension is completely free for individual developers,” says its pricing. “You can bring your own API keys or use the Cline provider,” and ClinePass is a “Flat $9.99/month subscription that offers 2-5x the usage on popular open coding models compared to standard API rate.”

Watch for: “You only pay for AI inference credits when you use AI models,” but you do pay: by the token with your own keys or Cline’s credits. An Anthropic key bills apart from any Claude plan you have.

Claude Code

Best for: Claude on the plan you pay for, in the terminal, Claude’s desktop app or your editor, which can stay Devin Desktop.

Claude Code is Anthropic’s coding agent: you hand it a task, and it reads your project, edits files and runs commands. Its extension installs in VS Code and Cursor, and “the extension also installs in forks like Devin Desktop or Kiro.”

Price: Claude’s pricing has it on all paid plans: Pro at $20 a month, or $17 billed yearly, Max from $100, and Ultra at $200.

Watch for: “Pro and Max plans have a five-hour session limit and a weekly limit,” says Anthropic’s help center, and “These limits are shared across Claude and Claude Code.” It runs only Claude, and in the editor, “Some features are only available in the CLI.” Our Claude Code vs Codex guide compares it with OpenAI’s agent.

Codex

Best for: GPT on your ChatGPT plan, with a free way to start.

OpenAI’s Codex runs in the ChatGPT desktop app, in a terminal and in your editor. Its IDE docs say “VS Code and compatible editors use the Codex extension,” and list Windsurf among them.

Price: on Codex’s pricing, Free, and Go at $8 a month, get “GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the desktop app, subject to rollout.” Plus, at $20, adds “Codex on the web, in the CLI, in the IDE extension, and on iOS” and GPT-6.1 Sol. Pro starts at $100.

Watch for: Codex inside your editor starts with Plus. OpenAI’s usage estimates “are not fixed message limits,” and “Weekly limits may also apply.” It runs only OpenAI’s models.

Enjoy

Best for: Claude Code, Codex and other labs’ agents side by side, on the plans you already pay for, when you’d rather describe a change than type it.

Enjoy is a desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux that runs Claude Code, Codex, Grok Build, Antigravity, Muse Code, and local models through OpenCode, on the plans you already have. It doesn’t run Devin or Cursor. What it adds:

• Switch agents mid-conversation. Hand a job from Codex to Claude Code: “The new agent gets the conversation so far, including replies from other agents, before it works on your message.”
• Keep going through limits. When an agent runs out of usage, Enjoy switches to another of your accounts or waits for the reset, then carries on.
• Every project at once. Each conversation runs its own agent, and JOY keeps an eye on all your projects.
• Your work, in view. You can edit your project’s files in its code editor, and agents open your site beside the conversation and click through it.

Price: Enjoy is one monthly subscription, and the first seven days are free, with a card to start. It includes your phone and any browser and your other computers, and each teammate you invite needs a subscription of their own. See pricing.

Watch for: Enjoy isn’t an editor in Windsurf’s sense. Its code editor has no AI completions as you type: the agents write the code. It doesn’t add Claude to a ChatGPT plan or GPT to a Claude one, and it runs the Codex CLI, which OpenAI includes from Plus. Enjoy runs Claude Code headless, and if the reports in issue #97074, still open, are right, that uses the five-hour window faster than in a terminal. Enjoy isn’t open source, it’s a monthly subscription on top of your AI plans once the free week ends, and scheduled workflows run only while your computer is awake with Enjoy open.

When to stay with Devin Desktop

Your plan still works. “Your current plan and pricing stay exactly the same,” says Cognition, and settings carry over. Stay if you want OpenAI, Claude, Gemini and SpaceXAI models in one $20 plan with “Unlimited Tab completions,” or Devin Cloud, which Pro includes. Pro also has “Free use of SWE-2,” Cognition’s own model, and “free models don’t count against your quota at all.”

You don’t have to leave the editor to use another agent, either. Its ACP support runs Codex CLI, Claude Agent and OpenCode in its Agent Command Center, on the Free, Pro, Max and Teams plans, and “billing is directly between you and the third-party agent provider.”

Move if you relied on Cascade’s workflows and don’t want to redo them as skills, if you need a published number for your quota, or if you’re on JetBrains and the plugin keeps breaking.

How we compared

We read each maker’s pricing, plans and docs on November 4, 2026, and every one is linked below. We quote their own words for the limits, and we don’t count features a maker hasn’t documented. Plans and models in this category change often, so we recheck this guide against its sources at least once a month, and the date at the foot of the page says when we last did.