Devin vs Windsurf
Devin, from Cognition Labs, is marketed as an AI software engineer: you assign it a coding task — a bug fix, a small feature, a dependency upgrade — and it works in its own sandboxed environment with its own shell, code editor, and browser, planning and executing the steps needed, then opening a pull request for a human to review. It integrates with GitHub, Slack, and Linear so it can fit into an existing team's workflow rather than requiring a separate tool. There's no free tier; usage is billed via "ACUs" (Agent Compute Units) starting around $20/mo for a limited allowance, and complex or long-running tasks can consume credits quickly. Devin works best on well-scoped, clearly defined tasks — ambiguous or very large tasks still benefit from human breakdown first, and all output should go through normal code review before merging.
Windsurf was rebranded to Devin Desktop in 2026 after Cognition AI acquired the product; the underlying editor and its capabilities carried over unchanged, only the name and branding changed. It is a standalone AI-native code editor combining fast autocomplete and chat with "Cascade" — an agentic mode that can plan out a multi-step task, make coordinated edits across multiple files, run terminal commands, and iterate based on the results, with the developer reviewing changes along the way. This makes it a strong option for tasks like implementing a feature that touches several files, or refactoring a pattern across a codebase. The free tier remains available at $0; paid plans now start at $20/month for Pro, with Max ($200/month) and Team ($80/month + $40/month per seat) tiers above it, plus a custom Enterprise plan. Very large monorepos can still slow down the initial indexing step.
| Devin | Windsurf | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI Agents | Coding |
| Price | From $20/mo | Free / from $20mo |
- + Handles multi-step engineering tasks with less hand-holding
- + Works in an isolated sandbox with its own tools
- + Integrates with GitHub, Slack, and Linear
- + Opens PRs for normal human review
- – No free tier; usage-based ACU pricing can get expensive
- – Best suited to well-scoped tasks
- – Output still requires careful human review
- + Strong agentic multi-file editing (Cascade)
- + Generous free tier for individuals
- + Fast, responsive autocomplete
- + Standalone editor, no extension setup needed
- – Pricing/credit model has changed multiple times
- – Large monorepos can slow indexing
- – Smaller plugin ecosystem than VS Code-based tools