Windsurf is an AI-native code editor with Cascade — an autonomous agent that makes multi-file changes, remembers your codebase across sessions and shows your app live inside the editor. Built on VS Code by Codeium. Over 1 million users. Free tier available. Pro is $20 per month.
Windsurf is an AI-native code editor built by Codeium — the same company behind the free Codeium autocomplete extension used by millions of developers. Where the Codeium extension adds AI features to editors you already have, Windsurf is a standalone editor that builds AI into every layer of the development experience from the ground up.
It is built on Visual Studio Code, so it looks familiar and supports VS Code extensions, themes and keybindings. The difference is Cascade — Windsurf's AI agent that works autonomously across your entire codebase, making multi-step changes without needing step-by-step approval from you.
As of April 2026, Windsurf has over 1 million users and is considered by many developers to be the most approachable AI IDE for beginners — easier to get started with than Cursor while matching it on most features. Pro is $20 per month, matching Cursor's price after a March 2026 pricing update.
Cascade is Windsurf's standout feature and what differentiates it from editors that bolt AI onto a traditional interface. It is an agentic AI system that works the way a developer would: reads your files, understands context, makes a plan, executes changes across multiple files, runs terminal commands, checks the output and iterates. You describe what you want in plain English. Cascade figures out how to do it.
What makes Cascade distinctive is its default autonomy. Compared to Cursor's Agent mode, Cascade acts first and asks less — it runs more steps automatically before stopping for confirmation. Developers who want to stay closely involved in every decision prefer Cursor. Developers who want to describe a goal and come back to a finished result often prefer Windsurf.
Cascade also has Memories — it learns and stores information about your codebase and preferred patterns over time. When you return to a project, Cascade remembers how you named things, which patterns you prefer, and how your project is structured. This reduces the amount of context you have to re-explain each session.
Windsurf is particularly well-suited for developers new to AI-assisted coding. The interface is cleaner and more approachable than Cursor, the setup is faster, and the web preview feature — which shows your running application live inside the editor — removes one common source of friction for beginners.
It is also well-suited for teams, with Memories making it easier for multiple people to work in the same AI-assisted environment with consistent context. The JetBrains plugin, released in 2026, brings Cascade to developers who prefer IntelliJ or PyCharm without requiring them to switch editors entirely.
Cursor has been around longer and has more mature features, especially for complex multi-file refactoring. Windsurf's Tab autocomplete is considered slightly less accurate than Cursor's by most independent benchmarks in early 2026. If you are an experienced developer doing complex architectural work, Cursor's Composer 2 is currently the stronger tool.
For everything else — daily feature work, debugging, building new projects — most developers who have tried both report that Windsurf is easier to get productive with and generates high-quality code. The choice often comes down to personal workflow preference rather than capability difference.
Yes. The Free tier includes unlimited Tab autocomplete (Tab never consumes your quota on any plan) and limited Cascade usage — enough to try the tool seriously. Pro is $20 per month after the March 2026 pricing update, which moved from a credit system to daily and weekly quotas. Max is $200 per month for power users who run Cascade intensively all day. Teams is $40 per user per month.
Go to windsurf.com and download the installer for your operating system. Windsurf supports macOS, Windows and Linux. It requires a free Codeium account to use. Create one during the install process — no credit card required for the Free tier.
On first launch, Windsurf offers to import your VS Code settings, extensions, themes and keybindings. Accept this if you use VS Code — your full environment transfers in one click. If you use JetBrains, install the Windsurf JetBrains plugin instead: Settings → Plugins → Marketplace → search "Windsurf".
Open your project folder. Windsurf indexes your codebase using Cascade's deep contextual understanding system. This takes a minute or two on first open. After indexing, Cascade knows your project well enough to make changes that respect your existing patterns.
Start typing any function. Ghost text appears completing your thought. Press Tab to accept. Tab completion in Windsurf uses a fast local model and never counts against your quota.
Press Cmd+L (Mac) or Ctrl+L (Windows/Linux) to open the Cascade panel. Describe something you want to build or change. Watch Cascade read the relevant files, make a plan, and execute it. For the first task, try something contained: "Add input validation to the login form" or "Write tests for the user service".
If you are building a web application, click the Preview button in the toolbar. Windsurf starts a local server and shows your running app inside the editor. You can click on elements in the preview and tell Cascade to change them — "make this button blue" or "fix the alignment of this section" — and the changes appear live.
Memories are Windsurf's persistent context system. Cascade automatically detects things worth remembering — your naming conventions, preferred libraries, patterns you keep correcting — and stores them. You can view and edit memories in Settings → Memories.
To get the most from memories, review them after your first few sessions. Remove anything wrong. Add things Cascade keeps getting wrong. The more accurate your memory profile, the less time you spend re-explaining context and the better Cascade's first attempt at any task will be.
Windsurf is built by Codeium, which raised over $150 million in funding and serves millions of developers through its various products. Windsurf is a fork of Visual Studio Code with Cascade deeply integrated into the editor architecture rather than added as an extension. According to Windsurf's official product page, Cascade combines deep codebase understanding, advanced tools and real-time awareness of your actions into what it calls a "seamless, collaborative flow."
Cascade supports multiple AI models including Claude Sonnet 4.6 (added February 2026, per official Windsurf blog), GPT-5.4 (added March 2026), and Gemini 3.1 Pro (added February 2026). An Adaptive router, introduced April 2026, automatically selects the most appropriate model for each request without drawing from your premium quota.
Windsurf's March 2026 pricing update moved from a credit system to daily and weekly quotas, documented in the official Windsurf pricing change blog post. Tab autocomplete is unlimited on all tiers and never consumes quota. Cascade usage and premium model selection draw from daily/weekly limits. The current tiers per windsurf.com/pricing as of April 2026:
Windsurf supports MCP (Model Context Protocol) for connecting external tools and services, documented on windsurf.com/features. Curated MCP servers are available in Windsurf settings for one-click setup.
The Windsurf JetBrains plugin, announced in 2026, brings agentic Cascade capabilities to IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, GoLand and other JetBrains IDEs without requiring a full editor switch. This is a significant expansion from Windsurf's original VS Code-only approach.