Cursor vs Windsurf — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Cursor and Windsurf both start at $20/mo on their entry tier.
How pricing works
These two tools don't price the same way, so the headline numbers below aren't directly comparable until you plug in your own volume.
- Cursor (Hybrid) — Cursor is hybrid: a fixed subscription from $20/mo plus metered usage on top (Pro). Your real bill moves with volume, not seat count.
- Windsurf (Tiered) — Windsurf bills on a fixed plan from $20/mo, so the listed price is what you pay regardless of volume.
Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.
AI-first code editor built on VS Code, and the reference product in the AI-coding category. Every paid plan includes a credit pool equal to the subscription price, consumed by AI operations at underlying LLM token cost. Pricing: Hobby free, Pro $20/mo, Pro+ $60/mo, Ultra $200/mo, Teams $40/user/mo, Enterprise custom. Annual billing ~20% off. Powers Anysphere's growth to $500M+ ARR.
AI-first code editor (formerly Codeium). Restructured Mar 19 2026: retired credit-based system, introduced daily/weekly quotas. Free tier (unlimited Tab autocomplete + light Cascade quota), Pro $20/mo, Max $200/mo, Teams $40/user/mo, Enterprise custom. Pro raised from $15 to $20 in the restructure. Acquired by Cognition AI 2025 (Devin autonomous agent team).
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | Cursor monthly | Cursor annual | Windsurf monthly | Windsurf annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | Hobby / Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Entry paid | Pro | $20 | $16 | $20 | $16 |
| Mid tier | Pro+ / — | $60 | $48 | — | — |
| Pro / power | Ultra / Max | $200 | $160 | $200 | $160 |
| Teams | Teams | $40 | $32 | $40 | $32 |
| Enterprise | Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Tier names differ across vendors. Rows are aligned by tier role, not name. Full tier structures on each tool's page.
What each is best for
Cursor is worth it if… developers who want an AI-native editor where autocomplete, chat, and agent-mode Composer feel like extensions of the IDE — not bolted on. The credit-pool model is the interesting pricing innovation: your $20 subscription IS your $20 of AI usage, so heavy Claude Opus users burn faster than lighter GPT-5 mini users.
Windsurf is worth it if… developers who want an AI-first editor priced on daily/weekly quotas (predictable) rather than Cursor's credit-pool model (metered). Free tier is more generous than Cursor's Hobby — unlimited Tab autocomplete is a real productivity floor for solo devs.
Bottom line: Choose based on how you want to pay — Cursor is hybrid, Windsurf is tiered.
Choose Cursor over Windsurf if…
Choose Cursor if…
- You want the most mature agentic editor with the deepest model line-up.
- You're a developer who lives in the editor and wants long-context, multi-file edits.
- You want predictable seat pricing with usage-based headroom when you need it.
Choose Windsurf if…
- You want flat, predictable credits without a usage meter running in the background.
- You're a team that values a simpler pricing story over maximum model choice.
- You need enterprise deployment options including self-hosted variants.
Feature comparison
| AI Coding | Cursor | Windsurf |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | ||
| Multi-model AI | ||
| Autonomous agent mode | ||
| Custom rules / memory | ||
| Team plan | ||
| On-prem / self-hosted | — | Partial |
| SOC 2 | ||
| Self-serve signup |
Feature parity verified against vendor pricing and docs pages on September 10, 2026. Missing a feature? Tell us — we'll fact-check and update.
At a glance
| Cursor | Windsurf | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | $20/mo | $20/mo |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Hybrid | Tiered |
| Last verified | September 10, 2026 | September 10, 2026 |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 10, 2026. Tracked daily.