Claude Code vs Windsurf

Updated 16 Oct 2026 · Facts from vendor pages · How we rank →

Who should pick which

Windsurf has been renamed Devin Desktop (June 2026), so this is really Claude Code against Cognition's agent IDE. Pick Claude Code if you want Anthropic's agent in your terminal, bundled with a Claude subscription. Pick Windsurf/Devin Desktop if you want a graphical IDE with a free plan that can also host Claude Agent itself through ACP, next to Devin and Codex, in one Kanban view. Using Claude Agent inside Devin Desktop doesn't make the costs go away: model usage still comes from somewhere.

Side by side

	Claude Code	Windsurf
Starting price	$17/month (via Claude Pro, billed annually)	$20/month (Pro)
Pricing model	paid	freemium
Free tier	✕ None listed	Light agent quota, limited models, unlimited inline edits and Tab completions
Best for	Developers who prefer terminal-driven agents working across a repo	Developers who want a VS Code-style IDE that manages several local and cloud agents from one screen
Main limitation	No standalone free tier: usage comes from a paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Team) or API usage.	The product has been rebranded and reworked: Windsurf is now Devin Desktop and the Cascade agent was replaced. Paid usage is a daily and weekly quota, and anything over it is billed at model API prices.
Key plans & features	Claude Pro: $17/month annual or $20 monthly Claude Max: From $100/month Team premium seat: Includes Claude Code and Claude Cowork	Free: Light agent quota, limited models, unlimited inline edits and Tab completions Pro: Higher quotas, frontier models, Devin Cloud agents, extra usage at API pricing Max: Significantly higher quotas
Platforms	Terminal (CLI)	Desktop (macOS, Windows, Linux), Cloud agents (Devin Cloud)
Integrations	Not yet verified	Agent Client Protocol (Codex, Claude Agent, OpenCode), OpenAI, Anthropic, Google models, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket
Model / provider	Anthropic	Multi-provider: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others, plus Cognition's own SWE models
Last checked	16 Oct 2026	16 Oct 2026
	Visit Claude Code →	Visit Windsurf →

Prices as listed by each vendor on the check date, before tax. Plans and limits change; follow the sources below.

Starting price

Claude Code$17/month (via Claude Pro, billed annually)

Windsurf$20/month (Pro)

Lowest paid plan shown on each vendor’s pricing page, checked 16 Oct 2026. Currencies as listed.

Open in the interactive comparer →

Full profiles: Claude Code profile · Windsurf profile

FAQ

Can I use Claude inside Windsurf/Devin Desktop?

Yes. Devin Desktop lists Claude Agent among the ACP-compatible agents it supports at launch, and Pro includes frontier models from Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.

Which has a free plan?

Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) has a Free plan with a light agent quota and unlimited Tab completions. Claude Code has no free tier.

Is Claude Code an IDE?

No. Claude Code is a terminal-based agent. Devin Desktop is a full desktop IDE built on the Windsurf editor.

Sources

Claude Code: Claude Code docs checked 16 Oct 2026
Claude Code: Claude pricing checked 16 Oct 2026
Windsurf: Devin / Devin Desktop pricing (windsurf.com/pricing redirects here) checked 16 Oct 2026
Windsurf: Cognition: Windsurf is now Devin Desktop (2 Jun 2026) checked 16 Oct 2026

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