Alternatives · checked 7 November 2026 · by Guilherme Jovanovic
Best Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) alternatives
Windsurf is an AI code editor from Cognition, renamed Devin Desktop on June 2, 2026; it now opens to an Agent Command Center for local and cloud agents, with the classic IDE still available.
Free $0 (light quota, limited models); Pro $20/mo; Max $200/mo; Teams $80/mo plus $40/mo per full dev seat; Enterprise on request. Source
Quick Answer: Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) alternatives
If you liked the classic Windsurf editor and want to stay in an AI IDE, Cursor is the closest match, though Claude and GPT cost extra there. If quotas were the problem, Cline (free, pay your provider per token) removes them entirely, and Kiro publishes exact credit counts. If you mostly used Claude, Claude Code at $20/mo is the direct route.
Why people leave Windsurf (now Devin Desktop)
Credits were replaced by daily and weekly quotas.
In March 2026 Windsurf dropped its credit system for daily and weekly quotas. Reviewers on Trustpilot described the change as arriving with about 12 hours' notice, and one reported being locked out for three days after using the weekly quota in four. uk.trustpilot.com
Unused allowance no longer carries over.
Commenters on the Product Hunt discussion of the change said daily quotas are worse than credits for bursty work, because unused capacity is lost instead of banked. producthunt.com
Frontier models use up the quota fast.
Reviewers reported a single Claude Opus request costing several dollars of quota and one Opus task reaching 50% of a weekly limit in under 30 minutes; $200 plan users reported hitting limits within an hour. uk.trustpilot.com
The product is turning into an agent manager, not an editor.
With the rename to Devin Desktop, the Agent Command Center became the default view and the app, rules folder and CLI command were renamed, which also meant IT teams had to update device allowlists. docs.devin.ai
Slow support and refund disputes.
After the March 2026 pricing change, reviewers said support stopped responding and that a support bot said refunds were not offered, contradicting a pricing email. uk.trustpilot.com
7 alternatives, and who each one suits
Listed by use case, not by who pays us. Prices from each tool's official pricing page.
- 01
Cursor
Free; Plus $8/mo; Premium $30/mo; Super $100/mo; Ultra $200/mo; Teams from $30/user/mo source- Best for
- People who want the closest editor experience to classic Windsurf and are happy with Grok models: Plus at $8/mo is the cheapest paid AI editor plan here.
- Fixes
- Agent-manager redesign (Cursor still opens as a code editor). It does not fix quotas: Cursor usage also comes from a weekly pool.
- Skip it if
- You mainly use Claude or GPT; in Cursor those are billed at API list price on top of the plan and need Premium ($30/mo) or higher.
- Best for
- Developers who want no quota at all: the open-source agent is free for individuals and you pay your model provider per token, so a heavy day costs more instead of locking you out. It runs in VS Code, JetBrains, a CLI, and inside Windsurf itself.
- Fixes
- Daily and weekly quotas; no rollover; frontier models draining a quota.
- Skip it if
- You want a fixed monthly price; your bill depends on how much you use.
- Best for
- Windsurf users who mostly ran Claude: Claude Pro at $20/mo includes Claude Code in the terminal, VS Code, JetBrains, a desktop app and the web.
- Fixes
- Claude Opus requests costing dollars of quota; support worries (large vendor).
- Skip it if
- You disliked quotas; Claude Code also has five-hour and weekly limits, shared with the Claude chat apps.
- Best for
- Developers who want a cheap plan inside their existing editor: Pro at $10/mo includes unlimited completions, model choice and the Claude Code and Codex agents.
- Fixes
- Agent-manager redesign; high plan prices.
- Skip it if
- You run long agent sessions; since June 2026 Copilot bills chat and agents in token-based AI Credits, and users report them running out in days.
- Best for
- Developers who want a fast editor that stays an editor: free with your own API keys or external agents like Codex via ACP, and AI can be turned off entirely.
- Fixes
- Agent-manager redesign; quotas (bring your own keys).
- Skip it if
- You need VS Code extensions; Zed is its own Rust editor with its own extension system.
- Best for
- People who want a published credit count instead of an abstract quota: each Kiro plan lists its monthly credits (1,000 on Pro at $20/mo) and extra credits cost $0.04 each.
- Fixes
- Daily and weekly quotas; unclear usage accounting.
- Skip it if
- You do not want Kiro's spec-first workflow, or you need models beyond its list.
- 07
Google Antigravity
Individuals $0; higher limits with Google AI Pro or Ultra (prices not listed on the Antigravity pricing page) source- Best for
- Developers who want an agent-first IDE without paying: the individual plan is $0 with unlimited tab completions and access to a range of agent models.
- Fixes
- Plan prices; quota costs of paid plans.
- Skip it if
- You need high limits without a Google AI subscription; the free plan has basic weekly rate limits.
Sponsored alternative
Building an alternative to Windsurf (now Devin Desktop)? This labelled spot, kept apart from the list above, is open. How sponsorship works
Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) alternatives: questions
Is Windsurf still available?
Is there a free alternative to Windsurf?
What is cheaper than Windsurf Pro?
Which alternative has no daily limits?
Checked 7 November 2026. Checked 2026-11-07. Prices read from official pricing pages on that date. The exact start date of the quota system is inconsistent across secondary sources (March or April 2026); Trustpilot reviews date the change to March 19-20, 2026. Trustpilot does not verify reviewers' claims. Product Hunt comments show only relative dates. Google AI Pro and Ultra prices were not on the Antigravity pricing page and are not stated here. Devin.ai's Free plan description does not say whether extra usage can be bought, so that claim from a secondary review is left out. How we choose and how we make money: disclosure.
Sources (16)
- https://devin.ai/pricing
- https://docs.devin.ai/desktop/devin-desktop-faq
- https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/windsurf.com?page=2
- https://www.producthunt.com/p/windsurf/windsurf-drops-credit-based-pricing-for-industry-standard-quotas-users-revolt
- https://cursor.com/pricing
- https://cline.bot/pricing
- https://cline.bot/
- https://claude.com/pricing
- https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11145838-using-claude-code-with-your-pro-or-max-plan
- https://github.com/features/copilot/plans
- https://github.blog/changelog/2026/04/27/github-copilot-is-moving-to-usage-based-billing/
- https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/06/02/github-copilot-users-threaten-exit-as-metered-billing-kicks-in/5249826
- https://zed.dev/pricing
- https://zed.dev/
- https://kiro.dev/pricing/
- https://antigravity.google/pricing