Cursor feels like “VS Code + ChatGPT on steroids”, while Windsurf (ex-Codeium) wants to be the first agent-native IDE. This post breaks down how they differ in 2025—from context handling to compliance, pricing, and community momentum.
1. Genesis & Product Vision 📜
| Tool | 2025 Tagline | Origin Story |
|---|---|---|
| Cursor | “The AI Code Editor.” Fork of VS Code with GPT-4o, Claude 3.5/3.7/4.0, Gemini 2.5 built-in. | Spun out of Anysphere (YC W21) in 2023; raised \$900 M at a \$9.9 B valuation in June 2025. |
| Windsurf | “Tomorrow’s editor, today.” First agentic IDE; formerly Codeium. | Rebranded Jan 2025; agreed to be acquired by OpenAI for \$3 B in May 2025. |
While both embed frontier LLMs, Cursor doubles-down on familiar VS Code ergonomics, whereas Windsurf bets on Cascade—a multi-tool agent that edits files and runs shell commands autonomously.
2. Hands-On UX 🖥️
Cursor
- Looks & feels exactly like VS Code—existing themes, keybindings, and extensions migrate in one click.
- AI output appears in a side panel; you decide which diffs to apply, giving granular control.
- Agent Mode can explore the repo, read docs, browse the web, and run terminal commands, but still asks before committing changes. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
Windsurf
- Custom UI—minimal, “Apple-polished”; file tree + omni-command palette.
- Cascade Agent auto-scans the whole repo, picks affected files, executes tests/commands, and patches code directly—zero confirmation dialogs. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
- Inline completions are powered by Windsurf’s SWE-1 family (SWE-1 mini/lite/full) for ultra-low latency.
3. Feature-by-Feature Breakdown 🔍
| Area | Cursor | Windsurf |
|---|---|---|
| Context Injection |
@codebase, @files tags let you pick scope—precise but manual. |
Full-repo embeddings; Cascade chooses context automatically. |
| Autonomous Actions | Agent edits code & can run terminal, but always shows diffs first. | Cascade edits and runs npm test, pytest, docker compose up without prompting. |
| Inline Completion | Longer, often more coherent for entire components/pages. | Slightly shorter but ~30 % faster on SWE-1. |
| Observability | Side panel shows agent “thinking” steps. | Timeline panel lists Cascade’s actions + CLI output. |
| Third-Party Extensions | Full VS Code marketplace. | Growing native plugin hub; can load some VS Code extensions via shim. |
| LLM Choice | GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet 3.5, Gemini 2.5 Pro; auto-switches by task. | SWE-1 first; boosts to Claude Sonnet or GPT-4o for “Premium” prompts. |
4. Pricing Cheat-Sheet 💳
| Plan | Cursor | Windsurf |
|---|---|---|
| Free/Hobby | 200 completions + 50 GPT requests/mo. | Unlimited SWE-1 slow completions. |
| Pro | \$20 USD / user / mo → 500 “fast” requests + unlimited slow. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4} | \$15 USD / seat / mo → 500 premium credits (≈2 000 GPT-4o-equiv requests) + unlimited SWE-1. |
| Business | \$40 / user / mo → SSO, RBAC, Privacy-Mode enforced. | \$60 / user / mo → self-host, zero-retention, FedRAMP-High, SOC 2 Type II |
5. Security & Compliance 🔐
- Cursor → SOC 2 (Type I→II), Privacy Mode opt-in wipes prompts; no on-prem offering.
- Windsurf → SOC 2 Type II, optional zero-day retention, plus VPC / on-prem self-hosting for regulated orgs (HIPAA, FedRAMP).
For banks, healthcare, or defense, Windsurf’s self-host is often the deciding factor.
6. Community & Momentum 📈
| Metric (Q2-2025) | Cursor | Windsurf |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub Stars | 76 k | 48 k |
| Slack/Discord users | 140 k devs (18 k active weekly) | 85 k devs |
| Enterprise Pilots | Amazon, Stripe, Instacart, Shopify. Amazon considering company-wide rollout. | Microsoft, Snowflake, Bloomberg; pilots at Google DeepMind. |
| Funding / M&A | \$900 M Series C → \$9.9 B valuation. | \$3 B acquisition term sheet with OpenAI (pending close). |
Cursor currently boasts the bigger buzz—especially after the Amazon rumor—but Windsurf now has OpenAI’s weight behind it.
7. Real-World Pros & Cons 🎯
Cursor ✅
- + Familiar UX—zero learning curve for VS Code users.
- + Longer “first-try” completions—great for scaffolding full pages/components.
- + Thriving plugin & community ecosystem.
- – Manual context tags can get tedious.
- – No self-host may violate certain compliance regimes.
Windsurf ✅
- + Cascade Agent → fewer clicks, runs tests automatically.
- + Faster latency on proprietary SWE-1.
- + Cheaper Pro tier (15 \$ vs 20 \$).
- + On-prem deployment option = enterprise compliance win.
- – New UI means a small ramp-up.
- – Smaller extension catalog (for now).
8. Which One Should You Pick? 🤔
| You are… | Choose |
|---|---|
| A solo dev already living in VS Code, craving smarter completions. | Cursor |
| A team with strict data-residency / FedRAMP requirements. | Windsurf |
| A startup where \$5/seat savings × 30 engineers matters. | Windsurf |
| A front-end engineer who loves marketplace extensions & one-click themes. | Cursor |
| A staff engineer wanting a “one-prompt, run-tests, commit” agent. | Windsurf |
9. Roadmaps to Watch 📅
- Cursor plans to expose a plug-in system for Agent Mode, letting you add custom tools (e.g., Terraform, Databricks CLI).
- Windsurf is working on Cascade 2.0—multi-agent collaboration (one agent writes code, another reviews & benchmarks).
Both tools ship weekly, so expect this comparison to age fast.
10. The Bottom Line 💡
“Cursor is the AI co-pilot that respects your steering wheel; Windsurf is the self-driving car that asks only when it’s lost.”
Try both for a sprint, watch how many PRs land, how much context prep you do, and how often you say “wow.” Your team’s workflow, not pundit tables, should decide the winner.
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