Bottom line: Windsurf is the AI coding editor that started life as Codeium, is now owned by Cognition (the company behind the Devin agent) and has shipped under the name Devin Desktop since 2 June 2026, with windsurf.com redirecting to devin.ai. It is still a capable VS Code-derived editor with agentic coding built in, free to try and US$20 a month for Pro, but you are buying into Cognition’s Devin ecosystem rather than a standalone Windsurf product.
| What it is | A VS Code-derived AI code editor with a built-in coding agent, originally released by Codeium, acquired by Cognition and rebranded to Devin Desktop in June 2026. The JetBrains and VS Code plugin line still carries the Windsurf name. |
| Best for | Developers who want agentic, multi-file editing inside a familiar VS Code-style interface, and teams who also want to hand longer jobs to Cognition’s cloud agents from the same account and subscription. |
| Weakest at | Continuity. Two ownership changes and a rename inside two years, and the Cascade agent was retired around 1 July 2026 with several of its features – persisted memories, workflows, Codemaps, app deploys and conversation sharing – missing from the Devin Local replacement at launch. |
| Pricing | Free plan with a light agent quota plus unlimited tab completions and inline edits; Pro US$20 a month; Max US$200 a month; Teams US$80 a month plus US$40 per full developer seat; Enterprise on request. Usage runs on daily and weekly quotas, with anything beyond charged at API rates. |
| Our take | Still worth trying as a Cursor alternative, but evaluate it as Devin Desktop, not as Windsurf. Check the data-training setting before you load a private repository into it – opting out requires a paid plan. |
Independent review. No affiliate links. Last checked 23 August 2026.
https://devin.ai (formerly codeium.com/windsurf, then windsurf.com)
Windsurf AI came from Codeium, which rebranded itself to Windsurf before Cognition acquired the company. It was another ChatGPT alternative for coding assistance, and at launch in November 2024 its Cascade agent used the Claude 3.5 Sonnet model by default, which was widely praised in the programming community at the time and rated the best LLM for coding in AI code tests. The default agent is now Cognition’s own. Windsurf AI was built to help you enter a “flow state” in coding. That essentially meant that the AI agent was synced with your code, so you could chat and pair-program in real-time.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Windsurf still available in 2026?
Yes, though not under that name for the desktop editor. Cognition rebranded the standalone Windsurf editor as Devin Desktop on 2 June 2026, and windsurf.com now redirects to devin.ai. Existing installations were updated in place and remain backward compatible, and the editor plugins for JetBrains and VS Code still carry the Windsurf name.
Who owns Windsurf now?
Cognition, the company behind the Devin coding agent. Windsurf was built by Codeium. In July 2025 Google struck a licensing deal that took Windsurf’s founders and several senior researchers, and Cognition then acquired the remaining company, including its product, brand, intellectual property and staff. It is no longer an independent business.
Is Windsurf free?
There is a free plan. It gives unlimited tab completions and unlimited inline edits plus a light quota for agent work, with limited model availability. Paid tiers are Pro at 20 US dollars a month, Max at 200 US dollars, and Teams at 80 US dollars a month plus 40 US dollars per full developer seat. Enterprise pricing is quoted individually.
Does Windsurf train on my code?
By default it may. Cognition’s documentation states that it may use your data for model training to improve the service. Paid users can opt out under Data Controls, which also switches on zero data retention with the underlying model providers. On Teams plans only an administrator can opt out, and Enterprise customers are never trained on without written consent.
What happened to Cascade in Windsurf?
Cascade, the original local agent, was retired around 1 July 2026 and replaced by Devin Local, a Rust rewrite that is more token-efficient and can spawn subagents for subtasks. Several Cascade features did not ship with it at launch, including persisted memories, workflows, Codemaps, app deploys and conversation sharing.
Is Windsurf the same as Codeium?
It is the same lineage. Codeium was the original company and the name of its editor plugin, and the company later renamed both itself and its editor Windsurf. After the Cognition acquisition the desktop editor became Devin Desktop, while the JetBrains and VS Code extensions kept the Windsurf name. Old codeium.com links now redirect.
Windsurf vs Cursor: which should I choose?
Both are VS Code-derived editors with agentic coding built in, and their Pro tiers are priced similarly at around 20 US dollars a month. Cursor is the safer pick on product continuity. Windsurf, now Devin Desktop, makes more sense if you also want Cognition’s cloud agents and its in-house SWE models from a single subscription.