Windsurf Review 2026: Is It Worth Switching from Cursor?
Last updated: February 2026
Windsurf is the AI code editor that keeps showing up in “Cursor alternatives” threads. Built by Codeium (now rebranded), it promises a similar AI-native coding experience at a lower price. But is saving $5/month worth switching your entire development environment?
I used Windsurf as my primary editor for 3 weeks, coming from Cursor. Here’s my unfiltered take.
What Windsurf Gets Right
Cascade is Legitimately Good
Cascade is Windsurf’s agent mode — their answer to Cursor’s Composer. And honestly? For structured, well-defined tasks, it’s competitive.
Where Cascade shines is “flows” — multi-step operations where each step builds on the last. “Add authentication to this Express app” becomes a flow: install dependencies → create auth middleware → add login/register routes → update existing routes → add tests. Cascade handles this sequence better than Composer because it explicitly plans the steps before executing.
I gave both tools the same task: “Add Stripe subscription billing to this Next.js SaaS app.” Cascade produced a more organized result — separate files for webhook handling, subscription management, and billing UI. Cursor’s Composer dumped more code into fewer files. Neither was perfect, but Cascade’s output needed less reorganization.
The Price is Right
$15/month for Windsurf Pro vs $20/month for Cursor Pro. Both include similar credit/request allocations. Over a year, that’s $60 saved — not life-changing, but not nothing.
More importantly, Windsurf’s free tier is more generous than Cursor’s. If you’re evaluating AI editors, you can get a real feel for Windsurf without paying.
Supercomplete is Underrated
Windsurf’s autocomplete feature (Supercomplete) does something subtle but useful: it predicts not just code, but your next action. It might suggest completing a function AND adding the import statement AND updating the test file. Accept once, get three changes.
This sounds gimmicky but saves real time on repetitive patterns — adding a new API endpoint, creating a new React component with its test file, etc.
What Windsurf Gets Wrong
Stability Issues
This is the dealbreaker for some people. In 3 weeks, I experienced:
- 4 crashes during Cascade operations (lost work twice)
- Frequent “indexing” delays when switching between projects
- The AI panel occasionally freezing and requiring a restart
- Slow startup times (8-12 seconds vs Cursor’s 3-5 seconds)
None of these are catastrophic individually. Together, they add up to a less reliable experience than Cursor. When your editor crashes mid-refactor, the $5/month savings feel irrelevant.
Context Understanding is Weaker
Cursor is better at understanding your project as a whole. When I ask Cursor “refactor the auth system,” it finds all the relevant files, understands the relationships, and makes coherent changes. Windsurf’s Cascade sometimes misses files or makes changes that conflict with code in files it didn’t read.
The gap is most noticeable on larger projects (100+ files). On small projects, both tools perform similarly.
The Extension Ecosystem
Windsurf is VS Code-based, so most extensions work. But “most” isn’t “all.” I hit compatibility issues with 3 extensions I use daily:
- GitLens had rendering glitches in the blame view
- A custom theme didn’t apply correctly to the AI panels
- One language server extension conflicted with Windsurf’s built-in AI features
Cursor has the same VS Code base but has been around longer, so more extension compatibility issues have been ironed out.
Tab Completion Quality
Cursor’s tab completions are better. Period. They’re more context-aware, more accurate, and more aggressive (in a good way). Windsurf’s Supercomplete is clever, but the base autocomplete quality — the thing you use hundreds of times per day — favors Cursor.
This is the difference you feel most in daily use. It’s not dramatic, but over a full day of coding, Cursor’s completions save more keystrokes.
Head-to-Head Comparison
| Feature | Windsurf | Cursor |
|---|---|---|
| Tab completion quality | Good | Very Good |
| Agent mode | Good (Cascade) | Very Good (Composer) |
| Stability | Fair | Good |
| Price | $15/mo | $20/mo |
| Free tier | Generous | Limited |
| Context understanding | Good | Very Good |
| Multi-step tasks | Very Good | Good |
| Extension compatibility | Good | Very Good |
| Startup speed | Slow | Fast |
| Model selection | Multiple | Multiple |
Who Should Switch to Windsurf
Switch if:
- Budget is a real concern and $5/month matters to you
- You do a lot of structured, multi-step coding tasks (Cascade’s flows are genuinely better for this)
- You’re starting fresh (no existing Cursor config/muscle memory to migrate)
- You want to support competition in the AI editor space
Don’t switch if:
- Stability is non-negotiable for your work
- You rely heavily on tab completions (Cursor is better)
- You work on large codebases (Cursor’s context handling is superior)
- You have a finely tuned Cursor setup with .cursorrules and custom workflows
- You’ve already invested time learning Cursor’s quirks
Who Should Choose Windsurf as Their First AI Editor
If you’ve never used an AI code editor and you’re choosing between Windsurf and Cursor:
Choose Windsurf if: You want to try AI-assisted coding without committing $20/month. The free tier lets you evaluate properly. If you outgrow it, switching to Cursor later is painless (same VS Code base, similar concepts).
Choose Cursor if: You want the most polished experience from day one and don’t mind paying $20/month. You’ll hit fewer rough edges and spend less time working around bugs.
My Verdict
Windsurf is a solid B+ editor competing against Cursor’s A-. The gap is real but not enormous. If Windsurf fixes the stability issues (which they’re actively working on — updates are frequent), it becomes a genuine contender.
Right now, I’m back on Cursor as my daily driver. The stability and tab completion quality matter more to me than $5/month. But I’m keeping Windsurf installed and checking back every month. It’s improving faster than any other tool in this space.
If you’re price-sensitive or just starting out with AI editors, Windsurf is a legitimate choice. Just save your work more often.
This review reflects Windsurf v1.x as of February 2026. The product is updating rapidly.