Coding Assistants
Cursor vs Windsurf.
Both sit in Coding Assistants, scored on the same six pillars from the same published methodology. Here is where they actually differ.
The short answer
Cursor scores higher — 86.7 against 81.6, a margin of 5.1 points. That is the overall answer, not the whole one: the pillar breakdown below is where the decision usually actually gets made.
Cursor leads on momentum, maturity & reliability and capability.
Anysphere
86.7
Excellent
The AI-native code editor that made agentic coding mainstream.
- From
- Free / $20 per month (Pro)
- Pricing
- Freemium
- Maturity
- Established
- Founded
- 2023
Cognition
81.6
Strong
Agentic IDE with Cascade flows, now part of the Devin family.
- From
- Free / $15 per month (Pro)
- Pricing
- Freemium
- Maturity
- Emerging
- Founded
- 2021
Pillar by pillar
The same six pillars and fixed weights used for every tool on the site. A lead of fewer than 5 points is not called for either side — these are evidence-backed judgements, not measurements. Read the methodology.
Capability
Cursor by 6
Value for Money
Level
Security & Compliance
Level
Integrations & Ecosystem
Level
Maturity & Reliability
Cursor by 7
Momentum
Cursor by 13
Which one, and when
Pick Cursor if
- →where the product will be in a year matters as much as today — it leads Momentum by 13 points.
- →it has to hold up in production from day one — it leads Maturity & Reliability by 7 points.
- →the hardest end of the work is what you are buying for — it leads Capability by 6 points.
- →Professional developers
- →Startups moving fast
- →Agentic multi-file refactoring
The catch
- Usage-based pricing beyond plan limits can surprise heavy users
- Privacy mode must be explicitly enabled for zero data retention
Pick Windsurf if
- →Developers wanting an affordable agentic IDE
- →Teams exploring autonomous agents
- →Cascade-style flow coding
The catch
- Acquisition transition created roadmap uncertainty
- Smaller community and ecosystem than Cursor or Copilot
What each is good at
Cursor
- ✓Best-in-class agentic editing UX with codebase-wide context
- ✓Model-agnostic: pick frontier models per task
- ✓Extremely fast iteration; new capabilities ship weekly
Windsurf
- ✓Cascade agent keeps strong long-session codebase context
- ✓Aggressive pricing relative to capability
- ✓Backed by Cognition's autonomous-agent research
Other comparisons in Coding Assistants
Comparing something else? Build your own side-by-side across any tools in the catalog.