Windsurf vs OpenAI Codex
Windsurf and OpenAI Codex side by side: what each one is, verified plan pricing and install commands where we have them, and the full review of each.
Windsurf
AI-native IDE built by Codeium, acquired by Cognition in 2025 and renamed Devin Desktop on June 2, 2026. Devin Local, the agent that succeeded Cascade, handles multi-file edits. Free plan; Pro is $20/mo.
OpenAI Codex
AgentOpenAI's coding agent for terminal, cloud, IDE, GitHub, Slack, and Linear workflows. Reads repos, edits files, runs commands, and returns reviewable diffs.
At a glance
| Field | | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI Coding | AI Coding |
| Website | windsurf.com | developers.openai.com |
| Pricing | No separate Windsurf plan - windsurf.com/pricing redirects to devin.ai/pricing, and the editor is sold as Devin Desktop on Devin's plans (see the Devin tool page or /coding-agent-plans/devin) | Free - $0 and Go - $8/mo: GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the desktop app, subject to rollout; Plus - $20/mo: Codex on the web, in the CLI, IDE extension, and iOS, plus cloud code review and Slack; GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna; Pro - $100, $200, or $500/mo: everything in Plus, currently no five-hour limit; Ultrafast mode on Pro $500; Business - $20/user/mo billed annually ($25 monthly), 2+ users; Enterprise and Edu - contact sales; API key - pay per token at OpenAI API rates; no cloud features such as GitHub code review or Slack |
| Install | sudo apt install devin-desktop or sudo dnf install -y devin-desktop | curl -fsSL https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.sh | sh or npm install -g @openai/codex or brew install --cask codex |
| Models | Pick a model from the dropdown under the agent input: Cognition's SWE-2 and SWE-1.7, Claude Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, and Fable 5.1, GPT-6 Astra, Sol, and Luna, Gemini 4 Argon, Kimi K3, GLM-5.3, or the Adaptive router. Cognition recommends Fusion, which pairs a frontier lead model with a cheaper sidekick. Free plan users only get SWE-1.6. | GPT-6.1 Sol is the recommended model for complex coding and the CLI default, with GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6 Sol, and GPT-6 Luna also available and GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna kept during the rollout. Switch with /model in a session, codex --model (or -m) at launch, or a model entry in config.toml; API-key sessions get whatever models the key can access. |
| Last verified | October 25, 2026 | October 17, 2026 |
In Depth
Windsurf
Windsurf is an AI-native IDE originally built by Codeium as a direct competitor to Cursor. Cognition acquired it in 2025 and now sells the editor as Devin Desktop, on the same plans as Devin Cloud and the Devin CLI. Its agent is now Devin Local, which succeeded Cascade and runs the same harness as the Devin CLI, with subagents and sandboxing - an agentic mode that reads your codebase, plans changes across multiple files, and executes them step by step with a diff preview. It supports Claude, GPT, and Codeium's own models. The free plan includes unlimited Tab completions and inline edits plus a light agent quota, and Pro is $20/mo. Windsurf excels at multi-file refactors and has strong context awareness across large codebases. It's VS Code-compatible, so extensions and keybindings carry over seamlessly.
OpenAI Codex
Codex is OpenAI's autonomous coding agent for local CLI work and cloud task delegation. It can inspect a repository, make multi-file edits, run tests, and create reviewable diffs or pull requests depending on the workflow. Use the CLI when local services and immediate feedback matter. Use cloud tasks when branch isolation, async completion, and GitHub review loops matter more.
FAQ
Answers taken from each tool's verified fact sheet, with the date it was last checked.
How much does Windsurf cost?
As of October 25, 2026: No separate Windsurf plan - windsurf.com/pricing redirects to devin.ai/pricing, and the editor is sold as Devin Desktop on Devin's plans (see the Devin tool page or /coding-agent-plans/devin). Source: Devin plans and pricing, Install Devin Desktop, Devin Desktop AI models, Devin Desktop changelog, Windsurf to Devin Desktop FAQ.
How do I install Windsurf?
Official install commands as of October 25, 2026: sudo apt install devin-desktop or sudo dnf install -y devin-desktop.
Which models does Windsurf use?
As of October 25, 2026: Pick a model from the dropdown under the agent input: Cognition's SWE-2 and SWE-1.7, Claude Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, and Fable 5.1, GPT-6 Astra, Sol, and Luna, Gemini 4 Argon, Kimi K3, GLM-5.3, or the Adaptive router. Cognition recommends Fusion, which pairs a frontier lead model with a cheaper sidekick. Free plan users only get SWE-1.6.
How much does OpenAI Codex cost?
As of October 17, 2026: Free - $0 and Go - $8/mo: GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the desktop app, subject to rollout; Plus - $20/mo: Codex on the web, in the CLI, IDE extension, and iOS, plus cloud code review and Slack; GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna; Pro - $100, $200, or $500/mo: everything in Plus, currently no five-hour limit; Ultrafast mode on Pro $500; Business - $20/user/mo billed annually ($25 monthly), 2+ users; Enterprise and Edu - contact sales; API key - pay per token at OpenAI API rates; no cloud features such as GitHub code review or Slack. Source: Codex pricing, Codex changelog, Models, Codex CLI docs, openai/codex README.
How do I install OpenAI Codex?
Official install commands as of October 17, 2026: curl -fsSL https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.sh | sh or npm install -g @openai/codex or brew install --cask codex.
Which models does OpenAI Codex use?
As of October 17, 2026: GPT-6.1 Sol is the recommended model for complex coding and the CLI default, with GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6 Sol, and GPT-6 Luna also available and GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna kept during the rollout. Switch with /model in a session, codex --model (or -m) at launch, or a model entry in config.toml; API-key sessions get whatever models the key can access.
