Windsurf vs GitHub Copilot
Windsurf and GitHub Copilot 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.
GitHub Copilot
328K viewsGitHub's AI coding assistant. Inline completions, chat, and agent mode in VS Code and JetBrains, plus a coding agent that turns issues into pull requests. Free tier, Pro from $10/mo.
At a glance
| Field | | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI Coding | AI Coding |
| Website | windsurf.com | github.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: 2,000 completions/mo, limited chat and agent usage, Copilot CLI, Auto model selection only; Pro - $10/mo: unlimited completions and next edit suggestions, cloud agent and code review, model selection, $15/mo in GitHub AI Credits; Pro+ - $39/mo: premium models including Opus, $70/mo in GitHub AI Credits; Max - $100/mo: priority access to new models and features, $200/mo in GitHub AI Credits; Business - $19 per granted seat/mo, 1,900 credits per user per month; Enterprise - $39 per granted seat/mo, 3,900 credits per user per month; GitHub AI Credits - 1 credit = $0.01; additional usage billed against a budget you set |
| Install | sudo apt install devin-desktop or sudo dnf install -y devin-desktop | npm install -g @github/copilot or brew install --cask copilot-cli or curl -fsSL https://gh.io/copilot-install | bash |
| 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. | Pick a model in the model picker in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, Eclipse, Copilot CLI, and the coding agent, from OpenAI (GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6 Astra, Sol, Luna), Anthropic (Claude Opus, Sonnet, Haiku 5.5, Fable 5.1), Google (Gemini 4 Argon, Gemini 3.8 Flash), xAI (Grok 4.7), Moonshot Kimi K3, and Microsoft MAI-Code-1.1-Flash; Free and Student plans get Auto model selection only. HydraFusion can orchestrate several models into a single response instead. |
| Last verified | October 25, 2026 | October 25, 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.
GitHub Copilot
GitHub Copilot is one of the most widely adopted AI coding tools. It runs inside VS Code and JetBrains, offering real-time code completions as you type. Copilot Chat adds conversational editing, agent mode makes multi-file changes in the editor, the Copilot CLI works in the terminal, and the coding agent can take a GitHub issue and open a pull request. Copilot Spark (announced at GitHub Universe) is their no-code app builder competitor. Plans moved to a credit-based structure (August 2026): Free $0, Pro $10/mo, Pro+ $39/mo, Max $100/mo - chat, agent mode, code review, CLI and cloud agent usage draw down GitHub AI Credits, while inline completions stay unlimited on every paid plan. My Copilot intro video hit 328,000 views - my most-viewed video ever. It's still the default recommendation for developers new to AI coding tools.
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 GitHub Copilot cost?
As of October 25, 2026: Free - $0: 2,000 completions/mo, limited chat and agent usage, Copilot CLI, Auto model selection only; Pro - $10/mo: unlimited completions and next edit suggestions, cloud agent and code review, model selection, $15/mo in GitHub AI Credits; Pro+ - $39/mo: premium models including Opus, $70/mo in GitHub AI Credits; Max - $100/mo: priority access to new models and features, $200/mo in GitHub AI Credits; Business - $19 per granted seat/mo, 1,900 credits per user per month; Enterprise - $39 per granted seat/mo, 3,900 credits per user per month; GitHub AI Credits - 1 credit = $0.01; additional usage billed against a budget you set. Source: GitHub Copilot plans, GitHub Docs: Plans for GitHub Copilot, GitHub Docs: Installing Copilot CLI, GitHub Docs: Supported AI models, Changelog: models deprecated on October 19, 2026, Changelog: upcoming model deprecations, Changelog: HydraFusion updates and Max option, Changelog: Gemini 4 Argon in GitHub Copilot.
How do I install GitHub Copilot?
Official install commands as of October 25, 2026: npm install -g @github/copilot or brew install --cask copilot-cli or curl -fsSL https://gh.io/copilot-install | bash.
Which models does GitHub Copilot use?
As of October 25, 2026: Pick a model in the model picker in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, Eclipse, Copilot CLI, and the coding agent, from OpenAI (GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6 Astra, Sol, Luna), Anthropic (Claude Opus, Sonnet, Haiku 5.5, Fable 5.1), Google (Gemini 4 Argon, Gemini 3.8 Flash), xAI (Grok 4.7), Moonshot Kimi K3, and Microsoft MAI-Code-1.1-Flash; Free and Student plans get Auto model selection only. HydraFusion can orchestrate several models into a single response instead.
