Cursor vs Windsurf vs GitHub Copilot (2026): prices and which to pick

Cursor vs Windsurf vs Copilot at a glance (October 2026)

All three changed their plans in 2026, so older comparisons quote prices that no longer exist. This table uses each vendor’s own pricing page, checked on 30 October 2026. Prices are in US dollars per month; check the linked pages before you buy, because all three say prices can change.

Which should you pick?

These picks follow from each plan’s documented price, models and features. They are not a measured speed or quality ranking; for that, run the same task on your own code (see the test sheet below).

• Lowest price with full features: GitHub Copilot Pro at $10 a month includes the coding agent, pull-request code review and unlimited inline suggestions.
• You use JetBrains, Visual Studio or Eclipse: GitHub Copilot, which lists support for all of them. Cursor and Devin Desktop are their own editors, so check their current plugin support before switching.
• Your work starts from GitHub issues and pull requests: GitHub Copilot. Its coding agent turns an assigned issue into a pull request, and code review runs on pull requests.
• You want one AI editor with models from several labs: Devin Desktop Pro at $20 a month lists OpenAI, Claude, Gemini and SpaceXAI models plus Devin Cloud agents.
• You want Grok-first coding or already use Grok: Cursor. Plus at $8 covers Grok models; Premium at $30 adds cloud agents, AI code review and third-party models billed at API list price.
• Heavy daily agent use: compare the top tiers. Copilot Max is $100 with $200 of credits, Cursor Super is $100 and Ultra $200, and Devin Desktop Max is $200.

What changed in 2026

Three changes make older Cursor, Windsurf and Copilot comparisons unreliable. Windsurf now redirects to Devin Desktop: windsurf.com sends visitors to devin.ai/desktop and its pricing page to devin.ai/pricing. Cursor’s pricing page now sells Cursor alongside Grok and X features, with one usage allowance shared across Cursor and Grok. GitHub Copilot now measures usage in AI credits worth $0.01 each; the older premium-request allowances apply only to some existing annual Pro and Pro+ subscriptions.

Cursor pricing in 2026

Cursor’s plans now bundle the editor with Grok and X features, and usage is shared between Cursor and Grok and refreshes weekly. Third-party model use is billed separately at API list price and is not included in the plan price.

• Free, $0: limited agent and chat requests.
• Plus, $8 a month: Cursor with Grok models only, plus Grok and X features.
• Premium, $30 a month: four times Plus usage, the latest Grok models, cloud agents and automations, code hosting, AI code reviews and third-party models at API list price.
• Super, $100 a month: 15 times Plus usage and priority model access at peak times.
• Ultra, $200 a month: 50 times Plus usage and earliest access to new products and models.
• Teams, from $30 per user a month: central billing, SSO and team privacy settings. Enterprise pricing is custom.

Windsurf (Devin Desktop) pricing in 2026

Windsurf’s plans now live on Devin’s pricing page. Since 19 March 2026, included usage refreshes on a daily window with an additional weekly limit, and paid plans can buy extra usage at API pricing.

• Free, $0: a light agent quota, limited models, and unlimited Tab completions and inline edits.
• Pro, $20 a month: higher quotas, frontier models from OpenAI, Claude, Gemini and SpaceXAI, free use of SWE-2 and Devin Cloud access.
• Max, $200 a month: everything in Pro with significantly higher quotas.
• Teams, $80 a month plus $40 per full seat: up to 200 users, an admin dashboard and central billing. Enterprise pricing is custom.

GitHub Copilot pricing in 2026

Copilot’s paid plans include a monthly amount of AI credits, where one credit equals $0.01, and unlimited inline suggestions. Every plan includes agent mode, the CLI and the same model list.

• Free, $0: 2,000 inline suggestions a month and limited chat and agent use. No coding agent or code review.
• Pro, $10 a month: $15 of AI credits a month, the coding agent, Copilot in the cloud and code review.
• Pro+, $39 a month: $70 of AI credits a month, plus third-party agents such as Claude and OpenAI Codex.
• Max, $100 a month: $200 of AI credits a month.
• Business and Enterprise: priced through GitHub sales; GitHub Enterprise now includes Copilot access.

Windsurf vs Copilot: editor work or a GitHub task?

If your task begins inside an editor, compare Cascade’s Code and Chat modes in Devin Desktop with the Copilot IDE mode on your plan. If it begins with an issue or pull request, compare Copilot’s GitHub.com workflow. A cloud task runs in a different environment from your local repository, so record dependencies, permissions and checks before comparing results. Do not compare an editor suggestion with an autonomous cloud task as if their scope were the same.

Test them on your own code before paying

All three have a free plan, so try the same small task in each before you pay. Download the blank coding-assistant comparison log. Give each tool the same starting commit and task, with the same permissions and acceptance rules. Record the plan and mode, every attempt, whether tests passed, total time and your review effort. Keep private code and credentials out of anything you share.

• Did the tool find the relevant files and keep unrelated behavior intact?
• Did it run the required checks, and report failures accurately?
• How many corrections did you make, and how long did review take?
• Would a teammate understand the resulting diff?

Try this next

Write down the task, evidence and reason for your choice in a short decision note, so you can revisit it when prices change again. Read A simple Notion system for decisions that stay findable.