Comparison
Claude Code vs Windsurf
Claude Code: Anthropic's coding agent, in your terminal and your editor. Windsurf: IDE with AI agents that edit and refactor code on their own.
| Claude Code | Windsurf | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.8 | 4.3 |
| Price | Paid Included in Claude's paid plans: Pro $17/month annual ($20 monthly), Max $100 and $200/month. Teams from $20/seat. Also available via API. | Freemium Free plan available with limits. Pro from $20/month. Max $200/month for heavy users. Teams from $40/user/month. |
| Free plan | ||
| API available | ||
| Open source | ||
| In Spanish | ||
| No watermark | — | — |
| Platforms | Windows · Mac · Linux · Web | Web · Windows · Mac · Linux |
Claude Code
- Understands whole repositories and works across many files at once
- One subscription covers Claude web, desktop, mobile and Claude Code
- Anthropic doubled the usage limits in May 2026
- No free plan: it requires a paid subscription from day one
- Once weekly limits run out it can switch to per-token billing
Windsurf
- Deeply integrated Cascade agent with strong codebase awareness and visualised multi-file changes
- Aggressive pricing ($20/month) against competitors such as Cursor, which costs the same but with less agency
- Support for SWE-1.5, a proprietary model optimised for software engineering that does not consume credits
- Interface available only in English, with no Spanish localisation
- Turbulent brand history (Codeium → Windsurf → Devin Desktop) confuses users