The top 5 Windsurf alternatives for developers in 2025

AI coding assistants like Windsurf are changing how we build software, but if you’re reading this, you probably have a feeling that something’s not quite right. Maybe you’ve watched your credits evaporate faster than you expected, felt the performance drag on a large project, or read about the recent company shifts and started feeling a bit uneasy.

You’re not the only one. I’ve seen these exact conversations popping up in developer communities on

, with folks asking for solid recommendations. So, I decided to stop wondering and actually test the top contenders myself.

This is my no-fluff breakdown of the top 5 Windsurf alternatives to help you figure out which AI pair programmer makes sense for your workflow in 2025.

What are AI coding assistants?

Let’s do a quick refresher. AI coding assistants, sometimes called "agentic IDEs," are a huge step up from the autocomplete you’re used to. They’re built to be an active partner while you code.

Their main trick is understanding the context of your entire project, not just the single file you have open. This lets them tackle bigger jobs like editing code across multiple files, helping with tricky refactors, and even scaffolding features from a simple plain-English prompt. Just imagine a junior dev who can read your whole codebase in a few seconds, offer decent suggestions, and handle the boilerplate stuff for you.

Why are people looking for Windsurf alternatives?

Windsurf is a capable tool, no doubt. But a few common headaches have developers like us exploring other options.

• The cost can get out of hand: Windsurf runs on a credit system, and as some have pointed out, those credits can burn up surprisingly fast. For teams that are constantly prompting the AI, this can lead to some unpredictable bills and the need for annoying top-ups.

• It can get sluggish in big projects: When you’re deep in a massive codebase with all sorts of dependencies, you need your tools to keep up. Some developers have noticed that Windsurf’s real-time suggestions can start to lag, and that’s often enough to completely break your focus.

• It sometimes gets the context wrong: The AI can occasionally be a little too eager to help, making sweeping changes across files without fully grasping the big picture. This can sometimes introduce subtle bugs that are a pain to track down later.

• Uncertainty about the company’s future: Google recently "acqui-hired" Windsurf’s CEO and several key engineers to join its DeepMind team. Windsurf is still operating, but that kind of leadership change makes you wonder about the long-term plan, especially if you’re an enterprise customer betting on its stability.

How I judged the best Windsurf alternatives

To make this a fair fight, I looked at each tool through the lens of what I actually care about day-to-day.

• Core coding ability: How good is it at generating, editing, and refactoring code? Are its suggestions genuinely helpful or just noise?

• Context awareness: How well does it understand the project as a whole? Can it connect the dots between different files and folders without getting confused?

• IDE integration: Does it fit nicely into my current setup (like VS Code or JetBrains), or does it try to force me into a whole new way of working?

• Pricing: Is it straightforward and predictable? Does it feel fair for what you’re getting, whether you’re a solo dev or part of a big team?

• Ready for business use: Does it have the security, compliance, and support that a larger company would need to sign off on it?

Quick comparison of the top Windsurf alternatives

Here’s a quick rundown of how the top tools compare at a glance.

Feature	Cursor	Qodo	GitHub Copilot	Zed	Aider
Best For	Fast, local edits & individuals	Enterprise teams & complex codebases	General-purpose use & GitHub users	Performance & collaborative editing	Terminal-based workflows
IDE Support	Custom VS Code Fork	VS Code, JetBrains, CLI	VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim	Standalone Editor	Terminal
Pricing Model	Tiered (Free, Pro, Business)	Tiered (Free, Teams, Enterprise)	Subscription (Business, Enterprise)	Free (Open Source)	Free (BYO API Key)
Context Handling	Good (local files)	Excellent (RAG, multi-repo)	Good (improving)	Basic	Good (local repo)
Open Source	No	No	No	Yes	Yes

A closer look at the 5 best Windsurf alternatives in 2025

Alright, let’s get into the details of the tools that could replace Windsurf in your workflow.

1. Cursor

Cursor is an AI-first code editor that’s actually a modified version (a "fork") of VS Code, and it has become incredibly popular. It’s built for speed and feels like it’s part of the editor, not just a plugin. It’s a great pick if you want a powerful AI assistant but don’t want to leave the comfort of VS Code.

It’s one of the most talked-about Windsurf alternatives, and it’s easy to see why. It’s fantastic for the small, quick tasks that make up most of a developer’s day.

• What’s great about it: I was immediately impressed by how fast and responsive it is for inline edits and code generation. Because it’s a VS Code fork, there’s basically no learning curve if you already use it. It’s also loaded with clever little features, like generating commit messages with a single click or a handy "Fix with AI" button that pops up on errors.

• What’s not so great: Its understanding of your project is often limited to the files you have open or specifically point it to with "@file" commands. It also lacks some of the serious enterprise features you’d need in a large organization, like advanced security settings or self-hosting options.

• Pricing: Cursor has a free Hobby plan to get you started. The Pro plan is $20 a month for all the features, and the Business plan costs $40 per user per month for team features.

A screenshot of the Cursor pricing page, which is one of the Windsurf alternatives discussed.

2. Qodo

Qodo isn’t just another coding assistant; it’s a full-blown AI platform designed for the messiness of large, multi-repository systems. It’s built to tackle the exact kind of problems where other tools start to fall over, with a heavy focus on deep context and security.

If you work on a big team or your codebase is a sprawling beast, Qodo was made for you. It’s one of the few tools that really gets the challenges of working at a large scale.

• What’s great about it: The way it handles context is seriously impressive. It uses a technique called Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to pull information not just from your code, but also from your documentation and even old pull requests. It also has strong security and compliance features like SOC 2, which is non-negotiable for many bigger companies. Plus, it can plug directly into GitHub and GitLab to help with AI-powered code reviews.

• What’s not so great: All that power means it takes a bit more effort to set up compared to simpler tools. If you’re a solo developer working on a personal project, it might be more than you need.

• Pricing: Qodo offers a free Developer plan. The Teams plan is $30 per user per month, with custom plans available for enterprise customers.

3. GitHub Copilot

You can’t have a conversation about AI coding tools without bringing up GitHub Copilot. Backed by GitHub and OpenAI, it’s the most popular AI pair programmer out there. It’s tightly woven into the GitHub ecosystem and is pretty much the industry standard that all other tools are compared against.

It has to be on this list because it’s the default choice for millions of developers and a direct Windsurf competitor that many teams already have access to.

• What’s great about it: The integration with VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, and the GitHub platform is incredibly smooth. It’s really good at generating boilerplate, completing functions, and taking care of repetitive coding patterns. And since it has Microsoft and OpenAI behind it, you know it’s always being updated.

• What’s not so great: Its grasp of the wider project context can be hit-or-miss. I’ve seen it suggest code that doesn’t quite fit the project’s conventions. It also feels less like an "agent" than Windsurf or Cursor, meaning it’s not as good at handling complex, multi-file changes on its own.

• Pricing: The Business plan is $19 per user per month, and the Enterprise plan is $39 per user per month.

4. Zed

Zed is a different beast altogether. It’s a code editor built from scratch in Rust with a laser focus on performance and collaboration. The main goal is to provide a coding experience with zero lag, and its native AI features are still being built out.

Zed is an excellent choice if your top priority is a screaming-fast editor and you prefer to use open-source software.

• What’s great about it: It is shockingly fast. The difference in performance is something you feel immediately, and it makes for a really smooth coding session. It also comes with real-time collaboration tools built-in, which is great for pair programming. Best of all, it’s completely open source and free.

• What’s not so great: The AI tools aren’t as mature or as packed with features as what you’d find in Cursor or Windsurf. The ecosystem of extensions is also much smaller than VS Code’s, so you might have to live without some of your favorite plugins.

• Pricing: Free.

5. Aider

For those of us who basically live in the terminal, Aider offers a pretty cool workflow. It’s an AI coding assistant that runs entirely on the command line. It works directly with your local Git repository to make and review code changes.

This tool is a dream for CLI power users who want a flexible AI assistant that works with the models they choose and fits into their existing terminal-based process.

• What’s great about it: It works right alongside your local files and Git, so every change is tracked and easy to undo or commit. You can plug it into models from Claude, OpenAI, DeepSeek, and more, giving you total freedom. The "bring your own API key" approach also means you have full control over your spending.

• What’s not so great: A command-line-only interface isn’t for everyone, and you lose the visual feedback you get in an an IDE. You’re also on the hook for your own API costs, which could be unpredictable if you’re not careful.

• Pricing: Free to use, but you pay for your own API key.

This video provides a direct comparison of Windsurf and Cursor, two popular AI code editors and potential Windsurf alternatives.

Let’s be honest, writing code is only part of the job. How much of your day is wasted digging through old documentation, searching a messy Confluence space, or scrolling through Slack to find that one answer you know you saw a few weeks ago? It’s a massive drain on productivity.

This is the classic knowledge silo problem. Your API specs are in Google Docs, architecture diagrams are in a wiki, and the critical decision about a bug fix is buried deep in a chat thread. Finding anything feels like a frustrating treasure hunt.

While tools like Windsurf help you write code, a different kind of AI can help you understand all the context around it. This is exactly what eesel AI was built for. It’s an AI platform that securely connects to all of your company’s scattered knowledge, from wikis and documents to past support tickets. It pulls everything together into one smart assistant that you can just ask questions.

Imagine typing, "What’s our process for deploying a hotfix to production?" and getting an immediate, correct answer pulled straight from your team’s internal playbooks. That’s the magic of eesel AI. It’s like giving your team an AI expert on all of your internal know-how, and you can get it up and running in a few minutes, not months.

Which Windsurf alternative should you choose?

The world of AI coding assistants is moving fast, and the great news is we now have some fantastic Windsurf alternatives for pretty much every type of developer and workflow.

Whether you need the pure speed of Cursor, the enterprise-level power of Qodo, the solid reliability of GitHub Copilot, the open-source performance of Zed, or the command-line control of Aider, there’s a tool out there that will fit your needs.

The main thing to remember is that the right AI tool does more than just help you write code faster. It’s about getting rid of the tedious stuff so you can spend your brainpower on solving interesting problems. Whether that means generating boilerplate code or finally getting a straight answer from your internal docs, AI assistants are here to help.

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