Claude vs Windsurf
Cheapest paid tier each vendor publishes. Free plans are listed above; tiers priced on request are not plotted because there is no figure to plot.
Where they differ
Only on Claude
- AI chat
- Generative writing
- Research
- Also on Web, iOS, Android and API
Only on Windsurf
- Code completion
- Code review
- Ide integration
- Also on Linux
From the pricing tiers and capability tags we track. A capability missing on one side means we have not recorded it there, not that the tool cannot do it.
At a glance
Claude and Windsurf both appear in this directory's code listings. Prices below were read from the vendors' own pages, most recently on October 26, 2026. Paid plans start at the same figure on both: $20/mo. We track ai chat on Claude and code completion on Windsurf; both cover agentic coding and ai agents. No score and no winner: the facts do the picking.
Capability tags are factual labels we assign when a tool is added; they describe what a tool does, not how well it does it.
Checked against the vendors. Written from each vendor's own site and last re-checked there: Claude (under review since October 26, 2026) · Windsurf on October 12, 2026. Vendors change pricing and features without notice, so confirm anything that decides your purchase on the vendor's page.
Claude
AI assistant for writing, coding, research, and analysis
Claude is an AI assistant from Anthropic. It handles writing, coding, research, data analysis, and image understanding through a chat interface, with support for file uploads and long documents. It is available on the web, in desktop and mobile apps, and through an API.
Windsurf
Agent-first coding IDE, now shipping as Cognition's Devin Desktop
Windsurf is a standalone AI coding IDE from Cognition, the company behind Devin, and windsurf.com now redirects to it as Devin Desktop. It runs coding agents alongside a normal editor, with an Agent Command Center for supervising several at once. Plans start at a free tier, with Pro at $20 a month.
Also in code
A tool we have an affiliate relationship with. It is not part of the comparison above and we are not calling it the better pick.
- Automating end-to-end tests for pull requests
- Testing third-party web apps without source code access
- Validating desktop, web, and extension user interfaces
Key features
Claude
- Chat with document, image, and code uploads
- Writing, editing, and summarization
- Code generation and debugging, plus agentic coding with Claude Code
- Web search with cited answers
- Artifacts: interactive documents and apps built in-chat
- Projects with shared context for long-running work
Windsurf
- Agent Command Center for running several agents at once
- Kanban view for tracking agent tasks
- Fast Context codebase search
- Supercomplete predictive editing
- Multiple models via the Agent Client Protocol
What each one does well
Claude
- ✓ Drafting and editing long-form writing
- ✓ Coding, from quick scripts to multi-file work with Claude Code
- ✓ Digesting long documents, PDFs, and spreadsheets
- ✓ Research questions with cited web sources
- ✓ Analyzing images, screenshots, and charts
Windsurf
- ✓ Supervising several coding agents on one codebase
- ✓ Working in an editor built around agents rather than autocomplete
- ✓ Teams that want agent tasks tracked on a board
People also ask
Which is cheaper, Claude or Windsurf?
Neither is cheaper: Claude and Windsurf both start at $20/mo.
Does Claude or Windsurf have a free plan?
Both Claude and Windsurf publish a free plan.
What is the difference between Claude and Windsurf?
Claude and Windsurf are both tracked for agentic-coding, ai-agents. Of the capabilities they do not share, only Claude is tracked for ai-chat, generative-writing, research, documents, and only Windsurf is tracked for code-completion, code-review, ide-integration, codebase-context.
How much do Claude and Windsurf cost?
Claude: free plan, then $20/mo. Windsurf: free plan, then $20/mo.
Answers are generated from the tracked plans and capability tags shown above, so they move when the vendors' pages do.
Full fact sheets, FAQs, and discussion links: Claude · Windsurf · all code tools