Windsurf
Windsurf was rebranded to Devin Desktop in June 2026 after Cognition's acquisition, replacing the Cascade agent with Devin Local inside the same IDE.
About Windsurf
What is Windsurf (2026 update)
Windsurf was an AI-powered code editor built for developers and teams, combining a full IDE with an integrated AI agent, Cascade, that could read, edit, and run code across a project. As of September 2026, the Windsurf brand itself has been retired: the product now ships as Devin Desktop, following Cognition’s acquisition of Windsurf.
What is new in 2026
Cognition, the company behind the AI coding agent Devin, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Windsurf on July 14, 2025, taking on its IP, product, trademark, brand, business, and employees. On June 2, 2026, Cognition announced that Windsurf had officially become Devin Desktop, describing it as the next generation of Windsurf and pushing the change as an over-the-air update, with no reinstall or migration wizard required. Existing settings, including plan, pricing, extensions, keybindings, and MCP connections, carried over automatically. The rebrand also reversed the product’s internal emphasis, positioning the IDE as the primary application with agent management built into it, rather than treating the editor as secondary to an agent manager. On July 1, 2026, Cascade, the AI agent that originally made Windsurf well known, was retired and replaced by Devin Local, and by the September 8, 2026 release, Devin Local had become the only agent available in the app, completing the transition away from the old dual-agent setup. Recent updates since the rebrand have focused on pull request review tooling, an Agent Command Center that unifies local and cloud agents in a Kanban-style view, and support for the Agent Client Protocol, an open standard that lets other ACP-compatible agents run inside the app.
Key features
- Full IDE with an integrated coding agent (now Devin Local, formerly Cascade)
- Agent Command Center unifying local and cloud agents in a Kanban view
- Spaces to group sessions, pull requests, files, and Git worktrees so multiple agents share context
- A memory system that retains codebase structure and preferences across conversations
- Multi-model routing that selects an AI model based on the task
- Expanded MCP tool support for services like Supabase, Notion, and GitHub
- Agent Client Protocol (ACP) support for running third-party ACP agents inside the app
Pricing in 2026
Windsurf overhauled its pricing on March 19, 2026, retiring its old credit-based system in favor of daily and weekly usage quotas, before the June 2026 rebrand carried the same plan structure over into Devin Desktop. Confirm current numbers on the official devin.ai pricing page, since terms can keep changing after an acquisition.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Unlimited Tab-style autocomplete, plus a limited daily/weekly agent quota |
| Pro | $20/month | Unlimited agent use and premium model access within plan quotas |
| Max | $200/month | Significantly higher usage quotas for large codebases and extended agent sessions |
| Teams | $40/user/month | Centralized admin and billing controls for teams |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom quotas, security, and deployment options; contact sales |
Who should use it
Devin Desktop, the product formerly known as Windsurf, fits developers and teams who already used Windsurf and want an agent-driven IDE that can read and edit an entire codebase, plus teams evaluating Cognition’s Devin agent lineup who want it inside a full editor rather than as a separate service. It is a weaker fit for anyone specifically attached to the old Cascade agent or the standalone Windsurf brand, since that agent has been fully retired.
Limitations and alternatives
Anyone searching for Windsurf today should know the product now operates under the Devin Desktop name, and the original Cascade agent no longer exists, having been fully replaced by Devin Local as of the September 2026 release. If you are evaluating options in this space, reasonable alternatives include:
- Cursor, a widely used AI code editor and a direct competitor before and after the Windsurf rebrand
- GitHub Copilot, for AI coding assistance integrated directly into existing editors like VS Code
- Claude Code, for an agentic coding assistant that works from the terminal across your existing tools
Frequently asked questions
Is Windsurf still called Windsurf in 2026?
No. Cognition, which acquired Windsurf in July 2025, rebranded the product to Devin Desktop on June 2, 2026. Existing users were updated automatically with no reinstall required, and their plan and settings carried over.
What happened to Windsurf's Cascade agent?
Cascade was retired starting July 1, 2026, and replaced by Devin Local. By the September 8, 2026 release, Devin Local had become the only agent available in the app.
How much does Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) cost?
Following a March 19, 2026 pricing overhaul, plans reportedly run Free, Pro at $20/month, Max at $200/month, and Teams at $40/user/month, with custom Enterprise pricing. Confirm current rates on the official devin.ai pricing page.
What are good alternatives to Windsurf / Devin Desktop?
Cursor and GitHub Copilot remain widely used AI coding tools, and Claude Code offers an agentic, terminal-based coding assistant as another alternative.
Information last verified: September 2026.
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