The Windsurf AI IDE still exists, but not under that name. On June 2, 2026 Cognition renamed it Devin Desktop, made an agent dashboard its home screen and replaced the Cascade agent with Devin Local. Plans, prices, extensions and settings carried over, and windsurf.com now redirects to devin.ai. For a working developer it remains one of the strongest AI editors available, and the rename alone is no reason to leave. If you do not write code, an AI editor is the wrong tool, and the last section says what to use instead.
Sources: Cognition's announcement on devin.ai, the Devin Desktop FAQ and changelog on docs.devin.ai, devin.ai/desktop and devin.ai/pricing, all checked Oct 2026. No timed test is included.
Where Windsurf stands in October 2026
- Name: Devin Desktop. Cognition's own product page says Devin Desktop is the new name for Windsurf.
- Owner: Cognition, the company behind the Devin coding agent.
- Download: devin.ai/desktop offers a macOS download.
- Default local agent: Devin Local. Legacy Cascade was available until July 1, 2026.
- JetBrains: the Windsurf plugin for IntelliJ, PyCharm and WebStorm is still downloadable, but the FAQ says it is in maintenance mode and Cascade inside it is being deprecated.
- Still shipping: the changelog has a release dated October 24, 2026 with Devin Local updates.
A dated timeline from Codeium to Devin Desktop
- Before 2025: the editor is built by Codeium, a company known for its free code completion.
- 2025: Codeium renames itself Windsurf after the editor.
- July 2025: Cognition signs an agreement to acquire Windsurf. This followed a separate deal in which Google hired Windsurf's CEO and some senior staff.
- June 2, 2026: Windsurf becomes Devin Desktop as an over-the-air update. The Agent Command Center becomes the default view and Devin Local replaces Cascade.
- July 1, 2026: legacy Cascade is retired in the desktop app.
- October 2026: windsurf.com/pricing redirects to devin.ai/pricing, and the desktop app ships regular Devin Local releases.
Two owners and two names in about eighteen months is a lot of churn for a tool people build their day around. The good news is that each change so far has carried users' settings forward rather than forcing a migration.
What actually changed inside the editor
The editor itself is still there and stays compatible with Windsurf and VS Code. What moved is the emphasis. The first screen is now the Agent Command Center, a Kanban board of agent sessions running on your machine or in Devin's cloud, grouped into Spaces that share files, pull requests and context.
- Devin Local replaces Cascade. Cognition says it was rewritten in Rust, is up to 30% more token efficient and supports subagents.
- Cloud handoff: a session can move between your laptop and Devin Cloud with the same context.
- Agent Client Protocol support: third-party agents such as Codex, Claude Agent and OpenCode can run inside the app.
- Fusion pairs a frontier model with a cheaper model for execution, aimed at cutting cost.
- Supercomplete is the tab completion, and Fast Context finds the files and lines an agent needs.
- Rules carry over. The FAQ says it still reads .windsurfrules, prefers a .devin/rules/ folder, reads AGENTS.md, and can import Cursor's .cursor/rules files.
What it costs after the rename
- Free, $0: a light quota, limited models, unlimited inline edits and Tab completions, up to 10 concurrent sessions.
- Pro, $20 a month: higher quotas, frontier and open-source models, and cloud agents.
- Max, $200 a month: much higher quotas than Pro, unlimited concurrent sessions.
- Teams, $80 a month plus $40 per full developer seat: up to 200 users, each with their own quota and Devin Desktop access, central billing and an admin dashboard.
- Enterprise: custom, with dedicated deployment and SSO.
From devin.ai/pricing, checked Oct 2026. The page gives no numeric quotas. It says each paid plan's allowance refreshes daily and weekly, and usage beyond it is billed at API prices. That makes heavy weeks harder to predict than a flat seat price, so watch your first month's usage before moving a team over.
How it holds up for developers today
The strengths are real. Running several agents in parallel and handing a long task to the cloud while you keep working locally is something few editors do as smoothly. Free Tab completions with no cap make the free tier good enough for daily coding. And the ability to run outside agents through ACP means you are less locked into Cognition's own models.
The weaknesses are mostly about direction. The product now centres on managing agents, which is great if you delegate a lot and a distraction if you mostly want a fast editor with good completion. Quotas without numbers make cost planning fuzzy. And teams that standardised on the Windsurf app name may need to update device-management allowlists, since the desktop app is now called Devin; the FAQ calls this out as the main item for IT teams.
Stay, switch or skip it
- Stay if you already use it daily. Your settings and rules came with you, prices did not change, and Devin Local is an upgrade on Cascade by Cognition's account.
- Try it if you want agents that run locally and in the cloud from one board, and you are on a Mac.
- Switch to Cursor if you want the closest editor without the agent-dashboard emphasis. Our Cursor alternatives guide covers the trade-offs.
- Switch to a terminal agent such as Claude Code if you already pay for Claude Pro, which includes it.
- Skip AI editors entirely if you do not code. Read on.
The full list of developer and non-developer options is in Windsurf alternatives.
If you came to Windsurf without knowing how to code
An AI editor writes code on your computer. You still have to run it, fix errors you may not understand, choose a host and keep it online. If what you actually want is a working app, an AI app builder does those parts for you.
VibeDream is one. You describe the app by typing, by voice note or with a screenshot, and it builds a React front end with a Python FastAPI backend while a live preview fills in beside the chat. Put it online publishes it for 5 credits per update, with hosting, HTTPS and a your-app.vibedreams.ai address included on paid plans. You can still read every file in the built-in code editor and sync to GitHub or download a ZIP. It is not an IDE, it has no free plan, and it starts at $49 a month on VibeDream pricing. The step-by-step guide shows the whole flow.