Cursor vs Copilot vs Windsurf Pricing 2026 (Devin Desktop)

Cursor, GitHub Copilot and Windsurf are the three AI coding tools a solo developer or small team shortlists in 2026. Their entry prices look close, but each now meters agent usage differently: Copilot switched its whole billing model in June, Windsurf changed its name, and Cursor moved into a subscription shared with Grok and X. This article puts the prices verified on 2026-10-19 side by side, explains what each allowance buys, and works the team-seat math. For Cursor alone, see the Cursor pricing 2026 breakdown.

1. Headline prices and free tiers

Tool	Free tier	Paid individual	Team seat
Cursor	Free: limited Agent and Chat[1]	Plus $8; Premium $30; Super $100; Ultra $200[1]	Teams $30, $100 or $200 per seat[2]
GitHub Copilot	Free: limited chat and agent usage[3]	Pro $10; Pro+ $39; Max $100[3]	Business $19/user; Enterprise $39/user[4]
Windsurf (Devin Desktop)	Free: light agent quota, unlimited Tab[5]	Pro $20; Max $200[5]	Teams $80/mo + $40 per full seat[5]

Cursor Plus at $8 is the cheapest paid plan, but it cannot use third-party models; among plans that include frontier models, Copilot Pro at $10 is half the price of Devin Desktop Pro at $20^[2][3][5]. The top individual tiers diverge more: Copilot Max is $100, while Cursor Ultra and Devin Max are $200^[1][3][5]. Every tool keeps a free tier, so the real entry cost for a low-volume solo developer is $0 on any of them.

2. Three ways the meter runs

• GitHub Copilot includes GitHub AI Credits, consumed by tokens at each model's API rate: Pro includes $15 of credits a month, Pro+ $70 and Max $200, each made of a base amount equal to the plan price plus a flex allotment that "may change over time"^[3]. Code completions do not consume credits^[4].
• Cursor includes one weekly pool for its own Grok and Composer models, shared with Grok's apps. Third-party models are not in the pool: on Premium and above they bill at API list price from prepaid credit, from the first request^[2].
• Windsurf (Devin Desktop) gives each paid plan a usage allowance that refreshes daily and weekly; extra usage is bought at API pricing^[5].

This is why the entry sticker misleads. Copilot's credits and Devin Desktop's allowance cover frontier models up to the included amount; Cursor's pool covers only its own models, so every Claude or GPT token on Cursor is billed on top of the plan^[2][3][5]. Daily agent users should compare the $39 to $200 tiers and their own token volume, not the entry plans. Light users who mostly accept completions stay inside every entry allowance.

3. What changed in 2026

Copilot moved to usage-based billing. GitHub announced on April 27, 2026 that from June 1 premium requests would be replaced by GitHub AI Credits consumed by input, output and cached tokens. Base prices did not change: Pro $10, Pro+ $39, Business $19 per user and Enterprise $39 per user. Users who run out no longer fall back to a cheaper model; usage is governed by credits and admin budgets instead^[4]. The plans page now also lists Max at $100 a month^[3].

Windsurf became Devin Desktop. Cognition relaunched the Windsurf editor as Devin Desktop on June 2, 2026, with existing plans, pricing and extensions carried over, and windsurf.com/pricing now redirects to Devin's pricing page^[5][6]. The team plan changed shape to an $80 monthly team fee plus $40 per full developer seat^[5].

Cursor moved into The X Subscription. Cursor is now sold in one subscription with Grok and X: Free, Plus at $8, Premium at $30, Super at $100 and Ultra at $200, with a weekly pool for Cursor's own models and third-party models billed at API list price. Team seats cost $30, $100 or $200, and team plans add a $0.25 per million token rate on third-party models^[1][2]. Pro ($20), Pro+ ($60) and the $40 and $120 team seats continue only for existing customers^[7].

4. Team seat math

For a three-person team, twelve months at the headline seat price, before any usage beyond the included allowance:

Tool	Pricing	3 seats / mo	3 seats / yr
GitHub Copilot Business	$19 per user[4]	$57	$684
Cursor Teams (Premium seat)	$30 per user[2]	$90	$1,080
Devin Teams (Windsurf)	$80 team fee + $40 per full seat[5]	$200	$2,400

The arithmetic: Copilot Business at $19 × 3 × 12 = $684 a year; Cursor Teams at $30 × 3 × 12 = $1,080; Devin Teams at ($80 + 3 × $40) × 12 = $2,400. On seat price, Copilot Business is the cheapest, $396 a year below Cursor for three people, and Cursor bills third-party model usage on top of its seats with the $0.25 per million Cursor Token Rate^[2]. The trade is the editor: Cursor and Devin Desktop are AI-native editors with agent dashboards, while Copilot layers into the editor you already use. Fold the seats into your monthly stack with the AI stack cost calculator.

5. Decision guidance

• Lowest-cost solo, light usage: any free tier, then Cursor Plus at $8 if Cursor's own models are enough, or Copilot Pro at $10 for frontier models.
• Solo, daily agent use: price Cursor Super ($100) or Copilot Pro+ ($39, with $70 of credits) against your real token volume.
• Agent power user: Copilot Max ($100, with $200 of credits), Cursor Ultra ($200) or Devin Max ($200).
• Small team on a budget: Copilot Business at $19 per user.
• Team that wants an AI-native editor: Cursor Teams at $30 per Premium seat; Devin Teams costs more for three seats because of its $80 team fee.

Re-verify each pricing page before committing; all three changed their billing in 2026. For agent-first tools, see Cursor vs Claude Code vs Windsurf and Devin vs Factory AI pricing.

All pricing figures verified against official pricing pages and announcements on 2026-10-19.

Frequently asked questions

Which AI code editor is cheapest in 2026?

Cursor Plus is the cheapest paid plan at $8 a month, but it runs only Cursor's own models. For frontier models from Anthropic, OpenAI or Google, GitHub Copilot Pro is cheapest at $10 a month and includes $15 of GitHub AI Credits ($10 base plus a $5 flex allotment). Windsurf Pro, now sold as Devin Desktop, costs $20, and Cursor Premium costs $30 with third-party tokens billed on top at API list price. All three keep a free tier. Prices verified on each vendor's pricing page on 2026-10-19.

Do Cursor, Copilot and Windsurf have free tiers?

Yes. Cursor Free includes Agent and Chat with limited usage. GitHub Copilot Free has limited chat and agent usage and supports the CLI and agent mode. Windsurf, now Devin Desktop, has a free plan with a light agent quota, unlimited inline edits and unlimited Tab completions. All three are working products, not trials.

What happened to Windsurf?

Cognition, which acquired Windsurf in 2025, relaunched the Windsurf editor as Devin Desktop on June 2, 2026. Existing Windsurf users received it as an over-the-air update with their plan, pricing and extensions unchanged, and windsurf.com/pricing now redirects to devin.ai/pricing. Current plans are Free, Pro at $20 a month, Max at $200 a month and Teams at $80 a month plus $40 per full developer seat.

How did GitHub Copilot billing change in 2026?

From June 1, 2026, Copilot replaced premium requests with GitHub AI Credits consumed by token usage at each model's API rate. Base prices stayed at $10 for Pro, $39 for Pro+, $19 per user for Business and $39 per user for Enterprise, and a new Max plan at $100 a month appeared. Code completions and Next Edit suggestions do not consume credits.