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Facts checked against both vendors on September 28, 2026.
GitHub Copilot is the practical choice for most teams: it works in the editor you already have, costs $10 a month for individuals or $19 per user for Business, and its cloud agent is wired into GitHub issues and pull requests. Windsurf, now sold as Devin Desktop by Cognition, is worth choosing if you want a dedicated agent IDE with unlimited free completions and Devin Cloud agents bundled at $20 a month.
Streamline coding with predictive AI, deployment, and integration.
This is a comparison between an editor and an extension. Windsurf is a full desktop IDE built around agents, and as of September 2026 it has been renamed Devin Desktop and folded into Cognition's Devin product line. GitHub Copilot is an assistant that lives inside Visual Studio Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio and several other editors, and inside GitHub.com itself.
The decision usually turns on two questions: do you want to change editors, and how much of your workflow runs through GitHub. Everything below comes from the vendors' own pricing and documentation pages.
Windsurf is now Devin Desktop, built by Cognition; windsurf.com redirects to devin.ai/desktop, where the vendor states that Devin Desktop is the new name for Windsurf. The product page describes an Agent Command Center with Spaces and a Kanban view for managing several agents, a full IDE with autocomplete and debugging, Fast Context for codebase understanding, Supercomplete predictive completion, local agents (Devin Local) and cloud agents (Devin Cloud) connected through an Agent Client Protocol. Windsurf for JetBrains continues separately for IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm and WebStorm.
GitHub Copilot is not an editor. It attaches to Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Neovim, Xcode, Eclipse and Azure Data Studio. It provides completions, chat, an agent mode in the editor, a cloud coding agent you assign to GitHub issues that opens pull requests from a GitHub Actions environment, Copilot code review, a CLI, Copilot Spaces for shared project knowledge, MCP integration and a choice of models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and others.
Windsurf is priced on devin.ai/pricing. Free is $0 with a light agent quota, limited model availability, unlimited inline edits and unlimited Tab completions. Pro is $20 a month with increased quotas, full model availability across OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and SpaceXAI plus open source models, access to Devin Cloud agents, and extra usage at API pricing. Max is $200 a month with significantly higher quotas. Teams is $80 a month for the team plan plus $40 a month per full developer seat, for up to 200 seats, with centralized billing, an admin dashboard with analytics and priority support. Enterprise is custom with SAML or OIDC SSO and billing in Agent Compute Units.
GitHub Copilot Free is $0 with 2,000 completions a month, a limited allowance of AI credits and automatic model selection only. Pro is $10 a month with 1,500 AI credits, Pro+ is $39 a month with 7,000 credits and access to premium models, and Max is $100 a month with 20,000 credits. One AI credit equals $0.01, unused credits do not carry over, and a $10 additional usage budget covers 1,000 credits. Business is $19 per user a month with 1,900 credits per user; Enterprise is $39 per user a month with 3,900 credits per user and requires GitHub Enterprise Cloud.
It is a complete agent environment rather than a plugin. The Command Center's Spaces and Kanban view are designed for running several agents at once and reviewing their output in one place, and the Agent Client Protocol lets other agents plug into the same interface. If you think of your day as supervising agents rather than typing with assistance, the IDE is built for that.
The free tier is more useful for everyday coding. Unlimited Tab completions and unlimited inline edits at $0 compare well with Copilot Free's 2,000 completions a month.
Cloud agents come bundled with the editor. Pro at $20 includes Devin Cloud access along with the desktop app, and because Devin is Cognition's core product the cloud agent is the center of the offering. Pro also lists free use of SWE-2 Free in the desktop app and CLI through October 10, 2026, and model choice includes open source models alongside the four frontier labs.
You do not change editors. Copilot supports seven editor families including Visual Studio, Xcode and Eclipse, which matter to .NET, iOS and Java shops that a VS Code-derived app does not serve. A team can adopt Copilot without a migration project.
It is cheaper at every comparable tier. Pro is $10 against Windsurf Pro at $20. Business is $19 per user with no flat monthly base, where Windsurf Teams is $80 a month plus $40 per seat. The credit system is transparent: one credit is one cent, and allowances are published as exact numbers rather than described as quotas.
The cloud coding agent is native to GitHub. You assign an issue to Copilot, it plans and makes changes on a branch in a GitHub Actions environment, and it opens a pull request. It uses Actions minutes and AI credits, and GitHub states it can run without extra cost inside your included allowances. Copilot code review, Copilot Spaces, and on Enterprise codebase indexing and fine-tuned models all sit where your code already is.
Pick Windsurf if you want a dedicated agent IDE, if you are already a Devin customer or want Devin Cloud agents with your editor, or if you want a free tier with unlimited completions. It suits individuals and small teams comfortable with a VS Code-style app and with Cognition's direction for the product.
Pick GitHub Copilot if your team spans several editors, if you want the lowest cost per seat, or if your source control, CI and reviews run on GitHub and you want an agent that works from issues and pull requests.
Built from each tool's listing. Vendors can update their own listing after claiming it.
Sold as Devin Desktop. Free is $0 with unlimited Tab completions. Pro is $20 a month, Max is $200 a month. Teams is $80 a month plus $40 a month per full developer seat for up to 200 seats. Enterprise is custom and billed in Agent Compute Units.
Free is $0 with 2,000 completions a month. Pro is $10 a month with 1,500 AI credits, Pro+ $39 a month with 7,000, Max $100 a month with 20,000. Business is $19 per user a month with 1,900 credits; Enterprise is $39 per user a month with 3,900 credits on GitHub Enterprise Cloud.
