Is Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf and Codeium) better than GitHub Copilot?

For developers on a tight budget, yes. Devin Desktop's free tier is built for everyday use, where Copilot's is built for evaluation. For professional use, they are closely matched at the $20/month tier. Devin Desktop edges ahead on agentic speed; Copilot wins on IDE coverage.

Is Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) free?

Yes. Devin Desktop has a free plan at $0 that includes unlimited access to SWE-2, its in-house coding model. Pro is $20 a month.

Should I switch from GitHub Copilot to Devin Desktop?

Switch if you are on VS Code and want a better free tier or agentic task execution. Stay on Copilot if you use Neovim or Visual Studio. The Devin Desktop editor is standalone, though a Windsurf plugin for JetBrains IDEs is still available.

Codeium vs GitHub Copilot 2026: Which AI Coding Tool Is Better?

Q: What is the difference between Codeium, Windsurf and Devin Desktop?

They are the same product under three names. Codeium rebranded to Windsurf in 2025 when it launched its full AI-native editor, and Windsurf was renamed Devin Desktop in 2026.

Update, October 1, 2026: Windsurf is now called Devin Desktop. Its Free, $20 Pro and $200 Max plans are priced as before. Below, Windsurf refers to the product as it was when this was written, and some features described, including Cascade, may have changed under the new name.

Codeium rebranded to Windsurf in 2025 when it launched its full AI-native editor. The underlying technology and the company are the same, the name changed to reflect the shift from a plugin to a full product. In this comparison, Codeium and Windsurf refer to the same thing.

The core tension in this comparison is free vs paid. Windsurf has a genuinely useful free tier. GitHub Copilot’s free tier is for evaluation, not daily use. If you’re evaluating tools on a tight budget, that’s the short answer. If you’re comparing them seriously for professional use, the differences run deeper.

TL;DR

Windsurf wins on free tier: unlimited autocomplete plus 5 Cascade sessions per day, usable for real work
Copilot wins on IDE coverage: JetBrains, Neovim, Xcode, Visual Studio, Windsurf is VS Code only
Windsurf wins on agentic features at $20/month: Cascade auto-indexes your codebase; Copilot Chat requires you to open files manually
Copilot wins on enterprise: audit logs, SSO, policy controls, fine-tuned models, GitHub integration
For individual developers on VS Code: Windsurf at free or $20/month is competitive with or better than Copilot at $10/month

What Is Devin Desktop (Windsurf, Codeium)?

Windsurf is an AI-native code editor built as a VS Code fork, similar in approach to Cursor. The standout feature is Cascade: an AI agent that automatically indexes your full codebase and can work across multiple files autonomously. You describe what you want; Cascade reads your project, makes the changes, and shows you a diff.

The free tier includes unlimited Tab autocomplete and 5 Cascade sessions per day. For developers who want AI coding assistance without a monthly subscription, this is the most useful free offering in the category. Copilot Free’s 2,000 completions a month, with limited chat, is built for evaluation instead.

What Is GitHub Copilot?

GitHub Copilot is Microsoft/OpenAI’s AI coding assistant, working as a plugin across VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, Visual Studio, and Xcode. It’s the most widely adopted AI coding tool in the category.

Its strengths are IDE flexibility and GitHub integration: PR review, the Copilot coding agent for task execution, and CLI integration. The multi-model chat, across OpenAI, Anthropic and Google models, is a genuine differentiator for matching model to task.

Free Tier Comparison

Both have a free tier, and they are built for different jobs.

Windsurf free:

Unlimited Tab autocomplete
5 Cascade AI sessions per day
Works as a full editor

GitHub Copilot free:

2,000 code completions per month
Limited chat and agent use
Enough to evaluate the product, tight for full-time daily work

Copilot’s free tier is designed for evaluation, not for ongoing use. Windsurf’s free tier is a real product that many developers use permanently for lower-intensity work. If you’re comparing free options, Windsurf still comes out ahead.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Devin Desktop (Windsurf)	GitHub Copilot
Free tier	Unlimited SWE-2 model access	2,000 completions/month, limited chat
Entry paid	$20/month	$10/month
Codebase-wide context	Yes (Cascade auto-indexes)	No (open files only)
IDE coverage	VS Code fork only	VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, Visual Studio, Xcode
Agentic mode	Cascade	Copilot coding agent
Multi-model support	Limited	OpenAI, Anthropic and Google models
GitHub integration	None	PR review, Workspace, CLI, code search
Enterprise features	Limited	Strong (audit logs, SSO, fine-tuned models)

Agentic Capability

Windsurf’s Cascade auto-indexes your codebase and makes contextually correct multi-file changes with less manual setup than Copilot requires.

On the Copilot side, GitHub sunset the Copilot Workspace preview on May 30, 2025. Its agentic option now is the Copilot coding agent: you delegate a task, and it opens a draft pull request and works in the background in its own development environment. It is available on all paid Copilot plans.

For developers who want an AI agent that can execute feature work with minimal hand-holding, Windsurf currently delivers that better within the same price range.

Pricing Comparison

Plan	Devin Desktop	GitHub Copilot
Free	Unlimited SWE-2 model access	2,000 completions/month, limited chat
Entry paid	$20/month (Pro)	$10/month (Pro)
Power tier	$200/month (Max)	$39/month (Pro+), $100/month (Max)
Business	Team plans available	$19/user/month
Enterprise	Custom	$39/user/month

Windsurf’s entry paid plan at $20/month is higher than Copilot’s $10/month. At that price, the comparison becomes: Windsurf’s codebase-wide Cascade agent vs Copilot’s IDE flexibility and GitHub integration. Which trade matters more depends on how you work.

For VS Code developers doing regular feature work across multi-file codebases: Windsurf’s agentic capability is worth the extra $10/month over Copilot Pro.

For non-VS Code developers: Windsurf is not an option. Copilot is.

Try Windsurf

GitHub Copilot

IDE Coverage

This is the comparison’s biggest structural difference. Windsurf is a standalone editor, a VS Code fork with its own distribution. You can’t install Windsurf in JetBrains Rider or Neovim.

Copilot works in every major IDE. For any developer outside VS Code, this isn’t a comparison, it’s a default.

If you’re on VS Code: you have a real choice between Windsurf and Copilot. If you’re on anything else: Copilot.

GitHub Integration

Copilot has deep GitHub integration that Windsurf simply doesn’t match. PR reviews, the Copilot coding agent opening pull requests from delegated tasks, CLI integration, and code search across repositories are native to the GitHub platform in a way that a standalone editor can’t replicate.

If your engineering workflow runs primarily through GitHub, that integration has real value that doesn’t show up in a feature comparison table.

Who Should Use Devin Desktop

Developers on VS Code who want a capable free tier for low-intensity work
VS Code users who want agentic codebase-wide editing at $20/month
Developers who tried Cursor and want a comparison at the same price point
Anyone who wants to avoid a paid subscription and can work within the free Cascade session limit

Who Should Use Copilot

Developers on JetBrains, Neovim, Visual Studio, or Xcode
Enterprise teams that need audit logs, SSO, policy controls, and fine-tuned models
Developers already embedded in GitHub workflows who want PR review and Workspace integration
Developers who want model choice (Claude vs GPT vs Gemini) per task

Verdict

For individual developers on VS Code: Windsurf wins on free tier value, and at $20/month competes well with Copilot’s paid tier. The codebase-wide Cascade context is ahead of Copilot Chat’s open-file limitation.

For non-VS Code developers: Copilot wins by default. Windsurf doesn’t run outside VS Code-based environments.

For enterprise teams: Copilot wins on management features and GitHub integration.

Both tools are good. The decision is mostly driven by your IDE and your budget, not by a significant quality gap between them.

For more context, see the full best AI coding assistants comparison and the GitHub Copilot review.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Codeium the same as Windsurf and Devin Desktop?

Yes. Codeium rebranded to Windsurf in 2025 when it launched its full AI-native IDE, and Windsurf was renamed Devin Desktop in 2026.

Is Devin Desktop free?

Yes. The free plan costs $0 and includes unlimited access to SWE-2, Devin Desktop’s in-house coding model.

Does Devin Desktop work in JetBrains?

The Devin Desktop editor itself is standalone and VS Code-based. A separate Windsurf plugin for JetBrains IDEs, including IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm and WebStorm, is still available.

Is GitHub Copilot better than Devin Desktop?

It depends on the IDE and use case. For VS Code developers, Devin Desktop’s free tier and agent features are competitive with Copilot at comparable price points. Outside VS Code, Copilot has the broader IDE coverage.

Which has better autocomplete, Devin Desktop or Copilot?

Both are good. Cursor’s Supermaven engine (used in Cursor, not Devin Desktop) is widely considered the fastest in the category. Devin Desktop and Copilot are roughly comparable on autocomplete quality.

For deeper individual coverage: GitHub Copilot Review. To add Cursor and Claude Code to the comparison: Best AI Coding Assistants 2026.

Level up what you ask of your AI editor

Whichever tool you pick, the quality of your prompts determines the quality of the output. The AI Prompt Library for Developers has 160+ production-ready templates for code review, debugging, documentation, and more. Works with Windsurf, Copilot, and any other AI tool you’re using.