Cursor is a VS Code-based AI coding assistant emphasizing autocomplete and inline suggestions with deterministic control features, while Windsurf is Codeium's agentic IDE offering autonomous planning and agent workflows. Both are market leaders as of 2026, with Windsurf reaching 1M+ users and Cursor maintaining strong enterprise adoption.
Cursor vs Windsurf — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Windsurf leads in agentic AI capabilities, security certifications, and raw user growth metrics, making it ideal for teams seeking autonomous coding workflows. Cursor excels in familiar developer experience and deterministic control, better suited for organizations preferring gradual AI integration. Both remain top-tier choices depending on your automation vs. control preference.
AI-first code editor built on VS Code with native AI integration and multi-model support.
AI-native IDE built by Codeium with integrated Claude 3.5 Sonnet for code generation and editing.
Structured comparison data for Cursor vs Windsurf with 166 attributes.
Primary AI Model Quality (MMBENCH score)
Cursor vs Windsurf — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Cursor vs Windsurf.
What is the key difference between Cursor and Windsurf in 2026?
Cursor is a VS Code-based AI assistant emphasizing predictable control through Rules and Plan Mode, while Windsurf is Codeium's native agentic IDE prioritizing autonomous AI workflows. Windsurf leads in agent autonomy and enterprise scale (1M+ users, 59% Fortune 500), while Cursor excels in developer familiarity and deterministic behavior control.
Which tool has better enterprise security certifications?
Windsurf significantly outpaces Cursor with FedRAMP High, DoD IL5, and ITA certifications, making it the clear choice for government and highly regulated enterprise deployments. Cursor offers enterprise-grade security but lacks these specific high-security certifications.
Windsurf publicly reports 1M+ active users as of March 2026, with 70M+ lines of code generated daily and 59% Fortune 500 adoption. Cursor maintains significant enterprise adoption but does not publicly disclose specific user metrics.
Which is better for teams new to AI coding assistants?
Cursor is better for newcomers due to its familiar VS Code interface and intuitive autocomplete paradigm. Windsurf requires learning a new IDE paradigm but offers superior autonomous capabilities once the learning curve is mastered.
Cascade is Windsurf's agentic AI engine that enables autonomous planning and multi-step code workflows without explicit user direction. It powers features like Windsurf Tab for rapid multi-file edits and represents the core difference between Windsurf's agentic approach vs. Cursor's suggestion-based model.