Windsurf (now Devin Desktop)
Survived a collapsed $3B OpenAI acquisition, a $2.4B Google talent raid, and a Cognition buyout of what remained — and came out the other side renamed, at the same $20 Pro price as Cursor.
What is Windsurf (Devin Desktop)?
This tool has had one of the more remarkable corporate journeys in recent AI history, and understanding it matters for anyone deciding whether to use it. It began in 2022 as Codeium, a free-forever AI autocomplete tool built by Exafunction that genuinely earned popularity through word of mouth. In late 2024, Codeium rebranded to Windsurf and launched the Windsurf Editor — a VS Code fork built around Cascade, an AI agent capable of planning and executing multi-file changes autonomously, not just completing lines. In 2025, OpenAI reportedly agreed to acquire Windsurf for approximately $3 billion, its largest acquisition to that point — but the deal collapsed in July 2025, reportedly due to Microsoft's contractual rights over OpenAI's acquisitions making the structure unworkable. Google then stepped in with a $2.4 billion reverse-acquihire, hiring Windsurf's CEO Varun Mohan, its co-founder, and roughly 40 senior engineers directly onto Google's Gemini Code Assist team. What remained of the company — the IP, product, brand, around 210 employees, and $82 million in annual recurring revenue — was then acquired by Cognition, the company behind the autonomous coding agent Devin.
The product itself kept operating throughout this ownership churn: Windsurf 2.0 launched in October 2025 under Cognition, a March 19, 2026 pricing reset brought Pro to $20/month — matching Cursor exactly — with unlimited access to Cognition's own SWE-1.5 model, and on June 2, 2026, Cognition renamed the product Devin Desktop via an over-the-air update. Existing plans, settings, and extensions carried over unchanged, and Cognition's own FAQ was explicit with legacy subscribers: "Your current plan continues to work exactly as it does today. Pricing is unchanged." The standout current feature is the Devin handoff built into the editor — the ability to plan work locally and hand a task off to Devin's cloud agent for asynchronous execution, described by one detailed reviewer as "the most interesting workflow in AI coding right now." One honest, well-documented caveat worth knowing: the billing model has changed four times in about 16 months, moving from an original credit system to daily/weekly usage quotas in March 2026, and a 2026 change removed credit rollover — genuinely useful mechanics, but not the most predictable pricing history in this category.
The acquisition timeline is corroborated across multiple independent sources (DevOps.com, PinkLime, LumiChats, Pick Right) and a contemporaneous Bloomberg News report on the initial OpenAI deal. The billing history and the June 2026 rename are drawn from a detailed independent pricing timeline (UsagePricing) that cross-referenced Internet Archive snapshots of the official pricing pages, and confirmed by Vibe Coding Academy's direct comparison against Cursor.
Key features
Cascade agent
Plans and executes multi-file code changes autonomously across your project.
Unlimited Tab completions
The unmetered autocomplete that made Codeium popular, still free on every plan.
Devin cloud handoff
Sends a planned task to Devin's cloud agent for asynchronous, accountable execution.
SWE-1.5 model access
Cognition's own coding model, included unlimited on Pro.
Enterprise compliance
SOC 2, HIPAA, FedRAMP/DOD, and ITAR support on higher tiers.
Team & admin controls
SSO, shared Spaces, and larger model quotas for organizations.
Pricing
Free
- Unlimited Tab completions included
- Legacy Codeium-era free users were migrated automatically
- Good starting point before committing to Pro
Pro
- Full model availability across OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google frontier models
- Daily/weekly usage quota, overage billed at raw API pricing
- Legacy subscribers grandfathered at unchanged pricing
Max / Teams / Enterprise
- Teams: SSO, admin controls, shared Spaces
- Enterprise: SOC 2, HIPAA, FedRAMP/DOD, ITAR, RBAC, SCIM
- Max functions as an "all day" tier, similar to Cursor Ultra
Billing shifted from a credit system to daily/weekly usage quotas in March 2026, with credit rollover removed in a subsequent change — four metering changes total in about 16 months. Confirm current figures at devin.ai/pricing, since the product and its pricing page now operate under the Devin Desktop name.
Available models
Integrations & platforms
Pros, cons & best for
Pros
- Unlimited Tab completions remain genuinely free, a real legacy of Codeium
- The Devin cloud handoff is a genuinely distinctive, well-regarded 2026 workflow
- Legacy subscribers were grandfathered at unchanged pricing through the rename
Cons
- Billing mechanics have changed four times in 16 months, hurting predictability
- The brand has changed names twice in two years, which can confuse returning users
- Doesn't natively support connecting to local models like Ollama
Best for
- Developers wanting async, cloud-handoff agentic workflows via Devin
- Cursor-curious developers evaluating a same-priced alternative
- Not the pick if brand stability or billing predictability matter most to you
Take a look inside
Alternatives
For the tool it competed against most directly, or a privacy-first option instead:
Our verdict
What's genuinely remarkable here is that the product survived one of the most chaotic ownership sagas in recent AI history — a collapsed $3 billion OpenAI deal, a $2.4 billion Google talent raid that took the founding team, and a Cognition buyout of everything left — without the actual editor falling apart. The free unlimited Tab completions that made Codeium beloved are still there, the Cascade agent remains genuinely capable, and the new Devin cloud handoff is a distinctive, well-regarded addition under Cognition's ownership. The honest thing worth going in aware of: with four billing changes in 16 months and two brand names in two years, this has been one of the least stable products in this category from a naming and pricing-predictability standpoint, even though existing subscribers have consistently been protected through each transition. For developers curious about the Devin cloud-handoff workflow specifically, or comparing directly against Cursor at the same price, it remains a genuinely competitive, interesting option — just confirm you're looking at current Devin Desktop branding rather than an outdated Windsurf or Codeium reference.
FAQ
Is Windsurf still called Windsurf?
No, Cognition renamed it Devin Desktop on June 2, 2026, via an over-the-air update. Plans, settings, and extensions carried over unchanged, and existing subscribers were grandfathered at their current pricing.
What happened with the OpenAI acquisition of Windsurf?
OpenAI reportedly agreed to acquire Windsurf for about $3 billion in 2025, but the deal collapsed in July 2025, reportedly due to Microsoft's contractual rights over OpenAI's acquisitions making the structure unworkable.
Why did Windsurf's founders end up at Google?
After the OpenAI deal fell through, Google paid roughly $2.4 billion in a reverse-acquihire to directly hire Windsurf's CEO, co-founder, and about 40 senior engineers onto its Gemini Code Assist team, while the company itself was later acquired separately by Cognition.
Is Windsurf/Devin Desktop the same price as Cursor?
Yes, as of the March 19, 2026 pricing reset, Pro is $20/month — matching Cursor's Pro tier exactly — with unlimited access to Cognition's own SWE-1.5 model included.
What is the Devin cloud handoff?
A feature that lets you plan a coding task locally in the editor, then hand it off to Devin's cloud agent for asynchronous, accountable execution — described by reviewers as one of the most interesting workflows in AI coding as of 2026.
Has Windsurf's pricing model been stable?
Not especially — billing mechanics changed roughly four times across about 16 months, moving from an original credit system to daily/weekly usage quotas in March 2026, with credit rollover removed in a later change.