As AI-powered developer tools continue to reshape how we write code, Codeium's Windsurf and Continue stand out as two prominent solutions in the market. Both offer robust code completion and AI assistance capabilities, but they differ significantly in their approach to pricing and deployment models.
This comparison will help you understand the key differences and make an informed decision for your development needs.
Feature Comparison
Code Completion
Windsurf
Windsurf offers sophisticated code completion with contextually aware in-line and multi-line suggestions. It adapts to your coding style and provides boilerplate code, snippets, and fill-in-the-middle completions. The system leverages advanced LLMs like GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet to ensure high-quality, relevant suggestions across different development scenarios.
Continue
Continue provides intelligent code completion with inline suggestions as you type. It features streaming diff previews and highlight-and-edit functionality, allowing developers to accept or reject changes in real-time. The system integrates deeply with your codebase to provide context-aware completions, and includes a status bar integration for quick enabling/disabling.
AI Chat Capabilities
Windsurf
Windsurf's Cascade feature offers an agentic chatbot that maintains awareness of previous actions. It provides two distinct modes: Write for direct codebase modifications, and Chat for general inquiries and discussions. The integration allows developers to interact with AI assistance without leaving their IDE environment.
Continue
Continue offers an integrated AI chat interface within the IDE that supports follow-up questions and iterative improvements. The chat system provides real-time responses to coding queries and maintains context throughout the conversation, making it effective for complex problem-solving scenarios.
Context Awareness
Windsurf
Windsurf demonstrates strong context awareness through its code completion engine, which understands both local and broader project context. It provides relevant suggestions based on your current file, imported libraries, and overall project structure, making it particularly effective for complex codebases.
Continue
Continue excels in custom context integration, allowing developers to build custom autocomplete experiences. It maintains context across chat sessions and code completions, with full codebase awareness that enables more accurate and relevant suggestions.
Privacy and Security
Windsurf
Windsurf prioritizes user privacy with clear data handling policies and the ability to opt out of code snippet telemetry. Users have full control over their data sharing preferences through account settings, ensuring sensitive code remains protected.
Continue
As an open-source solution, Continue provides complete transparency in its code handling. Users can audit the source code for security concerns and modify it according to their needs. The open-source nature allows for self-hosting, giving organizations complete control over their data.
Pricing
Windsurf
- Free Plan
- 5 User Prompt credits
- 5 Flow Action credits
- Cannot purchase more premium model credits
- Access to Cascade Base Model
- Pro Plan
- $15 per month
- 500 User Prompt credits
- 1500 Flow Action credits
- Ability to purchase more premium model credits
- Priority unlimited access to Cascade Base Model
- Pro Ultimate
- $60 per month
- Unlimited User Prompt credits
- 3000 Flow Action credits
- Ability to purchase more premium model credits
- Priority unlimited access to Cascade Base Model
Continue
- Free Open Source
- Free forever
- Real-time code suggestions
- Automated refactoring
- Testing and debugging assistance
- Seamless IDE integration
- Enterprise
- Enhanced features
- Scalability
- Enhanced security and privacy
- Dedicated support
- Collaboration tools
Conclusion
Windsurf and Continue represent two different approaches to AI-powered development assistance. Windsurf offers a polished, commercial product with tiered pricing and managed services, making it ideal for developers and teams who want a ready-to-use solution with professional support. Its advanced features like terminal integration and sophisticated LLM integration make it a powerful choice for enterprise users.
Continue, being open-source, appeals to developers who value transparency, customization, and community-driven development. Its free availability and self-hosting capabilities make it particularly attractive for organizations with specific security requirements or those who want to modify the tool to their exact needs. While it may require more setup and maintenance, it offers comparable core features to Windsurf without the associated costs.