Aider vs Windsurf: Side-by-Side Comparison 2026
Aider vs Windsurf comparison 2026. Side-by-side features, pricing & capabilities.
| Feature | Aider | Windsurf |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Agent | AI IDE |
| Starting Price | Free | Free |
| Model Family | Multi-model (any) | Multi-model |
| Context Window | Depends on model | Varies by model (up to 2M with Gemini) |
| Code Completion | ✗ | ✓ |
| Chat | ✓ | ✓ |
| Inline Editing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Agentic Mode | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-File Editing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Terminal Commands | ✓ | ✓ |
| Browser Use | ✗ | ✗ |
| Test Generation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Debugging | ✓ | ✓ |
| Refactoring | ✓ | ✓ |
| Code Review | ✗ | ✓ |
| PR Review | ✗ | ✗ |
| Documentation | ✗ | ✓ |
| Image to Code | ✗ | ✗ |
| Voice Input | ✓ | ✗ |
| App Generation | ✗ | ✓ |
| Deployment | ✗ | ✗ |
| Git Integration | ✗ | ✓ |
| Supported IDEs | Terminal (editor-agnostic) | Windsurf (VS Code fork), JetBrains plugins |
| Open Source | Yes (Apache 2.0) | No |
Pricing verified 2026-02-05. Aider pricing | Windsurf pricing
Overview
Aider is ai agent from Paul Gauthier (Open Source). Windsurf is ai ide from Codeium. Both tools are actively maintained as of 2026.
Aider: What You Get
Open-source CLI tool for AI pair programming. Works with OpenAI, Claude, and other models to edit code in your local git repo.
- Git-aware editing
- Multi-file editing
- Model agnostic
- Voice coding
- Image support
- Linting integration
Pricing: Free. 1 plan available.
Models: Claude 3.5 Sonnet, GPT-4o, GPT-4, Gemini, DeepSeek, Groq, local (Ollama), any OpenAI-compatible
Windsurf: What You Get
AI-first IDE with Cascade — an agentic assistant that understands your codebase and makes multi-file changes. Also available as Windsurf Plugin for VS Code and JetBrains.
- Cascade agentic AI
- Code completions
- Multi-file editing
- Terminal integration
- Codebase search
- Windsurf Plugin for other editors
Pricing: Free / $15/mo. 4 plans available.
Models: Claude Sonnet 3.7, Claude Opus 4.5, GPT-5.2-Codex, Cascade, Gemini, DeepSeek
Key Differences
- Category: Aider is ai agent, Windsurf is ai ide.
- Model family: Aider uses Multi-model (any); Windsurf uses Multi-model.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Aider if you want Fully open-source with transparent development. Choose Windsurf if you want Cascade agent makes autonomous multi-step changes. Both tools are strong options — the right choice depends on your workflow and priorities.
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