Bolt vs Windsurf: Side-by-Side Comparison 2026
Bolt vs Windsurf comparison 2026. Side-by-side features, pricing & capabilities.
Bolt is an app builder from StackBlitz — build full-stack apps with ai. Windsurf is an AI IDE from Cognition — the agentic ai ide.
Bolt
Browser-based AI app builder by StackBlitz that generates, runs, and deploys full-stack web applications from natural language prompts.
- ✓ Full-stack generation
- ✓ In-browser IDE
- ✓ One-click deploy
- ✓ Package management
- ✓ Live preview
Free / $25/mo · 4 plans
Windsurf
AI-first IDE with Cascade — an agentic assistant that understands your codebase and makes multi-file changes. Now owned by Cognition (makers of Devin). Also available as Windsurf Plugin for VS Code and JetBrains.
- ✓ Cascade agentic AI
- ✓ Code completions
- ✓ Multi-file editing
- ✓ Terminal integration
- ✓ Codebase search
Free / $20/mo · 5 plans
| Feature | Bolt | Windsurf |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Builder | AI IDE |
| Starting Price | Free | Free |
| Model Family | Claude | Multi-model |
| Test Generation | — | ✓ |
| Documentation | — | ✓ |
| Open Source | No | No |
Pricing verified Mar 20, 2026. Bolt pricing | Windsurf pricing
Key Differences
- Category: Bolt is an app builder; Windsurf is an AI IDE.
- Starting price: Bolt starts at $25/mo; Windsurf starts at $20/mo.
- Model family: Bolt uses Claude; Windsurf uses Multi-model.
- Bring your own key: Windsurf supports BYOK; Bolt does not.
- Platforms: Bolt runs on Web; Windsurf runs on Linux, Windows, macOS.
- Provider: Bolt is built by StackBlitz; Windsurf is built by Cognition.
- Capabilities: Windsurf has test generation.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Bolt if you want to go from idea to deployed app in minutes. Choose Windsurf if you want an agentic IDE with autonomous multi-step changes. Read our full reviews to see which fits your workflow.