Pricing
Is Windsurf Free? What the Free Plan Includes Now That It's Devin Desktop
Windsurf is now Devin Desktop. What the free plan includes, its quota and model limits, whether personal and commercial use is allowed, and when to pay.
6 min read
Free-plan wording checked Nov 5, 2026 on Devin’s pricing page, Devin Desktop models docs and quota docs. Terms checked Nov 5, 2026 in Cognition’s Platform Terms of Service (windsurf.com/terms-of-service-individual redirects there). Every source is listed at the bottom. No affiliate links on this page (how we work).
Is Windsurf free?
Yes — there is still a $0 Free plan. Windsurf is the product formerly known as… wait. It’s the other way around. Windsurf is now Devin Desktop (Prince energy: new name on the same stage). The free tier lives on devin.ai/pricing as Free at $0, with “Light quota to code with agents”, “Limited model availability”, “Unlimited inline edits” and “Unlimited Tab completions” (verified Nov 5, 2026).
So if you typed “is windsurf free” because you heard the rename and figured the free plan died with the brand: it didn’t. The Free column is still there. Larry David would rate the existence of a free tier “pretty, pretty, pretty good.” Whether it’s enough free is the rest of this page.
What the free plan includes
From Devin’s pricing FAQ on the same page (verified Nov 5, 2026): “The Free plan includes a light quota to code with agents, limited model availability, unlimited inline edits, and unlimited Tab completions.”
| Piece | Free plan | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | devin.ai/pricing |
| Agent quota | “Light quota” | pricing FAQ |
| Models | Limited; SWE-1.6 only on free | models docs |
| Inline edits | Unlimited | pricing |
| Tab completions | Unlimited | pricing |
| Concurrent sessions | Up to 10 (table) | pricing |
All verified Nov 5, 2026. Links in Sources.
Models on Free
Devin’s models docs say: “Free tier users only have access to SWE-1.6.” (verified Nov 5, 2026). Paid self-serve plans get more.
There is a separate SWE-2 window: “SWE-2 is free for self-serve plans in Devin Desktop and Devin CLI through November 30, 2026; it does not apply to Devin cloud sessions. List pricing ($3.00/1M input, $15.00/1M output, $0.30/1M cache input) applies afterward.” Read that carefully. Self-serve plans. Desktop and CLI. Not cloud. Through Nov 30, 2026. After that date, those list prices apply. Free-tier users are still on SWE-1.6 per the sentence above; the SWE-2 promo is aimed at self-serve paid plans unless Cognition changes the models page.
What happens when the quota runs out
Devin’s quota docs (verified Nov 5, 2026):
- Free: “Wait until your next daily or weekly reset.”
- Resets are by calendar date.
- “free models don’t count against your quota at all.”
Paid allowances “refresh automatically on a daily and weekly basis” (pricing FAQ, verified Nov 5, 2026). Cognition does not publish a numeric “Light quota” size (messages, tokens or dollars) on the pricing page as of Nov 5, 2026. If someone quotes you an exact Free agent budget, ask for their source — it isn’t on these pages.
This is where Charlie’s Pepe Silvia board comes out. “Light quota,” “limited model availability,” daily and weekly resets, free models that don’t count, SWE-2 free through a dated window that doesn’t apply to cloud, and a product that answers to two names. The pins are all real. The poster is just crowded.
Is it free forever / unlimited?
Free forever, as a tier name: Cognition still lists Free at $0. Nothing on the Nov 5, 2026 pricing page says Free is a temporary trial or that it ends on a date. Student and trial notes from earlier checks still hold: no student discount is published, and no free trial of paid plans is published (reused Nov 1, 2026 facts; unchanged in the Nov 5 pricing fetch).
Unlimited: no. Unlimited applies to inline edits and Tab completions on Free. Agent work is a “Light quota” with daily/weekly resets. Models on Free are limited to SWE-1.6. So “is Windsurf free unlimited” is a no — unless you only mean Tab and inline edits.
Personal vs commercial use
Cognition’s Platform Terms of Service (last updated June 30, 2026; verified Nov 5, 2026; windsurf.com/terms-of-service-individual redirects here):
- §2.1 gives you the right to use the service “for your internal business purposes only.”
- There is no separate personal-vs-commercial split spelled out for Free. The terms do not say “Free is personal use only.”
- §3.1: “Cognition assigns to you all right, title, and interest in Output.”
- §3.3.1: Customer Data may be used for model training; opt-out is available “If you subscribe to a paid Service Tier.” Free users do not get that opt-out line.
- §9.1: IP indemnification “applies only to Customers on the Paid Service Tiers and does not apply to Customers on the Free Service Tier.”
So: commercial / internal-business use is how the ToS frames the product, Free included. What Free doesn’t get is the training opt-out and the IP indemnity. If your company needs those, you’re shopping paid. “Is Windsurf free for commercial use?” — the ToS allows internal business purposes on the Free tier; it does not hand Free users the paid-tier legal extras.
Students
No student discount is published on Devin’s pricing or student pages as of the Nov 1, 2026 check (reused; the Nov 5 pricing page still has no student row). For the longer student write-up, see Devin student discount.
When to pay
Pay when Light quota and SWE-1.6 aren’t enough, or when you need the paid-tier training opt-out / indemnity.
From devin.ai/pricing (verified Nov 5, 2026):
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Light quota, limited models |
| Pro | $20 | “Free use of SWE-2”, Devin Cloud |
| Max | $200 | Higher paid tier |
| Teams | $80 + $40/full seat | Team seats |
Full plan math, cloud vs desktop and the Pro comparison live in Devin pricing and Devin Pro vs Cursor Pro. (Cursor naming, if you’re comparing: Pro and Pro+ are legacy plans; new Cursor customers get Plus, Premium, Super and Ultra.) For how hard the paid quotas hit, see Devin usage limits. For the rename story itself: Windsurf is now Devin Desktop. Shopping elsewhere: Windsurf alternatives, Is Cursor free? and AI coding tools compared.
Here’s what I’d do
Install Devin Desktop, stay on Free, and burn the Light quota on real work for a week of calendar resets. If Tab and inline edits are carrying you and SWE-1.6 is fine, stay. If you’re blocked on model choice, hitting the wait-for-reset wall every day, or you need the training opt-out, Pro at $20 is the published next step — and through Nov 30, 2026 that tier still gets the SWE-2 free window on Desktop/CLI. Don’t upgrade because of the brand change alone. The free column survived the rename.
FAQ
Is Windsurf free? Yes — Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) still lists a $0 Free plan with light agent quota, limited models, and unlimited Tab and inline edits as of Nov 5, 2026.
Is Windsurf free for commercial use? Cognition’s terms allow use for your internal business purposes on Free; Free does not get the paid-tier training opt-out or IP indemnity.
Is Windsurf free unlimited? No — agent use is a light quota with daily/weekly resets and Free models are limited to SWE-1.6; only Tab and inline edits are called unlimited.
Is Windsurf free for students? No student discount is published as of the Nov 1, 2026 check; see Devin student discount for the longer answer.
Is Windsurf free forever? Cognition still lists Free at $0 with no end date on the Nov 5, 2026 pricing page; quotas and model limits still apply.
Sources
- Devin pricing (Free $0 Light quota, unlimited Tab/inline, Pro $20, Max $200, Teams, FAQ wording): https://devin.ai/pricing (verified 2026-11-05)
- Devin Desktop models (Free = SWE-1.6 only; SWE-2 free for self-serve Desktop/CLI through Nov 30, 2026; list pricing after): https://docs.devin.ai/desktop/models (verified 2026-11-05)
- Devin quota docs (Free wait for daily/weekly reset; calendar resets; free models don’t count): https://docs.devin.ai/desktop/accounts/quota (verified 2026-11-05)
- Cognition Platform Terms of Service (internal business purposes; training opt-out paid-only; IP indemnity paid-only; last updated June 30, 2026): https://cognition.com/legal/platform-terms-of-service (verified 2026-11-05)