Bottom line: Continue for software development teams wanting configurable AI tooling; Windsurf for software developers who want AI agents integrated into a real IDE.
Continue is an open-source AI coding assistant that brings autocomplete, in-IDE chat, and agentic edits to VS Code and JetBrains, with support for any model.
Software development teams wanting configurable AI tooling
Developers who value open-source transparency
Engineering organizations standardizing workflows with custom agents
Software developers who want AI agents integrated into a real IDE
Engineering teams looking to orchestrate multiple coding agents
Power users who delegate large coding tasks to cloud agents
Pros
Open-source foundation gives teams full transparency into how the assistant behaves and the freedom to adapt it to their own workflows.
Works across major editors including VS Code and JetBrains, fitting into existing developer environments rather than forcing a tool switch.
Custom AI agents can be source-controlled and shared, letting teams encode their own standards and reuse consistent automation across projects.
Flexible model access through a credit system means teams can choose frontier models that match their needs instead of being locked to one provider.
Integrations with Slack, Sentry, and Snyk extend AI assistance beyond the editor into the wider development and incident workflow.
Combines a genuine full IDE — syntax highlighting, autocomplete, and debugging — with agent orchestration, so developers can trace and review every change rather than blindly accepting AI output.
Unlimited inline edits and tab completions on every tier, including the free plan, lower the barrier to everyday AI-assisted editing.
Broad model flexibility on paid plans, with first-class support for OpenAI, Claude, and Gemini frontier models plus the proprietary SWE 1.6 and open-source options.
The agent command center gives a clear board/list view of running, in-review, and completed tasks, making it practical to delegate and supervise multiple agents at once.
Strong enterprise posture with SAML/OIDC SSO
Cons
The recent acquisition by Cursor creates uncertainty around the product's future direction, subscription continuity, and long-term roadmap.
A credit-based model billing structure can make spend less predictable than a flat subscription, especially for teams using premium frontier models heavily.
Building and tuning custom agents requires upfront configuration effort and a degree of technical comfort that casual users may find demanding.
Post-acquisition, the long-term status of standalone hosting and the open-source project may shift, introducing potential lock-in or migration concerns.
The credit-and-quota usage model makes spending harder to predict; heavy users can exceed included allowances and pay extra at API pricing, with cost-per-message varying by model and task complexity.
The agent-fleet workflow introduces a learning curve, and getting good results depends on writing precise prompts and managing context carefully.
The recent rebrand from Windsurf to Devin Desktop and absorption into Cognition's ecosystem means branding, plans, and features are in flux, requiring users to verify current details.
Reliance on the proprietary Devin Cloud and SWE models for the fullest experience creates some platform lock-in for teams that standardize on it.
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