Aider vs Windsurf Plugin (formerly Codeium)
Pricing
Aider: Free (open source), you pay for API usage
Windsurf Plugin (formerly Codeium): Brand retired, plugin in maintenance mode under Devin Desktop
Description
Aider: Open-source terminal AI that edits your code and makes clean git commits automatically
Windsurf Plugin (formerly Codeium): The Codeium autocomplete extension, renamed Windsurf Plugin in 2025 and now a maintenance-mode companion to Devin Desktop, formerly Windsurf IDE
Pros
- Git-aware: every change is a well-described commit you can review or revert
- Works with Claude, OpenAI and DeepSeek models, plus local models
- Maps your whole codebase and can run linters and tests after each change
- Existing installs keep working in VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, Vim, Neovim, Jupyter, Chrome and Eclipse
- Keeps AI completions in your current editor instead of switching IDEs
Cons
- Terminal-only: no GUI, no visual diff preview
- API costs are yours to manage and can add up with large context
- Development has slowed: the latest release, v0.86.0, came out in August 2025
- All plugins are in maintenance mode: no new features
- Cascade in the JetBrains plugin is being deprecated, and the JetBrains remote plugin is no longer maintained
- The maker recommends Devin Desktop, or Devin over ACP in JetBrains, instead
Details
Aider is a terminal tool that pair-programs with you. You tell it what to change, it edits the files, and (here is the part that wins people over) it creates a clean git commit with a descriptive message. Every change is tracked, reviewable, and revertable. No other AI coding tool handles version control this naturally.
Built by Paul Gauthier, it builds a map of your whole repository so it can work on larger codebases. The tradeoff is that it is terminal-only and requires you to bring your own API key, and there is a learning curve to getting the most out of it (knowing which files to add, how to prompt). Development has also slowed: the latest release, v0.86.0, came out in August 2025, and the repository has had no new commits since May 2026, so support for newer models may lag. If you are already comfortable with git and the command line, aider fits into your workflow like a glove. If you want a visual editor experience, look at Cursor or Cline instead.
Codeium was a free AI autocomplete extension that worked in almost any editor: VS Code, JetBrains, Vim, Emacs and more. Its company built the Windsurf editor on top of it and, in April 2025, renamed itself Windsurf, retiring the Codeium brand and renaming the extensions Windsurf Plugin. Cognition bought the Windsurf business later in 2025 and renamed the editor Devin Desktop on 2 June 2026. codeium.com now opens the Devin Desktop site.
The plugins still exist, but Cognition’s documentation lists all of them as in maintenance mode and recommends the Devin Desktop editor, or Devin over ACP inside JetBrains IDEs. For AI completion in your current editor with active development, GitHub Copilot is the usual choice. If you are willing to switch editors, Devin Desktop or Cursor give you completion plus agent features.
Verified
