Bolt.new vs Windsurf Plugin (formerly Codeium)
Pricing
Bolt.new: Free tier, Pro from $20/mo
Windsurf Plugin (formerly Codeium): Brand retired, plugin in maintenance mode under Devin Desktop
Description
Bolt.new: Build full-stack web apps in your browser by describing what you want, no local setup needed
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
- Zero setup: open a browser tab and start building
- Live preview updates as the AI writes code
- Supports React, Next.js, Astro, and more out of the box
- 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
- Free tier token limits mean you hit walls mid-project
- Browser-based means no access to native tools, local databases, or heavy computation
- Generated code can be messy and hard to maintain long-term
- 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- Cascade in the JetBrains plugin is being deprecated, and the JetBrains remote plugin is no longer maintained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
Bolt.new runs a full Node.js environment inside your browser using WebContainers. You describe what you want to build, it writes the code, and you see a live preview instantly. No installing Node, no terminal, no VS Code, just a browser tab.
This is genuinely useful for prototyping. You can go from “I need a landing page with a waitlist form” to a working app in minutes. But the limitations show up when you try to build something complex: the free tier token limits are tight, and the generated code sometimes needs cleanup before it is production-ready. Think of it as a rapid prototyping tool, not a replacement for a real development setup.
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.
Bolt.new verified
Windsurf Plugin (formerly Codeium) verified
