Claude Code vs Windsurf Plugin (formerly Codeium)
Pricing
Claude Code: Included in all paid Claude plans (Pro $20/mo, Max $100-200/mo) or pay-as-you-go via the Anthropic API
Windsurf Plugin (formerly Codeium): Brand retired, plugin in maintenance mode under Devin Desktop
Description
Claude Code: Anthropic's AI coding tool that reads your entire codebase and makes changes across files, from your terminal, IDE, desktop app or browser
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
- Understands large codebases better than most, with a 1M token context window on current models
- Terminal-native means it fits into git workflows without friction
- Genuinely good at multi-file refactoring and complex tasks
- 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
- API costs add up fast on big projects: a heavy session can cost $5-20
- The $20 Pro plan is pitched at short coding sprints in small codebases; heavier use means Max at $100-200/mo
- No free tier; requires a paid Claude plan or an Anthropic Console account
- 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- Cascade in the JetBrains plugin is being deprecated, and the JetBrains remote plugin is no longer maintained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
Claude Code works directly with your git repo. It runs in your terminal, and also as a VS Code or JetBrains extension, a desktop app, and in the browser at claude.ai/code. You describe what you want changed, it reads the relevant files, makes edits, and can even run your tests to check its work.
Where it really shines is tasks that touch many files at once. “Rename this concept across the whole project” or “add TypeScript types to all these API routes” is the kind of tedious refactoring that would take you hours. The catch is cost. Every paid Claude plan includes it, starting with Pro at $20/month, and the Max plans at $100-200/month give you much more usage for a fixed price. You can also run it on the Anthropic API through a Console account and pay per token, but heavy usage on a large codebase can get expensive.
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.
Claude Code verified
Windsurf Plugin (formerly Codeium) verified
