Tempo vs Devin Desktop
Pricing
Tempo: Free tier, Pro from $20/mo
Devin Desktop: Free tier, Pro $20/mo, Max $200/mo
Description
Tempo: AI React app builder with a visual editor: import Figma designs or describe what you want
Devin Desktop: AI IDE (formerly Windsurf) with an agent mode (Cascade) and a command center for running local and cloud coding agents across your project
Pros
- Visual drag-and-drop editing alongside AI generation
- Import Figma designs and turn them into working React components
- Outputs clean React + Tailwind code you can take with you
- Cascade agent mode handles multi-file changes without hand-holding
- Agent Command Center lets you start, track and review several local and cloud agents from one board
- Free tier with unlimited Tab completions and inline edits, enough to evaluate before paying
Cons
- React-only: if you use Vue, Svelte, or anything else, this is not for you
- Visual editor hits limits fast when building complex application logic
- Newer tool with a smaller community and fewer resources
- Had a messy 2025: acquisition talks with OpenAI fell through, and talent split between Google and Cognition
- Smaller community means fewer tutorials and troubleshooting resources
- Context window can hit limits on larger projects
Details
Tempo sits between a design tool and a code generator. You can import Figma designs, use AI prompts, or visually edit components with drag-and-drop, then export clean React and Tailwind code. It is the visual approach to AI-assisted coding.
If you think in terms of visual layouts rather than code, Tempo might click better than text-prompt tools like v0. The Figma import is particularly useful if you already have designs. The limitation is that it only outputs React, and the visual editor works better for UI than for business logic. Think of it as a UI building tool, not a full app builder.
Devin Desktop is the new name for Windsurf, the AI IDE that started as Codeium’s editor. It is now made by Cognition, the company behind the Devin coding agent. It still combines regular code completion with Cascade, an agent mode that can plan out multi-step tasks and execute them across your project. Tell it “add user authentication to this app” and it will create files, install packages, and wire things up.
The rename put an Agent Command Center at the front: a board where you run and review local and cloud agents, including Cascade, Codex and Claude Agent, while the full IDE stays available. Pro costs $20/mo and adds higher usage quotas, frontier models and Devin Cloud agents. The company had a turbulent 2025, when a $3B acquisition by OpenAI fell apart and talent ended up split between Google and Cognition, but the product now has a clear owner. If you want a capable AI IDE that can also manage several coding agents at once, it is worth trying.
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