Softwr

Software Development · head to head

Factory vs Windsurf

Factory logo

Factory

Software Development

The autonomy stack for enterprise teams

From
$20/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Windsurf logo

Windsurf

Software Development

The agentic IDE

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Windsurf has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Factory business and Enterprise plans require direct sales contact for pricing; Windsurf recently rebranded to Devin Desktop, creating product identity confusion
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Factory and Windsurf actually diverge.

Attributes where Factory and Windsurf differ
AttributeFactoryWindsurf
Starting price$20/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebmacOS, Linux, Windows
FoundedUnknown2021

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Software Development).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Factory

Nothing recorded that Windsurf does not also cover.

Only in Windsurf

  • Cascade AI agent
  • Agentic programming
  • Context-aware assistance
  • Automated command execution
  • Multi-file understanding
  • Intelligent code generation
  • Real-time debugging
  • Integrated terminal

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Factory

  • AI agent development and deploymentnot Windsurf
  • Multi-platform automationnot Windsurf
  • Background task executionnot Windsurf
  • Agent orchestrationnot Windsurf

Windsurf

  • Agentic developmentnot Factory
  • AI-assisted codingnot Factory
  • Complex project managementnot Factory
  • Automated coding tasksnot Factory
  • Learning new codebasesnot Factory

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Factory

  • Business and Enterprise plans require direct sales contact for pricing
  • Individual plans (Pro, Plus, Max) have limited feature details

Windsurf

  • Recently rebranded to Devin Desktop, creating product identity confusion
  • Cascade agent reached end-of-life on July 1, 2026, requiring migration to Devin Local
  • Free tier quota runs out quickly for active developers, within a couple days of coding
  • Pricing increased significantly in March 2026 overhaul, moving from credit-based to daily/weekly quotas
  • OpenAI acquisition raises concerns about long-term product direction diverging from Codeium's vision

Pricing, plan by plan

Factory

$20/month
  • Pro$20/month
    • Agent-native multi-platform experience
    • Desktop, CLI, and SDK access
    • Cloud and local background agents
  • Plus$100/month
    • Everything in Pro
    • Approximately 5x usage limits
    • Droid Computers for remote agents
  • Max$200/month
    • Everything in Plus
    • Approximately 10x usage limits
    • Early access to new features
  • Business$null/mo

Windsurf

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Light daily and weekly quotas
    • Unlimited tab autocomplete
    • Access to Cascade AI agent
  • Pro$20/month
    • Standard quotas
    • Windsurf proprietary SWE model
    • Cloud sessions for background work
  • Max$200/month
    • Heavy daily quotas
    • Long agent sessions
    • Frontier third-party models
  • Teams$40/month-per-user
    • All Pro features
    • Centralized billing
    • Usage analytics

Which should you pick?

Choose Factory if

Nothing in the data separates Factory from Windsurf on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Factory review

Choose Windsurf if

  • You need cascade ai agent.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on macOS, Linux, Windows.
  • You also want agentic programming.
Windsurf review

Questions people ask

Is Factory or Windsurf better?
Neither clearly leads. Factory starts at $20/month and Windsurf at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Factory or Windsurf?
Windsurf has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $20/month for Factory and Free for Windsurf.
Does Factory or Windsurf run on more platforms?
Factory runs on Web. Windsurf runs on macOS, Linux, Windows.
Can I use Windsurf for free?
Yes. Windsurf has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Factory starts at $20/month.
What is Factory best used for?
Factory is most often used for ai agent development and deployment, multi-platform automation, background task execution, agent orchestration. Of those, ai agent development and deployment and multi-platform automation are not what Windsurf is typically brought in for.
What can Factory do that Windsurf cannot?
Windsurf covers Cascade AI agent, Agentic programming, Context-aware assistance, Automated command execution.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Factory: What is Factory.ai's pricing?

Factory.ai offers individual plans starting at USD$20 per month for Pro, USD$100 per month for Plus, and USD$200 per month for Max. Team plans including Business and Enterprise tiers are available at custom pricing based on the number of seats required.

Source
Windsurf: Does Windsurf support MCP (Model Context Protocol) integrations?

Yes. Windsurf supports MCP with integrations for 21 third-party tools for extending functionality and connecting to external systems.

Source
Factory: What are the usage limits for each plan?

The Pro plan is the baseline tier. Plus provides approximately 5 times the usage limits of Pro, while Max provides approximately 10 times the usage limits of Pro. Exact usage limits are not specified on the pricing page.

Source
Windsurf: What is Windsurf's current status as of 2026?

Windsurf rebranded to Devin Desktop in June 2026 and is backed by OpenAI after its 2025 acquisition. Cascade reached end-of-life on July 1, 2026, with Devin Local as the Rust-rewritten successor.

Source
Factory: What AI models are included with Factory.ai?

All Factory.ai plans include access to GPT-5, Claude Opus and Sonnet, Google Gemini, and open-weight models. Business and Enterprise plans also include dedicated compute with partitioned inference and options for on-premise deployment.

Source
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