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Cursor vs GitHub Copilot vs Windsurf: plans, usage limits and prices (checked November 2026)
All three coding assistants now meter AI use in a way that depends on which model you pick, but each packages it differently, and at least two of them changed their billing model in 2026. Below is what each vendor's own pages said on November 14, 2026, followed by a worked example. These plans change often, so check the vendor's page before you buy.
A note on names
Windsurf is now Devin Desktop. windsurf.com redirects to devin.ai, and Devin's site says "Devin Desktop is the new name for Windsurf." Cursor is sold as part of what its docs call "The X Subscription, one subscription for Grok, Cursor, and X", so its plans (Plus, Premium, Super, Ultra) also cover Grok and X features.
The short answer
- Cursor meters a weekly pool of usage for its own models (Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5 and Composer 2.5). Third-party models are not in the pool; on Premium and above they are paid from prepaid credit at API list price.
- GitHub Copilot meters GitHub AI Credits: "1 AI credit = $0.01 USD", with the credits per interaction depending on the model and tokens used. Code completions don't use credits. Premium requests are now a legacy model for some existing annual subscribers.
- Windsurf / Devin Desktop meters a daily and weekly quota "based on how many tokens the model uses for each request." It replaced the old prompt credits in March 2026.
What each plan includes
| Cursor | GitHub Copilot | Windsurf (Devin Desktop) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billing unit | Weekly usage pool for Cursor models; third-party models at API list price | GitHub AI Credits ($0.01 each), based on model and tokens | Daily and weekly quota based on tokens |
| Free option | Free: limited agent and Chat requests | Free: 2,000 completions/month, limited chat and agent usage | Free: light agent quota, unlimited Tab completions and inline edits |
| Entry paid plan | Plus: $8/month, Grok models only | Pro: $10/month, 1,500 credits ($15) | Pro: $20/month |
| Middle plans | Premium: $30/month, 4x Plus usage; Super: $100/month, 15x Plus | Pro+: $39/month, 7,000 credits ($70) | None listed |
| Top individual plan | Ultra: $200/month, 50x Plus | Max: $100/month, 20,000 credits ($200) | Max: $200/month, "significantly higher quotas" |
| Team plans | Teams: $30, $100 or $200 per seat/month; Enterprise: custom | Business: $19/user/month, 1,900 credits per user; Enterprise: $39/user/month, 2,000 more credits per user | Teams: $80/month plus $40/month per full dev seat, up to 100 users; Enterprise: no price listed |
| Extra usage | Prepaid credit (top-ups) at per-model rates | $0.01 per credit via a budget (not on Free) | Extra usage at API list prices (not on Free) |
| Allowance resets | Weekly | Monthly, 1st of the month at 00:00 UTC | Daily and weekly |
| Annual billing | Plus $80/yr, Premium $300/yr, Super $1,000/yr, Ultra $2,000/yr | Not shown on the plans page | Not shown on the pricing page |
Notes on the table:
- Copilot credits: each paid plan's total is base credits, which GitHub Docs say "match with your subscription price and they never change", plus a "flex allotment" that "may change over time": Pro is 1,000 + 500, Pro+ 3,900 + 3,100, Max 10,000 + 10,000. Business and Enterprise prices are on the plans page's "For businesses" tab; their credits are pooled across the organization.
- Older plans: Cursor's docs say its earlier plans (Hobby, Start, Pro, Pro+, Ultra and older Teams seats) continue for existing customers; we did not capture their prices. Devin's docs say existing Pro subscribers keep $15/month and existing Teams subscribers $30 per Developer seat.
How each one counts usage
Cursor: a weekly pool, plus prepaid credit
Cursor's pricing page says "Every tier includes a pool of AI usage shared across Cursor and Grok" and that "usage costs vary by product." Its help page adds that model selection affects how quickly included usage is consumed.
When the weekly pool runs out, you can wait for the reset, upgrade, or keep working from prepaid credit (top-ups), charged at per-model rates listed in Cursor's docs. Third-party models are paid from prepaid credit at API list price from the first request, on Premium and above only. A top-up expires 365 days after purchase if unused. Details: Cursor's usage and limits page.
GitHub Copilot: AI credits, and legacy premium requests
GitHub Docs say each interaction consumes input, output and cached tokens, "Each token is priced based on the model used," and the total is converted into AI credits at $0.01 each. Allowances reset at 00:00:00 UTC on the first day of each month, and unused credits do not carry over.
Past the allowance, you can upgrade (paying only the price difference) or set a dollar budget: "a $10 budget covers 1,000 AI credits." The Free plan cannot buy additional credits. Details: GitHub Docs on AI credits.
Premium requests now apply only to "Copilot Pro and Copilot Pro+ subscribers on an existing annual plan who remained on legacy premium request-based billing after June 1, 2026." On that model, Pro includes 300 premium requests a month and Pro+ 1,500; extra requests cost $0.04 each; each chat prompt counts as one request multiplied by the model's multiplier; and each Copilot code review counts as 13. Details: GitHub Docs on premium requests.
Windsurf / Devin Desktop: daily and weekly quotas
Devin's docs say plans include "a daily and weekly budget" based on tokens, the cost per token varies by model, and "free models don't count against your quota at all." On Free you wait for the reset; on Pro, Teams and Max you can buy extra usage, "billed at API list prices for the model you're using." Priority and faster model variants cost more. The old prompt credits, sold at $0.04 each, were converted to extra-usage balance at the rate paid. Details: Devin's quota docs.
Worked example: one developer, one month
Say one developer sends 500 agent or chat prompts a month. To turn that into money we have to assume an average cost per prompt: here $0.08 of model usage at the vendor's per-token rates, or $40 a month. That figure is ours, not a vendor's; real costs depend on the model, the context size and how many steps an agent takes.
- GitHub Copilot (AI credits): $40 is 4,000 credits. Pro includes 1,500, leaving 2,500 credits ($25) of additional usage, about $35 in total. Pro+ includes 7,000, so the month fits inside its $39 price.
- GitHub Copilot (legacy premium requests): if every prompt uses a model with a multiplier of 1, that is 500 premium requests. Pro's 300 leaves 200 at $0.04, or $8 on top of the plan. Pro+'s 1,500 covers it. Higher-multiplier models and code reviews use the allowance faster.
- Cursor: pool sizes are published only as multiples of Plus, not as dollars or prompts, so the pages don't tell you how many of the 500 prompts fit in Premium's $30. If all of them used third-party models, they would come from prepaid credit from the first request: $30 plus about $40, if the $0.08 average holds at API list price. Plus cannot use third-party models.
- Windsurf / Devin Desktop: Pro's quota isn't published as a number either, and it resets daily and weekly. The bill is $20 plus any extra usage at API list prices, which the pricing page doesn't let you calculate in advance.
Per-seat team prices are easier to compare. Five developers would be $95 a month on Copilot Business (5 × $19), from $150 on Cursor Teams at the $30 seat tier (5 × $30), and $280 on Devin Teams ($80 plus 5 × $40, all full dev seats), before any extra usage.
Which one fits which situation
These follow from the published billing rules above, not from using the products.
- You want your included allowance as a number: Copilot lists credits per plan and a fixed $0.01 per credit for extra usage.
- You mostly want code completions: Copilot's paid plans list unlimited code completions and next edit suggestions, which don't use credits; Devin's Free plan lists unlimited Tab completions and inline edits.
- You want usage spread evenly: Cursor's pool refreshes weekly and Devin's quota daily and weekly. Copilot's monthly allowance can be spent at any pace within the month.
- You already pay for Grok or X: Cursor is sold as part of the same subscription.
Might not fit if
- Cursor Plus is not a fit if you need third-party models, cloud agents or Bugbot code review: those start at Premium, and third-party models are billed on top of the plan price.
- Copilot Free caps completions at 2,000 a month and cannot buy extra credits. On paid plans the flex part of the allowance may change; count only base credits (1,000 on Pro) if you need a fixed figure.
- Devin Desktop does not publish its quotas as numbers, and its docs say free trials of paid plans are not offered (they do say you can request a refund before using a subscription).
Check the current numbers
Sources
- Cursor pricing page — https://cursor.com/pricing, checked
- Cursor docs: Models & Pricing — https://cursor.com/docs/models-and-pricing, checked
- Cursor help: Usage and limits — https://cursor.com/help/models-and-usage/usage-limits, checked
- GitHub Copilot plans page — https://github.com/features/copilot/plans, checked
- GitHub Docs: Usage-based billing for individuals — https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/concepts/billing-and-usage/individuals/billing, checked
- GitHub Docs: Requests in GitHub Copilot (legacy) — https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/reference/copilot-billing/request-based-billing-legacy/copilot-requests, checked
- Devin Desktop page (windsurf.com redirects here) — https://devin.ai/desktop, checked
- Devin pricing page (windsurf.com/pricing redirects here) — https://devin.ai/pricing, checked
- Devin Desktop docs: Quota-based usage — https://docs.devin.ai/desktop/accounts/quota, checked
- Devin Desktop docs: Plans and usage — https://docs.devin.ai/desktop/accounts/usage, checked