What is the best free alternative to Windsurf?
Eclipse Theia IDE is the closest free alternative to Windsurf: same AI IDEs & Editors sub-category, and it is free. Open-source, vendor-neutral IDE with AI agents built on Theia AI
Best free Windsurf alternatives
Looking for a free alternative to Windsurf? Here are 9 ai ides & editors worth trying — 9 with a free tier. Windsurf itself is free tier + paid.
| Tool | Windsurf (you searched) | Eclipse Theia IDE | Kiro | Cursor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | freemium | free | freemium | freemium |
| Best for | Agentic IDE with the Cascade flow | Open-source, vendor-neutral IDE with AI agents built on Theia AI | AWS's spec-driven agentic IDE | AI-first VS Code fork with agent mode |
| Visit | Open ↗ | Open ↗ | Open ↗ | Open ↗ |
Windsurf alternatives — straight answers
Are there free Windsurf alternatives?
Yes — 9 of the 9 alternatives listed here are free or freemium: Eclipse Theia IDE, Kiro, Cursor, Google Antigravity, Zed. None of them are paid-only.
Is Windsurf free?
Windsurf is free tier + paid. There is a free tier you can work in, with paid plans above it.
How were these Windsurf alternatives chosen?
They are the other tools in AI IDEs & Editors, then the rest of Code & Development, ordered free tiers first and capped at 9. There is no sponsorship and no paid placement in that ordering — only the pricing tier decides.
All Windsurf alternatives
Browse AI IDEs & Editors →✦ WhyA Windsurf alternative — Open-source, vendor-neutral IDE with AI agents built on Theia AI.
- Open-source, vendor-neutral IDE with AI agents built on Theia AI
- Bring your own API key or local model; no telemetry on code or prompts
- Customisable agents and prompts, governed by the Eclipse Foundation
Kiro
AI IDEs & Editors
✦ WhyA Windsurf alternative — AWS's spec-driven agentic IDE.
- AWS's spec-driven agentic IDE
- Turns requirements into plans and code
- Hooks and steering files
- Free tier
Cursor
AI IDEs & Editors
✦ WhyA Windsurf alternative — AI-first VS Code fork with agent mode.
- AI-first VS Code fork with agent mode
- Multi-file edits and terminal commands
- Codebase-wide context and rules
- Free tier with limited requests
Google Antigravity
AI IDEs & Editors
✦ WhyA Windsurf alternative — Google's agent-first IDE.
- Google's agent-first IDE
- Powered by Gemini 3 models
- Autonomous multi-step coding
- Free access tier
Zed
AI IDEs & Editors
✦ WhyA Windsurf alternative — Blazing-fast, Rust-built editor.
- Blazing-fast, Rust-built editor
- Agentic editing and prediction
- Real-time collaboration
- Free and open-source core
Trae
AI IDEs & Editors
✦ WhyA Windsurf alternative — ByteDance's free AI IDE.
- ByteDance's free AI IDE
- SOLO agent builder mode
- Access to frontier models
- Generous free usage
JetBrains Junie
AI IDEs & Editors
✦ WhyA Windsurf alternative — Autonomous coding agent embedded in JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm).
- Autonomous coding agent embedded in JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm)
- Plans and executes multi-step coding tasks in-IDE
- Deep integration with JetBrains code intelligence/refactoring
Qoder
AI IDEs & Editors
✦ WhyA Windsurf alternative — Multi-agent collaboration IDE from Alibaba.
- Multi-agent collaboration IDE from Alibaba
- Handles codebases up to 100,000 files with long-running agents (up to 26h)
- Auto-generates repo wikis (400,000+ generated)
✦ WhyA Windsurf alternative — Tencent Cloud's AI code editor plus plugins and CLI.
- Tencent Cloud's AI code editor plus plugins and CLI
- Free plan with 100 base credits monthly and 5,000 completions
- Promotional period currently allows all models and unlimited completions
- International build available with multiple model providers