Rating certificate · AW/26-09/57526 Sept 2026
Not enough evidence
Windsurf
Cognition · Coding agents
The Register / Coding agents / Windsurf
Register entry · Coding agents · updated 26 Sept 2026
Windsurf
Windsurf was an AI-first code editor (a VS Code fork) with the Cascade agent, built by Codeium. After OpenAI's acquisition attempt lapsed and Google licensed its technology and hired its CEO in July 2025, Cognition acquired the product and brand. On 2 June 2026 Cognition renamed it Devin Desktop via an over-the-air update, making the Agent Command Center the default view; plans and pricing carried over unchanged.
Renamed. Renamed to Devin Desktop on 2026-06-02 by owner Cognition; windsurf.com now 308-redirects to devin.ai/desktop. The legacy Cascade agent was replaced by Devin Local (Cascade available only through 2026-07-01). Ownership history: OpenAI's reported ~$3B acquisition lapsed in July 2025; Google struck a ~$2.4B licensing deal and hired CEO Varun Mohan and other staff; Cognition signed a definitive agreement to acquire the remaining company (IP, product, trademark, brand) on 2025-07-14. Current product is covered under the `devin` profile.
What reviewers and users praise
- Not enough evidence yet.
What they criticise
- Not enough evidence yet.
Experts vs the crowdneeds both scores
Experts—
Crowd—
| Price | Not published |
|---|---|
| Use it via | — |
| Runs on | — |
| Licence | proprietary |
| Updated | Evidence collected 26 Sept 2026 |
How the rating was worked out
Weights for Coding agents: adoption 35%, experts 40%, crowd 25%. Fewer than two pillars have enough evidence. The method.
| Adoption & momentumweight 35% | — | No public reach signal found |
|---|---|---|
| Expertsindependent reviews · weight 40% | — | No independent reviews found |
| Crowdcommunity sample · weight 25% | — | Only 0 community items sampled (6 needed) |
| Rating | — | Not rated: fewer than two pillars have enough evidence. |
Trust & safety
Seven dimensions graded A–D from documented facts. Overall: not enough data.
n/e
Permission model
See devin profile.
n/e
Data access scope
See devin profile.
n/e
Data storage
See devin profile.
n/e
Data retention & training
See devin profile.
n/e
Incident history (24 months)
See devin profile.
n/e
Compliance
See devin profile.
n/e
Transparency
See devin profile.
The experts
0 named independent reviews found; dated reviews from the last 12 months are scored.
- None found.
The crowd
0 coded posts.
Recent changes
- 2 Jun 2026
Windsurf renamed Devin Desktop; Agent Command Center (Kanban view of local and cloud agents) becomes the default surface; Devin Local (Rust rewrite) replaces Cascade. source
- 1 Jul 2026
Legacy Cascade agent end-of-life; Windsurf JetBrains plugin placed in maintenance mode, Devin over ACP recommended instead. source
Ranked alongside
Other ranked entries in Coding agents.
OpenCodeAnomaly75
Claude CodeAnthropic73
Zed (Agent Panel)Zed Industries73
GitHub CopilotGitHub (Microsoft)72
Codex (CLI and app)OpenAI71
Sources
Every figure above traces to one of these, observed up to 26 Sept 2026.
- Windsurf is now Devin Desktop (Devin blog) — "We're excited to launch the next generation of Windsurf: Devin Desktop."
- Devin Desktop FAQ — "Windsurf becomes Devin Desktop, with the Agent Command Center as the primary view." Pricing unchanged.
- windsurf.com returns 308 Permanent Redirect to https://devin.ai/desktop
- Cognition's acquisition of Windsurf (2025-07-14) — "Cognition has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Windsurf, the agentic IDE."
- DevOps.com, 2025-07-15: Cognition to acquire Windsurf after Google licensing deal (OpenAI $3B offer lapsed; Varun Mohan to Google in $2.4B accord)