Ask HN: Cursor vs. Windsurf?

#1

Post by shrisukhani » Fri, Mar 07, 2025, 9:50 AM UTC

Do you use an AI IDE? Which one and why?

There’s a bunch of them at this point and it’s kinda hard to figure out one over another. Cursor and Windsurf seem like the leading players - curious what people like about one vs the other.

Re: Ask HN: Cursor vs. Windsurf?

#2

Post by shrisukhani » Fri, Mar 07, 2025, 9:51 AM UTC

I’m a happy Cursor user. Main reason is it just works great and was the first one I tried.

Re: Ask HN: Cursor vs. Windsurf?

#3

Post by surrTurr » Fri, Mar 07, 2025, 10:27 AM UTC

use windsurf (or codeium) if you want to put up with cringe hard limits on prompts etc.

imo cursor all the way

Re: Ask HN: Cursor vs. Windsurf?

#4

Post by OriginalMrPink » Fri, Mar 07, 2025, 10:40 AM UTC

It was Cursor six months ago, VC with Copilot three months ago, and currently it's Windsurf / Cursor. Copilot is lagging with features, it used to be Chat & Compose, now it's Agents and MCP stuff that's missing. But once it's in there, it just seems more robust and better integrated with everything imo.

Re: Ask HN: Cursor vs. Windsurf?

#5

Post by ai_coder42 » Fri, Mar 07, 2025, 4:08 PM UTC

They're all playing a catchup game with each other on features. Some like GH Copilot is really falling behind as of right now. I use cursor because i like how things are set up makes sense to me.

My recommendation: Try both. I mean really give them a fair chance, atleast 2 weeks. and see which one you like. Happy coding!

Re: Ask HN: Cursor vs. Windsurf?

#6

Post by senordevnyc » Fri, Mar 07, 2025, 5:17 PM UTC

I really wish there was something as good as Cursor for Jetbrains.

Re: Ask HN: Cursor vs. Windsurf?

#7

Post by ai_coder42 » Fri, Mar 07, 2025, 5:33 PM UTC

senordevnyc wrote: post #6

I really wish there was something as good as Cursor for Jetbrains.

They did announce Junie. Close enough to cursor i feel. Link: https://www.jetbrains.com/junie/

But, what is stopping you from moving from Jetbrains to Cursor or the likes? AFAIK, most of the functionality can be achieved via plugins / extensions on Cursor.

Just Curious.

Re: Ask HN: Cursor vs. Windsurf?

#8

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 07, 2025, 8:23 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Cursor vs. Windsurf?

#9

Post by gardenhedge » Fri, Mar 07, 2025, 10:20 PM UTC

I just use vs code and a AI chat like grok or deepseek

Re: Ask HN: Cursor vs. Windsurf?

#10

Post by decide1000 » Sat, Mar 08, 2025, 4:12 PM UTC

ai_coder42 wrote: post #7

senordevnyc wrote: post #6

I really wish there was something as good as Cursor for Jetbrains.

They did announce Junie. Close enough to cursor i feel. Link: https://www.jetbrains.com/junie/ But, what is stopping you from moving from Jetbrains to Cursor or the likes? AFAIK, most of the functionality can be achieved via plugins / extensions on Cursor. Just Curious.

I use Cursor, switch to Jetbrains to validate the code.

I don't like the VScode ui. It feels more like a 1 solution-fits-all. Jetbrains has much deeper understanding of the (debug) tools I use.

Happy customer for 4 years.