Is GitHub Copilot or Windsurf more stable?

GitHub Copilot has 9 recorded changes and is rated caution on a record dated 2026-06-24. Windsurf has 2 recorded changes. The page we cite for Windsurf does not name it when we last looked, on 2026-11-13. We are not comparing the two pricing histories.

Can I use GitHub Copilot and Windsurf together?

While both are in the AI Coding category, some teams use both for different workloads. Check each vendor's free tier limits to see if they complement your stack.

Compare GitHub Copilot and Windsurf free tiers side by side. Pricing, limits, change history, and risk assessment for developers.

GitHub Copilot vs Windsurf

Side-by-side free tier comparison. Catalogue dates here run to 2026-07-10.

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Verdict

GitHub Copilot offers a free tier ("Free"). We are not publishing a free-tier verdict for Windsurf. The page we cite for Windsurf does not name it when we last looked, on 2026-11-13. We are not comparing the two pricing histories.

A verdict here is not a fixed property of the vendor. A one-off pricing event demotes a vendor while its recorded date falls in the last 180 days and then lapses on its own, with nothing about the vendor having changed; a standing condition — a free tier withdrawn and not restored, a product retired — does not lapse with time. A badge carrying a date states the record it rests on; a badge with no date rests on no record in force.

GitHub Copilot profile → Windsurf profile →

GitHub Copilot

Riskcaution 2026-06-24 restricted

CategoryAI Coding

TierFree

Verified2026-07-10

Last read2026-10-31

Changes9 recorded

AI coding assistant by GitHub. Copilot Free is $0 with no credit card: 2,000 code completions a month, a limited monthly allowance of GitHub AI Credits for chat and agent features, and models through auto model selection only. Copilot Student is free for verified students. Paid plans include a monthly allowance of AI credits: Pro $10 (1,500 credits), Pro+ $39 (7,000) and Max $100 (20,000); Business $19 (1,900) and Enterprise $39 (3,900) per seat. Code completions are unlimited on paid plans, and usage beyond an allowance costs $0.01 per AI credit.

Since April 24, 2026, GitHub uses Copilot Free, Pro and Pro+ users' interaction data (inputs, outputs, code snippets and context) to train its AI models unless the user opts out in settings under Privacy; Copilot Business and Enterprise users are not affected. (From github.blog/changelog/2026-03-25-updates-to-our-privacy-statement-and-terms-of-service-how-we-use-your-data, read 2026-10-12.)

Windsurf

Risk

CategoryAI Coding

TierFree

Verified2026-06-25

Last read2026-11-13

Changes2 recorded

Windsurf is now Devin Desktop ("Devin Desktop is the new name for Windsurf."), Cognition's AI IDE. windsurf.com/pricing redirects to devin.ai/pricing, which prices it together with Devin. The Free plan ($0) includes a "Light quota to code with agents", "Limited model availability", "Unlimited inline edits" and "Unlimited Tab completions", with quotas that reset daily and weekly. Pro is $20/month, Max $200/month, and Teams "$80/month for team plan + $40/mo per full dev seat"; paid plans can buy extra usage at API list prices. Pro subscribers on the old $15/month price keep it indefinitely.The page we cite for this offer does not name it when we last looked, on 2026-11-13, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

Pricing Change History

GitHub Copilot

deprecated effective 2026-12-14 low impact

GitHub Copilot keeps running. On December 14, 2026, GitHub deprecates six models across all Copilot experiences, including Copilot Chat, inline edits, ask and agent modes, and code completions: Claude Fable 5 (GitHub's suggested alternative is Claude Fable 5.2), Claude Haiku 4.5 (Claude Haiku 5.5), Gemini 3.8 Flash (Gemini 4 Hydrogen), Gemini 4 Argon (Gemini 4 Carbon), Grok 4.6 (Grok 4.7) and Kimi K3 (alternative to be announced). Claude Haiku 4.5 stays available to individual Copilot subscribers on annual plans. Source ↗

restricted effective 2026-06-24 medium impact

GitHub limited Copilot Free and Copilot Student to auto model selection, so Free users can no longer choose which model answers. Source ↗

restructured effective 2026-06-01 high impact

GitHub retired premium requests and now bills every Copilot plan in GitHub AI Credits. Copilot Free kept 2,000 code completions a month, and its 50 chat and agent requests a month became an allowance of AI credits. Plan prices did not change: Pro at $10 a month now includes $15 of usage and Pro+ at $39 includes $70, and the new Max plan is $100 with $200. Source ↗

restricted effective 2026-04-22 high impact

No longer in force (2026-09-01). GitHub paused new self-serve signups for Copilot Business by organizations on GitHub Free and GitHub Team plans, two days after the pause on individual plans. Existing Copilot Business customers were unaffected and could keep adding seats. Copilot Enterprise was not named in the announcement. Reversed: GitHub's 2026-08-28 changelog states "Starting September 1, 2026, GitHub will start reenabling sign-ups for new Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise customers paying by credit card or PayPal." The pause announcement is marked Retired. Source ↗

restricted effective 2026-04-20 high impact

No longer in force (2026-06-17). GitHub paused new signups for Copilot Pro, Pro+, and Copilot Student plans citing infrastructure strain from agentic AI workflows (long-running, parallelized sessions overwhelming capacity). Existing users are unaffected. Free tier signups remain open. Same announcement also removed Claude Opus from Pro (now Pro+ only) and tightened usage limits on individual plans. Reversed: GitHub reopened sign-ups for Copilot Student, Pro, Pro+ and Max from 2026-06-17 ("We're reopening sign-ups for GitHub Copilot Student, Pro, Pro+, and Max plans gradually over the next couple of weeks"), and its changelog post for this change is marked Retired. A separate pause dated 2026-04-22 covered new self-serve signups for Copilot Business by organizations on GitHub Free and GitHub Team plans, and did not cover Copilot Enterprise; GitHub reenabled signups for new Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise customers paying by credit card or PayPal from 2026-09-01. Source ↗

Showing the 5 most recent of 9 recorded changes for GitHub Copilot.

Windsurf

rebranded effective 2026-06-02 low impact

Cognition renamed Windsurf Devin Desktop. Existing Windsurf users kept their plans and prices. Source ↗

restructured effective 2026-03-19 medium impact

Windsurf replaced credits-based pricing with daily/weekly quotas (Mar 19, 2026). New tiers: Pro $20/mo (was $15), Teams $40/user/month, Max $200/month. Free tier changed from flexible credits to hard quotas. Existing Pro subscribers grandfathered at $15/mo Source ↗

Watch Both Vendors for Pricing Changes

We do not push notifications. Every change we record is readable the moment it lands, and the JSON answer carries an ETag — send it back as If-None-Match and an unchanged answer costs one 304.

curl https://agentdeals.dev/api/changes?vendor=GitHub%20Copilot
curl https://agentdeals.dev/pricing-changes/feed.xml?vendor=GitHub%20Copilot
curl https://agentdeals.dev/api/changes?vendor=Windsurf
curl https://agentdeals.dev/pricing-changes/feed.xml?vendor=Windsurf

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GitHub Copilot vs Windsurf

Verdict

GitHub Copilot

Windsurf

Pricing Change History

GitHub Copilot

Windsurf

Watch Both Vendors for Pricing Changes

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