JetBrains IDEs vs Windsurf comparison

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JetBrains IDEs

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

JetBrains IDEs and Windsurf compete in the software development tools market. JetBrains IDEs generally have the upper hand in features and customer satisfaction, while Windsurf excels in competitive pricing and efficient deployment.

Features: JetBrains IDEs provide comprehensive coding support, intelligent code assistance, and a vast plugin ecosystem beneficial for developers. Additionally, its robust development environment is a top feature. Meanwhile, Windsurf is appreciated for its real-time collaborative features, seamless cloud integration, and well-designed user interface. These features make it suitable for team-based projects.

Room for Improvement: JetBrains IDEs could enhance deployment speed and ease, streamline their setup process, and offer cost-effective plans for smaller teams. Windsurf can improve by adding more advanced coding support, diversifying plugin offerings, and refining its debugging tools to match competitors in depth and capability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Windsurf's agility is highlighted by its swift cloud-based deployment and responsive customer service, making it an attractive option for teams needing quick scalability. JetBrains IDEs, while requiring more setup time across platforms, benefit from strong community support that aids in troubleshooting and custom environment configuration.

Pricing and ROI: JetBrains IDEs have a higher initial cost, but they provide significant long-term ROI by boosting productivity and reducing development time. Windsurf's lower entry price is advantageous for small teams or startups seeking to minimize upfront costs without sacrificing collaborative features or scalability. The pricing strategy of both products can cater to different budget constraints, with JetBrains making a case for high-demand scenarios through its comprehensive feature set.

To learn more, read our detailed JetBrains IDEs vs. Windsurf Report (Updated: March 2026).

JetBrains IDEs vs. Windsurf

March 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

JetBrains IDEs

Ranking in IDE

5th

Average Rating

8.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Windsurf

Ranking in IDE

2nd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

AI Code Assistants (4th), AI Software Development (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the IDE category, the mindshare of JetBrains IDEs is 8.2%, up from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windsurf is 8.0%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IDE Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Windsurf	8.0%
JetBrains IDEs	8.2%
Other	83.8%

IDE

Featured Reviews

Souhardyya Biswas

Software Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Long-term coding has benefited from intuitive UI and tools but now needs lighter performance

I am using the code completion feature in IntelliJ, and it helps me with my development processes. I use advanced debugging tools. The advanced debugging tools are useful for resolving code issues. The integration with version controls is seamless. GitHub is what I use. For my professional role, I need to use GitHub Enterprise, and the way it is set up in my enterprise, it does not allow linking it with IntelliJ. That is where I am stuck using the CLI. GitHub itself has a very robust CLI, so I have no complaints there. For personal use, GitHub integrates really well with IntelliJ. The UI is pretty good and very intuitive. I actually use the new UI which IntelliJ provides, and that is very intuitive and good.

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Rusira Sathnindu

Automation Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

AI coding agent has boosted daily commits and now speeds up complex feature delivery

Even though Windsurf has a good understanding of the codebase, sometimes when you ask it to do a complex task, it may complete it in the first try but may need improvements. When you prompt it again repeatedly, after the sixth or seventh prompt, it may start performing poorly. That is one of the key things I have noticed—its performance is not very consistent with continued prompts. Additionally, it sometimes hallucinates things. Although this previously happened a lot, it has improved, and now these checkers and linter functions ensure the code it writes is correct, reducing those hallucinations, but the performance inconsistency is still something I have noticed. The UI is good as it is basically a Visual Studio fork, so it has a good user interface. Moreover, every Visual Studio integration works here, so all of those are good. One of the main issues is the agent hallucinating and the generations not being good; those are two main points.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Good support for refactoring."

"Having the complete development environment in Linux in the same way as in Windows is already the best."

"I have seen a return on investment with Windsurf because I have saved time and money and needed fewer resources since using it."

"As we're experimenting with different AI IDEs, Windsurf has positively impacted my organization by providing options."

"Windsurf is a fully magical platform where we can generate our fully complete full-stack application."

"My productivity has improved significantly because I can have a first draft ready within thirty minutes when I start using the prediction features from Windsurf."

"Windsurf's best feature is that it is agentic."

"Windsurf has saved a lot of time, and productivity has gone up at least 200%."

"Previously, the development was very slow, and after using Windsurf, my development speed increased by 70 to 80 percent."

"Windsurf has absolutely impacted my day-to-day work by making things faster, mainly through autocomplete."

More Windsurf pros

Cons

"Sometimes, plugins (from third parties) are not updated."

"One of the most important things to improve is the consumption of resources, mainly memory."

"Since using Windsurf, I notice more errors, but we deliver approximately twice as fast."

"I would like to add that Windsurf is very good and fits well into my workflow, but I would prefer if the cascade agent of Windsurf could be a little better."

"The answers from Windsurf are not always accurate, and it is also a bit slow."

"Windsurf can be improved in several ways, such as enhancing response times and better handling of massive codebases when dealing with over 100K plus files, along with improved security controls."

"Windsurf should definitely improve on the retrieval coverage side and multi-agent side, which Cloud Code and others have."

"Windsurf is stable approximately 95% of the time, but there are occasional latency issues that occur."

"I feel that Windsurf can be improved, as sometimes it keeps giving the same answer again and again, which makes me feel stuck at those points in time, because it is giving the same answer in a loop."

"Even though Windsurf has a good understanding of the codebase, sometimes when you ask it to do a complex task, it may complete it in the first try but may need improvements."

More Windsurf cons

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Wholesaler/Distributor

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Large Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with JetBrains IDEs?

I have used solutions such as GitHub code scanning, WatchTower, and Dependabot, but I do not regularly use them. I have used Dependabot, but I do not regularly use it.

What is your primary use case for JetBrains IDEs?

I use JetBrains IDEs and Visual Studio in tandem. Within JetBrains IDEs, I use IntelliJ. IntelliJ and Visual Studio are what I use primarily. Developing code and writing code is the key use case fo...

What advice do you have for others considering JetBrains IDEs?

GitHub is what I am using for version control. Mostly with GitHub I am working for version control. One year back was the last time when I worked with Dependabot. I would absolutely use a plugin fo...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Windsurf?

I did not have to give any money for it, so it is fully free, which is the best. I did not incur setup costs.

What needs improvement with Windsurf?

Windsurf can be improved in several ways, such as enhancing response times and better handling of massive codebases when dealing with over 100K plus files, along with improved security controls. AI...

What is your primary use case for Windsurf?

My main use case for Windsurf is writing code with AI solutions and refactoring existing code. A quick specific example of a task or project where I have used Windsurf for writing or refactoring co...

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Product Reports

Download JetBrains IDEs product report

IDE

March 2026

Download Windsurf product report

February 2026

Overview

At JetBrains, code is our passion. For over 15 years we have strived to make the strongest, most effective developer tools on earth. By automating routine checks and corrections, our tools speed up production, freeing developers to grow, discover and create.

JetBrains

Windsurf offers a strategic approach to digital transformation, providing tools for optimizing processes. It's aimed at businesses looking to enhance efficiency and adapt to changing market demands through technology-driven solutions.

Targeted at enterprises, Windsurf integrates seamlessly with existing systems to improve workflow and data management. By offering customizable options, it meets diverse business requirements, enabling companies to stay competitive in a fast-paced environment. Its user-focused design ensures accessibility and ease of use, helping teams achieve their goals swiftly.

What are the key features of Windsurf?

Integration Capability: Connects with numerous software platforms, ensuring smooth data flow.
Customizable Options: Offers flexibility to tailor functionalities to specific business needs.
User-Friendly Interface: Designed for ease of adoption with minimal training requirements.
Real-Time Data Analysis: Provides immediate insights to support decision-making.

What benefits and ROI does Windsurf offer?

Increased Productivity: Streamlines operations leading to time and resource savings.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces overhead by optimizing processes and systems.
Improved Decision-Making: Real-time insights aid in strategic planning.
Scalability: Easily adapts as business grows without significant additional investment.

In areas like manufacturing and retail, Windsurf improves supply chain management and customer engagement. In healthcare, it optimizes patient data management, while in finance, it enhances compliance and reporting processes, each tailored to meet industry-specific challenges.

Sample Customers

Citi, Siemens, Salesforce, Twitter, HP, New York Times, Pintrest, Airbnb, Expedia, Samsung, Volkswagen, Wikipedia, NASA

Dell, Anduril, MongoDB, Zillow, Atlassian