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NetBeans vs Windsurf comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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

NetBeans
Ranking in IDE
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Windsurf
Ranking in IDE
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
AI Code Assistants (1st), AI Software Development (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the IDE category, the mindshare of NetBeans is 4.9%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windsurf is 5.6%, down from 10.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IDE Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Windsurf5.6%
NetBeans4.9%
Other89.5%
IDE
 

Featured Reviews

DB
Java Developer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
Some of the valuable features are Java development, RCP ​support and support for various other languages.
* Java development support. (The Java editor is one of the best Java IMHO editors. Java projects support Ant and Maven.) * RCP support * GUI editor for Java windows * RCP support: An easy way to create your own app using NetBeans base. There is a lot of documentation for RCP creation. * Plugins can be easy created. Also there is support for other languages as C/C++, HTLM5, Javascript, Groovy, PHP... There is a lot of plugins that can be easily installed.
DHARMA-TEJA - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Enginner at Sera AI
Feature workflows have become faster and context-aware development is now system-focused
Windsurf has become less of a tool and more of a core part of how I build. I do not think in terms of writing code line by line anymore; I think in terms of features, flows, and systems, and Windsurf helped me translate that into actual implementation across the codebase. It fits especially well when I am doing rapid prototyping, exploring new ideas or architectures, or iterating on existing features quickly. At the same time, one thing I have noticed in my workflow is around model switching. When I switch between models, the GPT generating agent models sometimes the deeper context regarding decision reasoning or intermediate steps does not fully carry over, so I end up re-establishing context manually every time. It is so much painfully manual; that is not a blocker, but since I work on fairly complex multi-step systems, having strong cross-model memory consistency would make it even more powerful. One thing I would really appreciate is stronger cross-model memory and context continuity. Right now, when I switch between models, the surface-level context is there, but the deeper reasoning regarding why certain decisions were made or how a flow evolved does not always carry over fully. Since I work on complex and multi-step agents, I end up re-establishing the context manually. If Windsurf could maintain a kind of shared memory layer across models where intent, decisions, and intermediate steps persist, it would make the whole experience much more seamless. Improving the memory continuity and control would take it from powerful to extremely reliable at scale. Overall, Windsurf is already a strong tool, but there are a few areas where improvements would make a big difference, especially for advanced workflows. The first is cross-model memory and context continuity. The second is better control over agent execution. Right now, when switching between models—for instance, if I am using a tier of models and then I reach a limit, and then I need to switch to a lesser limit model—the high-level context is there, but deeper reasoning is lost. A shared memory layer across models would make the experience much more seamless. Furthermore, while Cascade is powerful, for larger changes, it would help to have more visibility or control, such as previewing the execution plan and guiding steps before it runs. The UI and documentation provided are pretty good, though I think there is room for true visibility and feedback during agent execution. While the amount of time put into the design and documentation is great, figuring out things with the documentation can often be done without any third-party help. Some advanced use cases are not fully explored in the documentation, but the best practices for using agents effectively are very clear, such as how to structure prompts for multi-file changes and how to guide Cascade for better outputs. Real-world advanced examples are already implemented in there; that could be very helpful for us. The main advice I would give to others looking into using Windsurf is to not use it as a traditional code assistant. Windsurf really shines when you treat it as a feature-level or system-level tool, not just something for autocomplete or small snippets. So instead of thinking "write this function," think more toward "build this flow." Learn how to guide it properly. That is the main thing I would advise: learn how to guide it properly, how to prompt it properly, and start with real use cases, not toy examples.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"C++ 11 support (for a long time)"
"Setup is very simple and short, and integrating existing code and projects is also very simple."
"It comes out of package fully-loaded with a lot of great features for web development."
"Server Support"
"Go for it! You’ll never look back!"
"Overall, for our company, it has been a good addition, as development times have been shortened using NetBeans."
"NetBeans has helped us to increase our productivity and defect solving since the IDE is smart."
"NetBeans Platform can be freely used as a desktop application base, where all the functionality is prepared for me and I make only the business modules."
"Windsurf has positively impacted my organization by improving our code quality and reducing our development time."
"Windsurf offers many AI options, feels intelligent, is stable, and appears to be growing as a company in a positive direction."
"Windsurf has actually boosted my productivity significantly, and if I am implementing any user story or maybe working on a bug, ninety percent of my task is completed by Windsurf; I just guide it how to do it, and it completes most of my work."
"The best features Windsurf offers are that it is fast, it maintains context well about the code base, and I appreciate the user interface."
"Windsurf has positively impacted my organization in that writing code is very fast and easy."
"Windsurf has absolutely impacted my day-to-day work by making things faster, mainly through autocomplete."
"Windsurf has positively impacted my organization by increasing the speed of development, which allowed us to prototype much faster and lowered the barrier of entry for developers."
"Understanding the architecture usually takes considerable time, but this feature allows me to visualize the current architecture of a very large codebase visually, relate the architecture and the code side by side, and understand the whole picture, which is a huge boost for developers."
 

Cons

"The background scanning of projects should be optimized after starting NetBeans."
"There are always rooms for improvement for any product."
"Debugging: Watches, Evaluate Expression, and data inspection are limited."
"It is a very heavy load on the computer, especially when you compare with Sublime Text Limited plugins and themes."
"One of main areas that the tool can improve is performance."
"There are always rooms for improvement for any product. The good thing with NetBeans is that since it is Open Source, you can just go ahead and contribute whatever you want to change yourself."
"The debugging mechanize could be improved compared to IntelliJ, for example."
"I would like there to be better integration with Git, as there are IDEs such as Eclipse that offer this integration in a much more elegant way than NetBeans."
"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."
"Windsurf should definitely improve on the retrieval coverage side and multi-agent side, which Cloud Code and others have."
"I would appreciate having context usage visibility, such as a bar or indicator showing how much context is used by the chat in a single conversation."
"Windsurf can improve its analytical solutions and inbuilt features, as I currently have a dependency on external third-party tools that could be introduced into Windsurf itself to reduce that time or dependency."
"I think Windsurf could be improved."
"One thing is that if there is a very large codebase, such as a legacy codebase, sometimes the context window is a hindrance."
"It is not a collaborative tool where someone is going to use the same tool and interact in the same IDE."
"Windsurf needs to be improved because the entire coding harness needs to be rethought."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an open source and free tool, with no changes, and the licensing allows me even to change source code, if I need."
"NetBeans is free and open source."
"I am sad that CLion is not free. Currently, it has no support for Linux makefiles, only cmake, and this is a big mess."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
16%
Insurance Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Educational Organization
6%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise16
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Windsurf?
Regarding pricing, I am a developer, and the pricing is handled by my management team and the platform team. As a developer, I was mainly focused on using the product rather than the procurement side.
What needs improvement with Windsurf?
Room for improvement is actually associated with every AI that exists. One thing is that if there is a very large codebase, such as a legacy codebase, sometimes the context window is a hindrance. T...
What is your primary use case for Windsurf?
I am a software developer with over two years of experience. I have been using Windsurf for approximately one to one and a half years since its introduction into my organization. I primarily work i...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Weyco Group Inc.
Dell, Anduril, MongoDB, Zillow, Atlassian
Find out what your peers are saying about NetBeans vs. Windsurf and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.