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OpenLegacy vs Windsurf comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

OpenLegacy
Ranking in AI Software Development
62nd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
API Management (32nd)
Windsurf
Ranking in AI Software Development
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
IDE (1st), AI Code Assistants (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the AI Software Development category, the mindshare of OpenLegacy is 0.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windsurf is 0.6%, down from 24.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
AI Software Development Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Windsurf0.6%
OpenLegacy0.4%
Other99.0%
AI Software Development
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1042905 - PeerSpot reviewer
VP, Chief Enterprise Integration Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The biggest advantage is how simple the technology was.
I'd like to see OpenLegacy develop its low-code/no-code (LCNC) solutions. They've expanded somewhat their horizons for integration beyond mainframe CICS, which is their sweet spot. They have some tooling in that area, but it's not as good as it needs to be. OpenLegacy handles the bread-and-butter TP monitoring stuff, but I am working for one of the six banks in the United States still using the Hogan mainframe, which has a slightly proprietary mechanism. But OpenLegacy currently doesn't have a connector for Hogan. So it would help if they could build one. That would appeal to financial institutions that still use Hogan, like US Bank, Wells Fargo, KeyBank, and Vanguard.
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

"The product has helped our business by allowing us to become more efficient in data handling."
"The speed of development of production, especially in specific environments like IBM mainframes, has been valuable."
"Without OpenLegacy, it would take us several months to create the same services."
"It is possible to connect a service to a mainframe program or back transaction in a matter of minutes or hours at the most."
"OpenLegacy produces a war file which includes everything you need to deploy a Tomcat server."
"It is possible to solve larger legacy API issues on an enterprise level with this product."
"Using mainframe programs (not screens), the OpenLegacy services do not require any changes by the mainframe programmers, thus reducing development cycles."
"Using OpenLegacy, the exposure of services is far easier and quicker. In many cases, exposure of services requires just a few clicks and takes only minutes. In very complex cases, it still only takes half a day. Without OpenLegacy, it would take us several months to create the same services."
"Windsurf has helped me a lot by reducing the development time, and by using Windsurf, I have reduced my time by 30% to 40%."
"In summary, with the help of all these features that Windsurf provides, what is happening is the time consumption has been reduced drastically."
"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 has positively impacted my work and has allowed me to work much faster and create higher-quality tests, cover more backend areas with automated tests, meet deadlines, and be more efficient compared to other IDEs."
"Windsurf has positively impacted my organization by helping me start projects on technologies I wasn't mastering; for example, when I initiated the project in React Native for telephones, I didn't know the technology, just had a YouTube video, and I believe that without Windsurf, I couldn't manage this kind of project and coding activities, so the main idea for me is that Windsurf allows me to work on technologies that I don't master."
"Being able to handle thirty to thirty-six user stories per sprint, compared to eight before, has greatly impacted my team's productivity because the work culture and work structure have not changed."
"Windsurf has positively impacted my organization by helping us achieve at least ten to twenty percent improvement for each individual working in the data warehouse to use Windsurf instead of looking for help from any other team."
"Windsurf is a fully magical platform where we can generate our fully complete full-stack application."
 

Cons

"I would like to see SSL out-of-the-box. OpenLegacy certainly does SSL, but it was not the default for our use case. We are currently working with OpenLegacy to cross the SSL bridge and suspect that most users will want to do the same."
"Customer support for the product is slow and not very good. It makes using the product difficult if you need help quickly."
"I'd like to see OpenLegacy develop its low-code/no-code (LCNC) solutions. They've expanded somewhat their horizons for integration beyond mainframe CICS, which is their sweet spot. They have some tooling in that area, but it's not as good as it needs to be."
"We would also be more than happy if the product had the option to work in the opposite direction – the ability to consume REST/SOW services in the outer world from the mainframe."
"Debugging and logging for programmers could be better."
"The pricing of the solution could be more flexible and allow for once-off payment versus annual licensing. This would be more appealing to companies in Latin America."
"Windsurf needs to be improved because the entire coding harness needs to be rethought."
"From a usability perspective, Windsurf should be more user-friendly."
"The answers from Windsurf are not always accurate, and it is also a bit slow."
"In terms of productivity, there has not been any notable improvement; it was more pleasant at a usage level, but in terms of pure productivity as such, there has not been improvement."
"Since using Windsurf, I notice more errors, but we deliver approximately twice as fast."
"I chose 7 out of 10 because I've used Cursor as well, and sometimes I feel Cursor hallucinates less compared to Windsurf."
"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."
"It is not a collaborative tool where someone is going to use the same tool and interact in the same IDE."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing of the solution could be more flexible and allow for once-off payment versus annual licensing. This would be more appealing to companies in Latin America."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
24%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise18
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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?
Regarding improvements for Windsurf, I think it would be good if we had an integration with the cloud, a sort of cloud that way we can have autonomous agents that can handle tasks without human int...
What is your primary use case for Windsurf?
On a day-to-day basis, I use Windsurf's agentic mode, the cascade, to develop features in different projects that I work on. Most of my feature development starts with working with Windsurf's casca...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Many of openLegacy's global customers are among the Global 100 companies. Review case studies in these industries: Agriculture, Airport Authority, Automotive, Auto, Finance, Insurance, Government, Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Retailwww.openlegacy.com/case-studie...
Dell, Anduril, MongoDB, Zillow, Atlassian
Find out what your peers are saying about OpenLegacy vs. Windsurf and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.