Windsurf was one of the first "agentic" editors: an IDE in the VS Code lineage, with the Cascade agent and prominent AI completion. It was acquired by Cognition, the company behind Devin, and renamed Devin Desktop on June 2, 2026. Its users are developers who want a familiar editor with a built-in agent and, now, a dashboard to steer several local and cloud agents.
If you search for "Windsurf" today, you are comparing Singularity with a product that has moved closer to it: Devin Desktop also offers an agent Kanban and Git worktrees. The real decision is about the center of gravity: a VS Code-derived IDE tied to the Devin ecosystem (models, quotas, cloud agents), or a desktop environment organized around tickets that drives the CLIs of providers you already use and keeps execution on your machine.
Comparison verified on October 10, 2026 against the official Windsurf / Devin Desktop documentation and Singularity’s documentation. It compares workflows, not speed or generated-code quality. Public prices are shown in USD/EUR as published, excluding taxes and usage; they may change.
In short
- Windsurf no longer exists under that name: it is Devin Desktop, owned by Cognition, with the same plans and extensions for existing users.
- Devin Desktop is a full IDE plus an Agent Command Center (a Kanban of local and cloud sessions, Spaces); its main local agent is Devin Local, Cascade’s successor.
- Singularity is a desktop ADE where each board ticket starts an agent in an isolated worktree, with local review and rebase integration.
- Devin Desktop bills model usage through quotas; Singularity is free and uses your Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, Cursor, Gemini, Mistral or Ollama accounts.
About Windsurf (Devin Desktop)
On July 14, 2025, Cognition announced a definitive agreement to acquire Windsurf, "the agentic IDE", including its IP, product and brand. On June 2, 2026, Windsurf became Devin Desktop, shipped as a regular update. According to the migration FAQ, subscribers’ plans and pricing are unchanged, and the classic Windsurf experience (editor, extensions, keybindings, workflows, LSPs) remains available. windsurf.com addresses now redirect to devin.ai.
What changed is the default surface:
- Agent Command Center: a Kanban-style board grouped by status that gathers local agent sessions and cloud Devin sessions, each on its own VM.
- Spaces: a Space groups the sessions, PRs, files and context of a task; new sessions inherit the Space’s context.
- Devin Local: the main local agent, sharing its harness with Devin CLI: subagents, OS-level sandboxing, plan mode, worktree sessions and permission rules (deny, ask, allow). The announcement presents it as Cascade’s successor, rewritten in Rust, and said Cascade would remain usable through July 1 for incremental migration; the docs still describe Cascade as one of the local agents.
- Third-party agents via ACP: with the Agent Client Protocol, Devin Desktop can run Codex CLI, Claude Agent, OpenCode, Junie or Gemini CLI in the same Kanban; billing is then directly with the third-party provider.
- Worktrees: sessions can work in Git worktrees stored under
~/.windsurf/worktrees, up to 20 per workspace (oldest cleaned up automatically), with a Merge button to bring changes back. - IDE tooling: AI completion (Tab, Supercomplete), Previews to send a page element to the agent, Quick Review for a second-agent review, and one-click delegation to Devin Cloud.
Extensions come by default from an Open VSX mirror. The app is available for macOS, Windows (x64 and ARM64) and Linux; according to the FAQ, the Windsurf plugin for JetBrains is in maintenance mode.
Singularity at a glance
Singularity, by Meteor Factory, is a desktop ADE: a CodeMirror 6 editor with language servers, system terminals, a Git client (graph, diffs, stash, worktrees) and workspaces that hold several projects. Its Kanban board is an execution surface: a ticket holds the description, priority, dependencies ("Blocked by"), child tickets and agent configuration, and keeps the report and resolution.
In worktree mode, every run works in an isolated worktree on its own branch; its commits are rebased onto the base branch, and a commit queue serializes concurrent integrations. The Review tab lets you approve file by file, annotate and rerun with feedback. Agents come from the seven providers whose CLI you install: Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, Cursor, Gemini, Mistral and Ollama. The app is free; the Singularity Licence (24 EUR per month per workstation, 14-day trial) only unlocks paid Marketplace plugins such as Pipelines. Platforms: macOS, Windows and Linux.
Comparison table
| Criterion | Singularity | Windsurf (Devin Desktop) |
|---|---|---|
| Product type | Desktop ADE: editor, terminal, Git, Kanban execution surface for AI agents | VS Code-derived IDE with an Agent Command Center, published by Cognition |
| Entry point | A ticket on a workspace board | An agent session in the Command Center or the editor panel |
| Agent execution | On your machine, through the provider’s CLI, with an optional sandbox | Devin Local (or legacy Cascade) and ACP agents locally; Devin Cloud on VMs |
| Parallelism and isolation | One worktree and branch per run; configurable concurrent-agent limit | Parallel sessions, optional worktrees (max 20 per workspace, auto cleanup); VMs for cloud |
| Work tracking | Tickets with priority, dependencies, child tickets, blocking questions and reports | Kanban of sessions by status, Spaces grouping sessions, PRs, files and context |
| Review and Git integration | Review tab: diff, annotations, partial merge; rebase and commit queue | Worktree Merge button, Quick Review, IDE source control; PRs for Devin Cloud |
| Models and providers | Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, Cursor, Gemini, Mistral, Ollama, with your accounts | Cognition SWE models plus OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and open models, within the quota; ACP agents billed separately |
| Extensions | Singularity plugin Marketplace (not compatible with VS Code extensions) | Extensions via an Open VSX mirror; agent plugins, MCP, rules, skills, hooks |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS, Windows, Linux; JetBrains plugin in maintenance mode |
| Pricing | Free; Singularity Licence 24 EUR/month per workstation for paid plugins; models billed by your providers | Free (light quota), Pro 20 USD/month, Max 200 USD/month, Teams from 80 USD/month, Enterprise on request; extra usage at API pricing |
The same feature in both tools
Scenario: add a date filter to an orders list, touching an API route and a UI component.
With Devin Desktop
You open the repository, create a "date filter" Space and start a Devin Local session in plan mode: the agent explores the code and writes a plan you approve. You then start two sessions in the Space, for example Devin Local in a new worktree for the API and an ACP agent such as Codex for the UI. Previews let you click a page element to send it to the agent. When ready, Quick Review has a second agent review the diff and the Merge button brings the changes into your workspace. If part of the work is long, you can hand it to Devin Cloud, which comes back with a PR.
With Singularity
You create two tickets in the workspace: "date parameter in the API", then "filter in the list", the second blocked by the first. Each ticket picks its provider and model. The scheduler starts the first in a worktree; the card shows its live phase and the projects it worked on. At the end, the agent leaves a report and a short resolution; the diff waits in the Review tab, where you approve files, annotate a selection or rerun with feedback. After rebase integration, the second ticket starts on the updated base. Both tickets stay in the board history with their conversations.
The difference shows in the unit of work: in Devin Desktop it is the agent session, grouped in a Space; in Singularity it is the ticket, which carries the request, the dependencies and the result.
Agents, parallelism and isolation
The two products are converging: Kanban, multiple agents, worktrees. Their choices still differ. In Devin Desktop, the worktree is a per-session option: you pick "new worktree" when starting, and the docs note that a Cascade conversation cannot move to a different worktree once started. Worktrees are stored outside the project and cleaned up beyond 20 per workspace. Devin Cloud adds parallelism that does not depend on your machine.
In Singularity, isolation is the board’s default behavior: with "Use Git worktrees" enabled, each run gets its worktree under .singularity-worktrees/, and removing a worktree keeps its branch and commits. The scheduler accounts for dependencies, priority and the concurrent-agent limit; a complex ticket can be split into child tickets that the parent waits for before synthesizing. Each session also gets a temporary MCP gateway to read its ticket, ask a question or create a follow-up ticket. Isolation does not remove conflicts: tests and review remain necessary.
Models, quotas and cost
Since March 2026, Devin Desktop has used daily and weekly quotas computed in tokens per model; beyond them, extra usage is billed at API list prices, and Free users wait for the reset. The pricing page lists Free, Pro at 20 USD per month, Max at 200 USD per month, Teams at 80 USD per month plus 40 USD per full seat, and Enterprise on request. These plans are shared with Devin Cloud and Devin CLI. Temporary promotions on some models may also apply: check them when you run your trial. Third-party ACP agents are billed directly by their provider.
Singularity does not bill for models: you use your Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Cursor, Gemini or Mistral subscriptions, or a local model with Ollama. A default model is set per workspace and can be overridden ticket by ticket.
Where Windsurf (Devin Desktop) is stronger
- VS Code heritage: Open VSX extensions, VS Code keybindings and habits, useful if you rely on specific language or debugging extensions.
- Typing assistance: AI completion (Tab, Supercomplete) and inline commands have been core to the product from the start.
- Local-to-cloud continuity: a plan prepared locally can go to Devin Cloud, which keeps working while your laptop is closed.
- Built-in tools: Previews with element selection, free Quick Review with SWE-check, Fast Context to find relevant code.
- Enterprise offering: SSO, RBAC, admin policies and usage analytics.
Where Singularity stands out
- The ticket as the unit of work: description, priority, dependencies, child tickets, recurring schedules, report and resolution in one place.
- Controlled Git integration: rebase to a linear history, a commit queue for concurrent integrations, file-by-file partial merge.
- Your providers, no middle subscription: seven supported CLIs, including Copilot, Cursor, Mistral and local models through Ollama.
- Local execution by default: the app does not upload your code; only the chosen CLI talks to its service.
- Multi-project: a workspace brings several repositories together, and the card shows which projects the agent read or changed.
Can you use both?
Yes. Singularity and Devin Desktop work on the same Git repositories: you can keep Devin Desktop as your editor for its extensions and completion, and let Singularity handle ticket tracking and agent execution. A worktree created by Singularity is a regular Git folder that Devin Desktop can open for a touch-up. Just avoid having two agents work in the same worktree at the same time. If you are also weighing other AI editors, read Singularity vs Cursor; for Cognition’s cloud agent, see Singularity vs Devin.
Which tool should you choose?
- A Windsurf user happy with the editor and AI completion: Devin Desktop is the natural continuation, with no plan change.
- A team that wants to mix local and cloud agents within the Cognition ecosystem: Devin Desktop with Devin Cloud.
- A developer who thinks in backlogs and wants each request to become a tracked, isolated, reviewed ticket: Singularity.
- Someone already paying for Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot or Cursor who does not want a second model quota: Singularity.
- Sensitive projects where you want to choose exactly which provider sees the code, or stay local with Ollama: Singularity.
Trial protocol
- Pick a feature that touches at least two API and UI files, with existing tests.
- In Devin Desktop, start Devin Local in plan mode in a new worktree, then implement; note the quota usage shown.
- In Singularity, install and authenticate a CLI (Claude Code or Codex, for example), create the same work as a ticket and run it with auto-merge off.
- Review both diffs: readability, tests, number of corrections requested.
- Repeat with two dependent parallel tasks to compare scheduling and integration.
- Take stock: time spent steering, model cost, ease of taking over in the editor.
Frequently asked questions
Does Windsurf still exist?
The product continues as Devin Desktop since June 2, 2026. Subscribers keep their plan, extensions and settings; the Windsurf plugin for JetBrains is still downloadable but in maintenance mode.
What happened to Cascade?
Cognition presents Devin Local as its successor and main local agent. The announcement planned access to Cascade through July 1, 2026 to ease the migration.
Can Singularity use my Windsurf extensions?
No. Singularity has its own plugin Marketplace and is not compatible with VS Code or Open VSX extensions.
How much does Devin Desktop cost?
According to the pricing page: Free, Pro at 20 USD per month, Max at 200 USD per month, Teams from 80 USD per month, Enterprise on request, with extra usage billed at API pricing.
Is Singularity free?
Yes, with unlimited agents, projects and worktrees. The Singularity Licence, at 24 EUR per month per workstation, only unlocks paid plugins such as Pipelines.
To go further, browse all Singularity comparisons, read the getting started guide or download Singularity.