I’ve recently tested several prominent AI-first IDEs from late 2024 and early 2025: Cursor, Windsurf, Zed, and Aide. Here’s my concise take on each one—including pricing—to help you choose the best IDE for your workflow.
Cursor: AI Pair Programming On Steroids
Cursor feels like an upgraded VS Code—familiar yet powerful. Its Agent Mode and Composer features stand out, allowing complex multi-file refactoring simply by describing changes in natural language. The AI suggestions are highly context-aware, and you always retain full control—changes are easy to review and selectively apply, aligning perfectly with the “trust but verify” approach.
Pricing:
- Free tier available
- Pro Plan: $20/month (advanced LLM integrations like GPT-4, Claude 3.5)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing available
Windsurf: Codeium’s Autonomous Coder
Windsurf offers more autonomy with its agent-driven Cascade AI. It proactively suggests and even applies multi-step changes across multiple files. It’s highly effective at automating tedious tasks, but the degree of autonomy can sometimes feel too bold—less aligned with a cautious, review-first mindset.
Pricing:
- Free tier: Unlimited basic AI features
- Pro subscription: $15/month (premium LLM access like Claude 3.5)
- Enterprise plans available
Zed: Collaboration Meets AI Speed
Zed emphasizes real-time collaborative coding combined with powerful inline AI editing. It’s extremely fast and provides transparent control over AI interactions, ideal for teams that frequently collaborate on the same files simultaneously. Its UI is polished, though slightly different from VS Code.
Pricing:
- Free: Collaborative editing and basic AI
- Zed Pro: $12/month per user (includes Anthropic’s Claude 3.5)
- Team and Enterprise plans available
Aide: Open-Source AI for Privacy-Minded Developers
Aide is fully open-source, allowing integration with various local or remote LLMs. It proactively aids debugging, provides inline transformations, and has a thoughtful rollback mechanism to quickly revert unwanted AI edits. It’s great for developers prioritizing privacy and extensive customization but slightly less polished compared to commercial alternatives.
Pricing:
- Completely free (open-source)
- Cost depends only on chosen external LLM APIs or local models
Final Thoughts: Picking the Right AI-First IDE
Here’s a quick recommendation based on workflow priorities:
- Cursor: Ideal if you prefer VS Code’s familiarity and complete control over AI-driven changes. (My personal preference.)
- Windsurf: Best for autonomous code management but may require extra oversight.
- Zed: Great for real-time collaborative development.
- Aide: Perfect for developers prioritizing privacy, open-source flexibility, and self-hosted AI.
My Recommendation:
After thoroughly testing each one, I prefer Cursor. Its similarity to VS Code makes onboarding effortless, and its Composer feature enables complex refactoring with clear control over each AI suggestion. Since my mindset is “trust but verify,” Cursor’s transparent approach allows me to comfortably review and approve every change individually, rather than blindly accepting large automated edits.