Windsurf vs Cline
Zero of fourteen models named Windsurf first on the direct prompt; zero named Cline. Windsurf was named by eleven of the fourteen models and Cline by eight and Windsurf carries 27 labels and Cline 11, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the AI coding assistants page.
By framing
WindsurfFirst choices, of fourteen modelsCline
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Windsurf and Cline were named in the same answer fourteen times, of the 77 answers naming Windsurf and the 23 naming Cline. In those answers Cline took the first choice two times and Windsurf three.
Every model, every framing
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | ||||
| GPT-5.4 mini | ||||||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | |||
| Perplexity Sonar | | |||||
| Grok 4.20 | | | ||||
| Mistral Small | ||||||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | ||||
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | ||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | ||||
| Kimi K2 | | | ||||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | ||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | |||||
| GPT-6 Luna | ||||||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | |
Windsurf Cline first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Windsurf on the left and Cline on the right.The direct prompt
Neither was the first choice, one was named
3 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Neither was named
11 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
What the models said about Windsurf
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.
“the individual version collects data by default, while enterprise versions offer zero-data-retention” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“cloud versions still risk data exfil. Some studies show similar vuln introduction rates.” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · soft negative
“Free tier available, but less capable on complex tasks per benchmark studies” GLM 4.7 FlashX · paraphrase prompt · soft negative
“Codeium — Best Overall for Small Teams ... If you want zero cost and basic autocomplete: Go with Codeium.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · budget prompt · first choice
“Pick Cursor or Windsurf if: You want the most seamless experience for multi-file refactoring” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“Start with Codeium (Free). Ask your engineers to try the free version.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · budget prompt · first choice
What the models said about Cline
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of five in this category shown.
“Be cautious about these types of tools in sensitive environments... Tools like Cline” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · soft negative
“Start by installing Cline (in VS Code) or Aider (in terminal)” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · first choice
“Lowest-cost flexible option: Cline or Aider — The tools are free, but the company pays separately for model usage” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · alternative
“Winners: Cline / Aider + Open Source Models ... You install tools like Cline or Aider. These run locally.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · budget prompt · alternative
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.