Disclaimer:
This blog post reflects my current frustration with Windsurf AI as of May 31, 2025. My experience has soured significantly due to unresolved issues, and I urge readers to approach the platform with caution until these are addressed.
Introduction: A Promising Editor Gone Adrift
Windsurf AI, an AI-powered code editor built on the foundation of VS Code, initially caught my attention with its sleek UI, fast performance, and innovative features like "Write Mode" for generating files from prompts. As a former pro plan subscriber, I was thrilled by its promise of free, pro-level features—unlimited AI autocomplete, in-editor chat, and the powerful Cascade Flow system. Windsurf’s privacy-first approach, with no training on non-permissive data and optional zero-day retention, felt like a breath of fresh air compared to paid competitors like Cursor or GitHub Copilot. But after OpenAI’s $3 billion acquisition in May 2025, my experience has taken a nosedive, and I’m beyond disgusted with what’s become of this once-promising tool.
The core issue? Windsurf’s free credits system is broken, and their support team has left me high and dry. My usage portal shows zero credits (see screenshot below), despite the advertised 50 User Prompt and 200 Flow Action credits for the free tier. I’ve contacted support multiple times over the past few months, only to be ghosted after they learned I wouldn’t renew my pro plan. This isn’t just a glitch—it’s a betrayal of the trust I placed in Windsurf’s commitment to its users. Below, I’ll break down what made Windsurf great, why it’s failing now, and why I’m publicly calling for change.
What Windsurf Got Right (When It Worked)
Windsurf’s feature set is impressive on paper:
- Unlimited rapid AI autocomplete suggestions for seamless coding.
- In-editor AI chat without restrictive limits.
- AI-driven command instructions for intuitive workflows.
- Cascade Flow (Read-Only Mode) for streamlined code navigation.
- Privacy-first policies, including no training on non-permissive data, encryption in transit, and optional zero-day retention.
- Basic context awareness and limited indexing for efficient coding.
- Free access to pro features (for a limited time), like larger Codeium models, GPT-4, Claude Sonnet, and Supercomplete.
The Cascade Flow system was a standout, offering semantic code understanding, AI-powered search via Riptide, and tools like grep integrated into a smooth workflow. When it worked, Windsurf felt good.
Where Windsurf Is Failing: A Broken Credits System and Ghosting Support
Now, let’s talk about the storm cloud over Windsurf: the free credits system. As a free-tier user after dropping the pro plan (due to not getting as much value from the pro anymore), I expected the advertised credits to keep me coding. Instead, my usage portal shows a big fat zero (see screenshot below). Despite promises of 50 User Prompt and 200 Flow Action credits, none have applied, rendering the editor unusable for basic tasks. I’ve attached a screenshot of my usage portal, clearly showing the empty credits, to prove this isn’t just my imagination.
Caption: My Windsurf AI usage portal, showing zero credits despite multiple attempts to redeem the free tier’s allocation.
Worse, Windsurf’s support team has been utterly unresponsive. I’ve submitted multiple tickets over 2 months, and after some initial replies, they went silent once they knew I wasn’t returning to the pro plan. This ghosting is infuriating—it’s as if free-tier users are second-class citizens. With OpenAI’s acquisition, I expected better resources and support, not a complete disregard for users who trusted Windsurf’s free-tier promises. This isn’t the developer-friendly tool I signed up for; it’s a frustrating letdown that’s eroding my trust.
A Call for Change: Fix the Credits and Support
Windsurf, you can do better. Here’s what needs to happen:
- Fix the Credit System: Ensure free credits are automatically applied to accounts, with a transparent dashboard showing allocation status or error logs.
- Revamp Support: Implement a ticket tracking system and guarantee responses within 48 hours, regardless of subscription status. Ghosting users is unacceptable.
- Honor Your Promises: If you advertise free features, deliver them. Don’t let OpenAI’s acquisition turn Windsurf into another paywall-heavy tool that sidelines free users.
I’m not alone in this frustration—X posts from other users echo similar complaints about credits not applying and support ignoring tickets (). Windsurf’s privacy-first approach and free features were supposed to set it apart, but right now, it’s failing to deliver on both.
Why This Matters to Developers
Windsurf’s initial promise was a game-changer: a free, privacy-focused editor with pro-level AI tools. But when credits don’t work and support ignores you, it’s impossible to rely on it for real projects. Developers need tools that respect their time and trust, not ones that leave them stranded. I’m sharing this publicly because I believe Windsurf can still turn the tide, but only if they listen to users like us.
If you’re considering Windsurf, proceed with caution. Check your usage portal and test the free credits before committing. For now, I’m exploring alternatives like Void and Zed until Windsurf fixes these issues. If you’ve faced similar problems, share your experience in the comments and let's take this to their reddit.
Conclusion: A Sinking Ship Unless Windsurf Acts
Windsurf AI had the potential to be the ultimate AI code editor—fast, free, and privacy-first. But a broken credits system and nonexistent support have left me, a once-enthusiastic user, utterly disgusted. The screenshot of my zeroed-out usage portal tells the story: Windsurf’s promises are falling flat. I’m calling on Windsurf and OpenAI to fix this mess and restore the tool’s potential. Until then, I can’t recommend it in good faith.
Check out Windsurf at codeium.com/windsurf, but don’t hold your breath for the free tier to work as advertised. Let’s hope they get back on course soon.
Disclaimer:
I wasn’t paid to write this. My critique is based on my experience as a former pro user and current free-tier user, let down by Windsurf’s broken system and unresponsive support.Loved this article? 🚀 Check out my side project, Svelte Mini Apps!
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Top comments (27)
Its work in progress, and I use Cursor and Windsurf interchangeably, I find windsurf has a lot of cascade errors when trying to write files, I am on a mac, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. that = unreliable. but ill continue and probably settle down on the one that gives me less grief, I found cursor quite good at writing a ios app, so that impressed me.
Do you think if it has something to do with the model?
How cascade is different then copilot edits?
It has full access to your code base and can create new files, edit, correct, and learn from your files without having to pass a huge context into it's prompt.
All you need to do is describe what you want done, and it will look over the files, fix them, and add anything that is necessary.
Plus it's free!
I still can't figure out what full, 1000 steps/month means for Cascade. Is that a 1000 chat limit per month?
Nope. Even with the free tier, you have unlimited chats.
The steps I believe are more of the level or depths.
I'm not really sure, 😂, but I can say for sure it has nothing to do with the chatting
In my opinion, the implementation is still quite weak, even with a paid PRO period, comparable to Cursor.
I share my experience using both IDEs based on the Claude 3.5 Sonnet model
Cons:
When you directly specify a folder for the context, it selects only partial files and does not see everything else, even when you specifically ask it to analyze all the files in the folder, so the context is very broken.
Autocomplete is very poorly implemented compared to Cursor, and also offers very stupid autocompletes, for example, deleting working pieces of code that the question had nothing to do with.
It often hallucinates, supplementing the code with non-existent pieces of code that have nothing to do with logic at all and creates incorrect imports or non-existent ones at all.
There is no or I did not find a setting specifically for Codeium AI, where you can set a prompt instruction, for example, answer in a certain language, etc. This is strange, because when installing Codeium AI as a separate extension in VS Code, these settings are present.
There is no option to select beta features, such as greater context, like in Cursor in 200k, using Claude. Ready for much more than $10+ for such additional features.
Pros:
Has very good potential due to the use of searching for specific files through imports for better context, but this needs improvement for now.
No bugs, like in Cursor, with loss of context when pasting parts of code directly into the chat.
Summary:
So far, a very raw product that needs significant improvements, but has good potential due to specific search by project.
Overall, I would like to say that I like it, but there are still many minuses. I would like to have beta features such as greater context or analysis of all files in a specified directory, not just those that it chooses itself.
I will follow the product from time to time and wish the developers success.
Thanks for your detailed comment! I appreciate you taking the time to compare both products. While I agree with most of your points, there are a few areas where I have a different perspective:
I haven't encountered this issue myself. I frequently use this feature without problems. The only time I faced a similar challenge was when I asked it to recursively convert all files within a directory (over 20 files spread across more than 4 folders) from one framework to another. It processed some files but missed others. My workaround was to convert each folder individually, which worked perfectly. I wonder—would Cursor handle this scenario better?
I agree. The autocomplete could definitely be improved.
In my experience, hallucinations have been rare, though they do happen occasionally. This might vary depending on the programming language. Personally, I treat the AI like a junior developer—I explain tasks clearly and correct any mistakes it makes. I find that issues arise when people expect the AI to read their minds or handle complex tasks without clear instructions.
I agree; this would be a great addition. Hopefully, they implement it soon.
As you mentioned, the app is still in beta, so there's plenty of room for improvement. Ultimately, I hope people see AI tools as collaborative aids rather than replacements for themselves.
Thanks for the reply.
Yeah, maybe I should describe prompts more descriptive, cuz the issue with not seeing some implemented methods in references files makes me sad.
But in general they reeeealy have a good potential and this the first tool after cursor I'm using as Pro-paid
Couldn’t get it to work with .net maui app. Seems the Microsoft .net Maui extension was filtered out in list of extensions . The meteor extension is full of bugs so doesn’t work . Please add the default Microsoft .net maui back
I don't work for or with the makes of this product.
Hey, if you're working with AI-assisted coding tools like Cursor, there's a GitHub repo with some useful prompts that might be helpful. It's got a collection of prompts for generating code snippets and exploring new ideas. You can check it out here: github.com/KingLeoJr/prompts
I was working on pos system using AI in cursor. The free prompts were all used. So, i downloaded WindSurf, because I heard it’s completely free but this too has limit for generating. The limit has reached and I was unable to complete the project. The cursor is far better than WindSurf but prices are high for the people like me, who just want to create projects just for personal use.
not free anymore
It's still completely free if you use their base model, which is what I am currently using until I pay for Pro again.
Unfortunately as of today, only chatting us free, write mode is no longer free no matter the model. Hence the end of this free AI tool for devs.
Is the pro-tier worth it?
But I'd suggest starting off with the free tier first to see if you like the experience.
Definitely. I know after trying tons of AI tools this is the only AI editor that is both fairly priced and actually works properly.
You can try for yourself.
Because it cost like a live coder
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