Bolt.new vs Windsurf
Windsurf lists at $20/mo and Bolt.new at $25/mo, so Windsurf costs $60 less a year at listed prices. Below: prices, free plans, whether AI can replace each one, and the free alternatives.
01Side by side
| Bolt.new | Windsurf | |
|---|---|---|
| Listed price | $25/mo | $20/mo |
| Per year | $300 | $240 |
| Plan compared | Pro 10M | Pro |
| Billing | monthly | monthly per user |
| Free plan | Yes: Free. 300,000 tokens/day and 1,000,000 tokens/month; 10 MB file uploads; up to 333,000 web requests/month; unlimited databases. | Yes: Free. Light daily and weekly agent quotas; exact numeric allowance is not published; unlimited inline edits and Tab. |
| Can AI replace it? | Nah | Nah |
| Build time with AI | closest consolation build: one sitting | closest consolation build: one sitting |
| Free alternatives listed | 3 | 6 |
| Prices checked | Aug 14, 2026 | Aug 14, 2026 |
Each column uses the plan that app's page lists. Plans include different things, so read both pricing pages before you switch.
02The short version
Bolt.new NahA consolation build is possible, but the paid product's decisive value sits outside a solo rebuild. For Bolt.new, generate and edit a small web project in a local sandbox from structured prompts. The hard boundary is browser sandbox, model orchestration, package execution, deployment, and hosted compute, plus frontier models, context infrastructure, and execution safety.
Leaving means giving up: browser sandbox, model orchestration, package execution, deployment, and hosted compute, frontier proprietary model, large-scale code retrieval and cloud sandbox fleet.
Free options: Dyad, Onlook and open-lovable.
Windsurf NahA consolation build is possible, but the paid product's decisive value sits outside a solo rebuild. For Windsurf, build a VS Code extension that proposes and applies reviewed multi-file patches. The hard boundary is proprietary coding models, agent context, ide integration, and hosted inference, plus frontier models, context infrastructure, and execution safety.
Leaving means giving up: proprietary coding models, agent context, IDE integration, and hosted inference, frontier proprietary model, large-scale code retrieval and cloud sandbox fleet.
Free options: Aider, Cline and Goose.
03Questions
Is Bolt.new cheaper than Windsurf?
Windsurf lists at $20/mo and Bolt.new at $25/mo, so Windsurf costs $60 less a year at listed prices. The plans compared are Bolt.new Pro 10M and Windsurf Pro; they don't include the same things, so check both pricing pages.
Can AI replace Bolt.new or Windsurf?
Bolt.new: Nah. A consolation build is possible, but the paid product's decisive value sits outside a solo rebuild. For Bolt.new, generate and edit a small web project in a local sandbox from structured prompts. The hard boundary is browser sandbox, model orchestration, package execution, deployment, and hosted compute, plus frontier models, context infrastructure, and execution safety. Windsurf: Nah. A consolation build is possible, but the paid product's decisive value sits outside a solo rebuild. For Windsurf, build a VS Code extension that proposes and applies reviewed multi-file patches. The hard boundary is proprietary coding models, agent context, ide integration, and hosted inference, plus frontier models, context infrastructure, and execution safety.
Are there free alternatives to Bolt.new and Windsurf?
Yes. We list 3 for Bolt.new and 6 for Windsurf; none appears on both lists.
Prices change; confirm on the vendor's site before you decide.
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