# Windsurf alternatives: what AI models name instead, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. 183 of the 252 answers in the 1 category where Windsurf holds a standing named it neither first nor as an alternative; these are the first choices those answers made. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/vendors/windsurf/alternatives/

## Named instead, most often (every category and segment added)

- GitHub Copilot: 99
- Tabnine: 16
- Cursor: 8
- Amazon Q Developer: 5
- AWS Kiro: 1
- AWS Q Developer: 1

## AI coding assistants

**Small business**: 48 of 84 answers did not name Windsurf (Windsurf is #2 of 7 at 19%).

- GitHub Copilot: first choice in 26 of those 48
- Cursor: first choice in 5 of those 48
- Tabnine: first choice in 4 of those 48
- AWS Q Developer: first choice in 1 of those 48
- Claude Code: first choice in 1 of those 48
- GitHub Copilot for Business: first choice in 1 of those 48

**Mid-market**: 61 of 84 answers did not name Windsurf (Windsurf is #2 of 9 at 14%).

- GitHub Copilot: first choice in 32 of those 61
- Tabnine: first choice in 6 of those 61
- Cursor: first choice in 3 of those 61
- Amazon Q Developer: first choice in 1 of those 61
- Gemini Code Assist: first choice in 1 of those 61
- Kilo Code: first choice in 1 of those 61
- Sourcegraph Cody: first choice in 1 of those 61

**Enterprise**: 74 of 84 answers did not name Windsurf (Windsurf is #7 of 9 at 0%).

- GitHub Copilot: first choice in 41 of those 74
- Tabnine: first choice in 6 of those 74
- Amazon Q Developer: first choice in 4 of those 74
- AWS Kiro: first choice in 1 of those 74
- Tongyi Lingma: first choice in 1 of those 74

Published under CC BY 4.0. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.