Bolt.new vs Windsurf

When to pick Bolt.new

• You don’t write code and want a working app anyway — Bolt.new generates a full stack from a prompt, with database, auth, hosting, and custom domains handled inside the browser.
• You want a free tier that ships something live — 1M tokens/month plus included hosting lets you publish a real (Bolt-branded) app at $0.
• You’re prototyping fast from a design — Figma import turns a mockup into a deployable front-end without a local dev environment.

When to pick Windsurf

• You already write code and want agentic help in your editor — Cascade plans and executes multi-step edits across files, not just autocomplete.
• You want the lower price and a usable free tier — Pro is $15/month (versus Bolt.new’s $25), and the free plan adds unlimited Tab completions plus zero-credit SWE models.
• You work in existing codebases and toolchains — Windsurf edits your own repo directly and plugs into 40+ IDEs including JetBrains, avoiding platform lock-in.

Bottom line

Bolt.new and Windsurf both put AI at the center of building software, but for different people. Bolt.new is for non-developers and founders: describe an app and it generates, wires up, and hosts a full stack — database, auth, and domains included — with a free tier that actually deploys. The trade-off is lock-in, since the backend is coupled to Bolt’s infrastructure. Windsurf is for developers who write and review code: its Cascade agent handles multi-step changes inside a real IDE across 40+ editors, it costs less at $15/month, and you keep full ownership of a local codebase. Choose Bolt.new to get a deployed product without engineering; choose Windsurf to accelerate the coding you already do.