In Coding assistants, Windsurf ranks #3 and ChatGPT ranks #5. Its maker, Cognition, was placed a Challenger (not a Leader) in Gartner's 2026 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise AI Coding Agents. Gartner assesses the vendor, not only Windsurf. Gartner MQ coverage (Virtualization Review)
Agentic coding with unlimited free tab completions
What it does
OpenAI's general-purpose assistant: chat, image creation and Codex coding help on the web, desktop and mobile; usable for concept images, placeholder art and gameplay code.
AI code editor with agentic coding and unlimited tab completions on the free plan.
Verdict
For concept images and coding help on one subscription; OpenAI's terms assign Output to you on every plan, including Free, but similar output can go to other users.
For an AI code editor whose free plan includes unlimited tab completions; its terms assign output rights to you.
Tasks●
Concept art & 2D assets, Coding assistants
Coding assistants
Engines
Any (standard file export / engine-agnostic)
Any (standard file export / engine-agnostic)
Free plan
Free plan Free plan with limited image creation and limited Codex access
Free plan Free $0 plan
Pricing
Free $0. Plus US$20/month. Pro: three monthly plans at US$100, US$200 or US$500. Go, Business and Enterprise: USD prices not stated on the pages we could read. USD figures from OpenAI's help centre. source
Free $0/month; Pro $20/month; a $200/month tier; Teams $80/month plus $40/month per full seat. source
Export formats●
Not stated by vendor
n/a (code in your repo)
Commercial use
Commercial use allowed Terms of Use (effective 1 January 2026; cover ChatGPT, DALL·E and OpenAI's other services for individuals): you own the Output, and OpenAI assigns to you all its right, title and interest, if any, in Output. Output may not be unique: other users may receive similar output, and the assignment doesn't extend to their output. source
Commercial use allowed Individual terms 3.1: Cognition assigns to you all right, title and interest in Output. source
Revenue share / caps
Not stated by vendor
Not stated by vendor
API●
Available. The OpenAI API is a separate product, billed independently of ChatGPT plans source
Not applicable. Editor product
MCP server●
Not stated by vendor
Connects to MCP servers. Cascade connects to stdio, HTTP and SSE MCP servers source
Rows marked ● differ between the two tools. Licence badges: green = commercial use allowed (including any free plan or trial), amber = paid plans only, restricted, or allowed but with no free plan, red = not allowed, grey = not stated by vendor or not applicable. Read the vendor's current terms before you ship.