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Elicit vs Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)

Features, pricing, ratings, and pros and cons, side by side.

Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) logo

Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)

Agent-first IDE for running local and cloud coding agents in one place

Freemium
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Verdict

Elicit is listed under Education & Research and Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) under Coding AI. Both have a free plan or trial. Only Elicit is available on Web and offers an API. Only Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) is available on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Best overall

Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)

  • Software developers
  • Engineering teams
  • Enterprise engineering organizations
  • Teams running several coding agents

Choose Elicit if

  • You want a tool built for literature reviews.
  • Free plan with unlimited search across 138M+ papers.
  • Sentence-level citations for AI-generated claims.

Choose Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) if

  • You want a tool built for managing multiple coding agents.
  • Free plan with unlimited Tab completions and inline edits.
  • Full IDE that stays compatible with VS Code and Windsurf extensions.
Best for beginners
Elicit
Best for business
Elicit

Features

19 features compared.

  • Research Agent
    Elicit
    Available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not available
  • Research Reports
    Elicit
    Available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not available
  • Systematic Literature Review
    Elicit
    Available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not available
  • Data extraction tables
    Elicit
    Available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not available
  • Library
    Elicit
    Available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not available
  • Routines
    Elicit
    Available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not available
  • Chat with papers
    Elicit
    Available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not available
  • Zotero import
    Elicit
    Available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not available
  • API and MCP server
    Elicit
    Available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not available
  • Agent Command Center
    Elicit
    Not available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Available
  • Spaces
    Elicit
    Not available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Available
  • Full IDE
    Elicit
    Not available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Available
  • Devin Local
    Elicit
    Not available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Available
  • Agent Client Protocol support
    Elicit
    Not available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Available
  • Tab and Supercomplete
    Elicit
    Not available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Available
  • Fast Context
    Elicit
    Not available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Available
  • Devin Cloud handoff
    Elicit
    Not available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Available
  • MCP and extensions
    Elicit
    Not available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Available
  • SWE-2 model
    Elicit
    Not available
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Available

Pricing

Plans as listed by each vendor. Check their sites for current prices.

  • Pricing model
    Elicit
    Freemium
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Freemium
  • Free plan
    Elicit
    Yes
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Yes
  • Starting price
    Elicit
    $0
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    $0
  • Plans
    Elicit
    4 plans
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    5 plans

Elicit plans

  • Basic

    $0

    Free plan with limited Research Agent and Reports usage

    • Unlimited search across 138M+ papers
    • Unlimited summaries
    • Unlimited chat with papers
    • View sources for answers
    • Zotero import

  • Pro

    Most popular

    $75/user/mo

    Billed monthly ($49 per user per month billed annually); standard usage for systematic reviews

    • Systematic review workflow screening up to 5,000 papers
    • 20 table columns
    • Reports from up to 135 data sources
    • Routines
    • Custom extractions from uploaded papers
    • API access

  • Scale

    $279/user/mo

    Billed monthly ($169 per user per month billed annually); 5x usage with collaboration

    • 5x Pro usage
    • Figure extraction
    • Live collaboration
    • Reports from up to 200 data sources
    • 30 table columns
    • Admin panel with usage tracking

  • Enterprise

    Custom/custom

    For companies and schools

    • Custom usage
    • Screen 40,000 papers with 40 columns
    • SSO and SAML
    • No training on your data by default
    • Custom data sources and templates
    • Unlimited API access

Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) plans

  • Free

    $0

    Light quota to code with agents

    • Limited model availability
    • Unlimited inline edits
    • Unlimited Tab completions

  • Pro

    Most popular

    $20/month

    Increased quotas and full model availability

    • Frontier models from OpenAI
    • Claude
    • Gemini and SpaceXAI
    • Open source models
    • Free use of SWE-2
    • Devin Cloud access
    • Extra usage at API pricing

  • Max

    $200/month

    Significantly higher quotas for power users

    • Everything in Pro
    • Significantly higher quotas

  • Teams

    $80/month

    $80 per month for the team plan plus $40 per month per full dev seat

    • Everything in Pro
    • Up to 200 users
    • Shared collaboration
    • Centralized billing
    • Admin dashboard with analytics
    • Priority support

  • Enterprise

    Custom/custom

    Contact sales for organization-wide deployment

    • Highest priority support
    • Dedicated account management
    • SAML/OIDC SSO
    • Centralized admin controls
    • Dedicated deployment option

Our ratings

Scored out of 10 by the Finder Atlas editorial team. Last reviewed November 2026.

Elicit
8.3overall
Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
8.4overall

  • Academic Paper Search

    Elicit
    8.8
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not rated

  • Structured Data Extraction

    Elicit
    8.7
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not rated

  • Citation Transparency

    Elicit
    8.6
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not rated

  • Systematic Review Support

    Elicit
    8.5
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not rated

  • Pricing Clarity

    Elicit
    7.0
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not rated

  • Multi-agent Management

    Elicit
    Not rated
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    8.7

  • Multi-file Agentic Edits

    Elicit
    Not rated
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    8.5

  • Editor Experience

    Elicit
    Not rated
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    8.4

  • Model Choice

    Elicit
    Not rated
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    8.6

  • Value for Money

    Elicit
    Not rated
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    7.8

Scores weigh documented features, plan value, platform coverage, integrations and user feedback. A missing score means we have not rated that area yet.

Pros and cons

Elicit

Pros

  • Free plan with unlimited search across 138M+ papers
  • Sentence-level citations for AI-generated claims
  • Structured extraction of paper details into tables
  • Dedicated systematic review workflow and Routines for tracking new research
  • API and MCP server for use with other tools

Cons

  • Research Agent and Reports usage is limited on the free plan
  • Systematic reviews, Routines and API access need Pro at $75 per user per month ($49 billed annually)
  • Pricing page shows only annual-billing rates for Pro and Scale
  • Focused on research; not a general-purpose assistant
  • No mobile app

Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)

Pros

  • Free plan with unlimited Tab completions and inline edits
  • Full IDE that stays compatible with VS Code and Windsurf extensions
  • One view for managing local, cloud and third-party agents
  • Supports ACP agents such as Codex, Claude Agent and OpenCode
  • Available on macOS, Windows and Linux

Cons

  • Paid plans have daily and weekly usage quotas, and extra usage is billed at API pricing
  • Pro rose to $20 per month, and Max costs $200 per month
  • The rename and the move to devin.ai changed menus, docs and branding, and some names such as the JetBrains plugin still say Windsurf
  • Cascade was retired in favour of Devin Local, so Cascade workflows had to migrate

Platforms

  • Web
    Elicit
    Supported
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not supported
  • Windows
    Elicit
    Not supported
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Supported
  • macOS
    Elicit
    Not supported
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Supported
  • iOS
    Elicit
    Not supported
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not supported
  • Android
    Elicit
    Not supported
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not supported
  • API
    Elicit
    Supported
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not supported
  • Browser Extension
    Elicit
    Not supported
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Not supported
  • Linux
    Elicit
    Not supported
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Supported
  • JetBrains Plugin
    Elicit
    Not supported
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Supported

Integrations

Elicit

4 integrations
  • Zotero
  • PubMed
  • ClinicalTrials.gov
  • MCP

Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)

15 integrations
  • Slack
  • Linear
  • Notion
  • Figma
  • Sentry
  • Stripe
  • Vercel
  • Datadog
  • Atlassian
  • GitHub
  • GitLab
  • Bitbucket
  • Codex
  • Claude Agent
  • OpenCode

Company

  • Company
    Elicit
    Elicit
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Cognition AI
  • Founded
    Elicit
    Not listed
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    2023
  • Headquarters
    Elicit
    Oakland, CA
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    San Francisco, CA
  • Monthly users
    Elicit
    5M+ researchers
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    1M+
  • Listing
    Elicit
    Claimed
    Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
    Claimed

Frequently asked questions

Is Elicit better than Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)?

It depends on your workflow. Elicit is built for literature reviews. Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) is built for managing multiple coding agents.

What are the key feature differences between Elicit and Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)?

Elicit: AI research assistant for literature search, systematic reviews and evidence reports. Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf): Agent-first IDE for running local and cloud coding agents in one place.

Does Elicit or Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) have a free plan?

Yes, both do. Elicit is freemium and Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) is freemium, and each has a free plan or trial.

Which is cheaper, Elicit or Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)?

Both can be used for free. Paid plans differ in limits and features, so compare the tiers in the pricing table above.