JetBrains AI Assistant vs Windsurf

as AI assistants see them, week of 2026-10-12

brag about it: X · LinkedIn

Windsurf edges out JetBrains AI Assistant in how AI assistants talk about coding tools, with an overall score of 21 versus 11 and a presence in 30 of 89 answers compared to 21 of 89 for JetBrains AI Assistant. Windsurf scores higher with Claude (25 vs 12), Gemini (41 vs 22), and Perplexity (16 vs 3), while the two tie on ChatGPT at 12 apiece. Head-to-head, Windsurf is named more often in 11 questions against JetBrains AI Assistant's 5, with 9 ties. JetBrains AI Assistant does lead on Python-specific questions, named in 3 of 3 answers there.

Head to head

metric	JetBrains AI Assistant	Windsurf
score	11	21
questions won	13	15

By assistant

JetBrains AI Assistant

assistant	score	named in, this week	usual spot, this week
ChatGPT	12	15% of answers	#8.0
Claude	12	20% of answers	#8.0
Gemini	22	55% of answers	#5.8
Perplexity	3	5% of answers	#4.0

Windsurf

assistant	score	named in, this week	usual spot, this week
ChatGPT	12	20% of answers	#5.0
Claude	25	40% of answers	#6.1
Gemini	41	45% of answers	#5.4
Perplexity	16	11% of answers	#4.0

Where they differ

Only JetBrains AI Assistant gets named for

What are the best alternatives to Windsurf?
What's the best open-source AI coding assistant?
Which AI coding tool is best for writing tests?

Only Windsurf gets named for

What are the best AI coding agents that can work across a whole codebase?
What are the best free AI coding assistants?
Which AI coding assistant gives the best value for the money?
What's the best AI tool for writing and fixing React and Next.js code?
What's the best AI coding assistant for VS Code?

More comparisons

Not sold on either?

Scores count how often each assistant names a product, weighted by position. How the score works · Full AI coding assistants leaderboard