r/windsurf

Windsurf is officially scamming it's users.

Some of the most unprofessional, pathetic, and ridiculous pricing changes, communication with staff, and integration.

Can't even use the AI to help debug, when I code manually because it will equate to having to fork over another $50 just for the model to stop working mid-debug.

You get banned from the discord if you criticize the company, they're ignoring client emails and responding with automated messages, and the 'priority support' is a fallacy and a SHAM.

Fuck this service.

Switching to Claude.

To hell with Windsurf.

let's visualize the impact of their pricing changes. i cancelled mine today as it was about to refresh in two days

Emotions aside, here is some context. I am a director of software engineering and have been in this role for years across several companies. This is an interesting position to be in because your job is to run the biggest cost center in most organizations, which gives you access to specific information. You are high enough on the ladder to be useful in certain meetings, yet too low to have actual influence on the decisions made there. What you can decide on, however, is what tools are used and the whole budget around this.

I have seen companies raise money based on lies and lie to investors about project statuses, hoping nobody calls the bluff long enough for them to "just make it." I have seen how CEOs, CTOs, and the rest of the executive suite operate. Unless they founded the company themselves, they often do not care what happens to it long term. They receive a task, such as "increase revenue by X," "reduce engineering costs by half," or "force a migration to AWS because it looks better for the eventual sale." They execute these tasks because they will only be there for two to four years before moving to the next gig. Whether you like it or not, this is how it works.

The change Windsurf introduced is extremely sudden. It was not prepared or planned months ahead of time. The symptoms of this lack of planning include sloppy communications and the fact that you could still see and sign up for the old pricing the day after the changes supposedly took effect.

Here is what I think happened. They were losing money rapidly. A meeting was called by the VCs, who are increasingly anxious because they likely hoped to exit by now. Perhaps they spotted an opportunity they could not fund directly, or they realized they had to subsidize Windsurf indefinitely. The CEO received an ultimatum and replied that he would change the pricing immediately, claiming it was already planned. He likely argued that even if the user base is reduced by half, making money on the remaining users puts them in a better position than they are in now, with power users causing them to bleed cash.

This explains their arrogance. They want you gone, so they do not care if you cancel. I was invited to their party last year after Google Next, and one of their people told me they have corporate accounts with hundreds or thousands of licenses. The bottom line is that they want us gone because we cost them money. They did not change anything for the enterprise plan because that is the client portfolio that ends up in their next investor presentation.

So, what can you do? Leave reviews wherever you can. Make sure it becomes harder for them to secure more enterprise accounts. Do not just mention the pricing model. Remember to highlight all the performance issues the software has, and how unreliable it is. Write for the the Directors of Engineering at companies like Pfizer, not for the regular users.