Glean vs Windsurf: 2026 comparison
Enterprise AI worker — unified search, work assistant, and custom agents grounded in your company knowledge.
Glean vs Windsurf — specs
| Spec | Glean | Windsurf |
|---|---|---|
| Agent Rank | 80 / 100 (A) | 78 / 100 (A) |
| Autonomy | Assistant | Semi-autonomous |
| Pricing | Subscription · Free tier | Freemium · from $15 |
| Open source | No | No |
| Capabilities | RAG, Memory, Tool use | Code, Tool use, Memory, Browser |
| Integrations | 6 apps | 2 apps |
| Verified | Verified | Verified |
| Released | Feb 2025 | Apr 2025 |
Agent Rank breakdown
- Autonomy fit
- 7
- Capabilities
- 6
- Integrations
- 10
- Pricing value
- 9
- Polish & maturity
- 6
- Verifiability
- 10
Auto-computed from autonomy, capabilities, integrations, pricing, maturity and editorial verification. Updated every deploy. How is this computed?
- Autonomy fit
- 8
- Capabilities
- 8
- Integrations
- 4
- Pricing value
- 8
- Polish & maturity
- 9
- Verifiability
- 10
Auto-computed from autonomy, capabilities, integrations, pricing, maturity and editorial verification. Updated every deploy. How is this computed?
Pros & cons
- +Single best enterprise knowledge agent in 2026 — instant grounding in your company data
- +Custom Agents (Glean Agents) let teams build internal workflows without code
- +Strong permission-aware retrieval — agents see only what users are allowed to
- −Enterprise-only — typically $50K+ ACV minimum
- −Initial connector setup takes weeks for full coverage
- −Pricier than ChatGPT Enterprise on a per-seat basis
- +Cascade agent flows are the strongest "watch it work" UI in any IDE-native agent
- +Cheapest Pro tier in the category at $15/month
- +Codeium has a deep model team — completion quality consistently leads
- −Smaller ecosystem of extensions than Cursor
- −Pro Ultimate ($60) is opaque on which models are actually premium
- −Memory feature less mature than Cursor + Claude Code memories
Pricing
- +Unified search across 100+ apps
- +Work assistant + custom agents
- +SSO + enterprise data isolation
- +Limited Cascade flow runs
- +Standard models
- +Editor + chat
- +Unlimited Cascade flows
- +All Pro models
- +Background agents
- +Memories
- +Highest model priority
- +Premium models included
- +Higher concurrency
- +SSO + admin
- +Usage analytics
- +Shared memories
Which one should you pick?
Pick Glean if cost is the main constraint or if your stack spans many tools and integration depth is the constraint.
Try Glean →Pick Windsurf if you want the highest autonomy and the verification loop is in place.
Try Windsurf →Affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Frequently asked
Should I pick Glean or Windsurf in 2026?+
Pick Glean if cost is the main constraint or if your stack spans many tools and integration depth is the constraint. Pick Windsurf if you want the highest autonomy and the verification loop is in place. Most working teams running both can use Glean for primary work and Windsurf for the workflows where its specific strengths matter.
What's the price difference between Glean and Windsurf?+
Glean starts at Subscription · Free tier; Windsurf starts at Freemium · from $15. Glean is the cheaper entry option. For team deployments the TCO can differ — use the AI Agent Rank TCO calculator for your specific volume.
Which is more autonomous, Glean or Windsurf?+
Windsurf is the more autonomous of the two (Semi-autonomous vs Assistant). Higher autonomy ships throughput faster but requires verification loops in place — see our autonomous-vs-copilot framing for when each tier wins.