VS
Google NotebookLM vs Windsurf IDE
An in-depth comparison of Google NotebookLM and Windsurf IDE — pricing, features, ratings, and more.
4.8
★★★★★
132 reviews
4.9
★★★★★
164 reviews
Higher ratedSide-by-Side Comparison
Category
AI Coding Assistant
AI Coding Assistant
Pricing
Free
Free tier; Pro at $15/month; Teams at $35/user/month
Pricing model
free
freemium
Rating
4.8 ★
4.9 ★
Reviews
132
164
Platforms
Web
Windows, macOS, Linux
API Access
✗ No
✗ No
Open Source
✗ No
✗ No
Key Features
- ✓ Grounded AI — only uses your sources
- ✓ PDF, Doc, YouTube, audio support
- ✓ Audio Overview: generates podcast from docs
- ✓ Source citation with every answer
- ✓ Free to use with Google account
- ✓ Cascade agentic AI
- ✓ Multi-file code editing
- ✓ Terminal command execution
- ✓ Codebase understanding
- ✓ VS Code compatible
- ✓ Multiple AI models
- ✓ Flows for automation
Pros & Cons
Pros
- + Completely free
- + Zero hallucination from external sources
- + Audio Overview feature is unique
Cons
- − Limited to uploaded sources only
- − No web search
- − 50 source limit per notebook
Pros
- + Cascade is very capable autonomously
- + Good VS Code compatibility
- + Free to start
- + Fast and responsive
Cons
- − Cascade can make mistakes requiring review
- − Newer than Cursor
- − Credits can run out quickly on free tier