I Used Cursor, Windsurf, and Claude Code for 2 Weeks - Here's the One I Kept Opening

Short summary

After testing Cursor, Windsurf, and Claude Code on real projects, Cursor won for daily development due to superior diff review UX, though it develops 'context tunnel vision' on large repos. Windsurf excels at multi-file refactoring but enters problematic feedback loops; Claude Code dominates infrastructure/terminal work but struggles with frontend. The real productivity metric isn't code generation speed—it's cleanup work avoided, and understanding that AI amplifies existing technical debt is key.

• •Cursor best for daily feature work with clean diff UX, but struggles with context consistency in large repos
• •Windsurf handles complex refactoring well but can spiral into unproductive loops trying to fix issues
• •Claude Code excels at infrastructure/terminal tasks but lacks visual feedback for frontend development

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.