How do prompt credits work in Windsurf (Free/Pro/Teams), and what counts as a credit?

Prompt credits in Windsurf are the fuel behind Cascade, Tab, and the rest of your agentic workflow—but they’re designed to be predictable and simple, not something you have to micro-manage while you ship. As of the new pricing model, credits are tied to your messages (prompts), not every individual tool call under the hood.

Quick Answer: Prompt credits in Windsurf are consumed per message you send to Cascade (or actions that trigger a comparable model call), not per tool call. Free, Pro, and Teams plans each include a monthly pool of prompt credits, with paid plans offering add-ons when you need more.

The Quick Overview

What It Is: A metered way to pay for AI usage in Windsurf based on prompts you send, rather than every internal tool call or action Cascade performs.
Who It Is For: Individual developers on Free/Pro and engineering teams using Windsurf Teams who want predictable, scalable AI usage across coding, terminal, previews, and reviews.
Core Problem Solved: Credits make it easy to understand and control AI usage costs while still giving you full access to Windsurf’s agentic coding flow.

How It Works

Windsurf uses prompt credits as the unit of “AI work” instead of charging per autocomplete token or every micro action the agent takes. When you ask Cascade to refactor a service, summarize a PR, or generate tests, that user-visible prompt consumes credits. Behind the scenes, Cascade might call tools (Browser, Previews, MCP-connected services) or run multiple reasoning passes—but you’re not billed per tool call.

This simplifies planning for both solo devs and enterprises: you know that sending prompts is what consumes credits, and your plan gives you a fixed monthly allotment with the option to buy more if you outgrow it.

1. Credits Are Tied to Prompts, Not Tool Calls

Each message you send to Cascade (chat, Cmd+I in the editor, Cmd+I in the terminal, etc.) consumes prompt credits.
Internal tool calls—like the agent consulting the Browser, querying MCP tools, inspecting Previews, or running background reasoning steps—do not consume additional credits on their own.
This “per prompt” model replaces the older “Flow Action Credits” system and makes usage much easier to predict.

2. Monthly Credit Allotments by Plan

Each Windsurf plan comes with a monthly pool of prompt credits:

Free
- 25 prompt credits/month
- Designed for light usage, trying out Cascade and Tab, and quick experiments.
Pro
- 500 prompt credits/month
- Includes all Free features plus:
  - All Premium Models
  - SWE-1.5 model
  - Full Fast Context access
- Add-on credits available at $10 for 250 credits.
- Comes with a 2-week free trial with 100 credits for first-time users.
Teams
- $30 per user/month
- 500 prompt credits per user per month
- Add-on credits available for purchase at the team/org level.
- Includes org-grade features like centralized billing and an admin analytics dashboard.

For Enterprise (200+ users):

Pricing and credit volumes are customized—“Let’s talk” tier with volume-based discounts and additional deployment options (including Hybrid) available.

3. What Counts as a Credit in Practice

When you’re actually shipping code, credits are consumed whenever you:

Send a prompt to Cascade (inside the Windsurf Editor, terminal, or side panel).
Trigger an action that is effectively a prompt, like:
- “Continue my work” to resume a previous flow.
- Natural language edits (e.g., Cmd+I on a selection: “Extract this into a hook and add tests”).
- Asking for a new multi-file refactor, new feature stub, or doc generation.

Actions that feel like autocomplete but don’t send a standalone prompt may have different consumption patterns, but the governing rule is: if you’re sending a message or instruction to the model, expect it to consume prompt credits.

Features & Benefits Breakdown

Core Feature	What It Does	Primary Benefit
Prompt-based billing	Charges per user-visible message, not internal tool calls	Simple, predictable usage—you think in prompts, not tool calls
Plan-specific credit pools	Gives each plan a monthly allotment of credits	Easy to match AI usage to your workload and budget
Add-on credits	Buy extra credits when you exceed your monthly pool	Scale up during crunch time without changing your plan

Ideal Use Cases

Best for individual devs on Free/Pro: Because you can budget your prompts easily—25 credits/month on Free to explore, or 500 credits/month on Pro for daily coding, refactors, and reviews, with add-ons when you’re sprinting.
Best for teams on Windsurf Teams/Enterprise: Because each user gets a clear monthly credit budget, while admins keep org-wide control via centralized billing, analytics, and volume pricing.

Limitations & Considerations

You can run out of credits:
Once your monthly pool is exhausted:
- On Free, you’ll hit a usage limit until your credits reset next month.
- On Pro and Teams, you can purchase add-on credits to keep shipping without interruption.
Prompts still vary in “size”:
While billing is per prompt, not per tool call, very large prompts (huge context, long conversations) still map to heavier model usage. Plan your workflows so frequent small prompts and targeted instructions keep you in flow without bloating context unnecessarily.

Pricing & Plans

Windsurf’s pricing is designed around simple prompt credits and add-ons, no more Flow Action Credits.

Free – $0/month
- 25 prompt credits/month
- Great for light usage and testing Cascade/Tab.
Pro – $15/month
- 2-week free trial with 100 credits (for first-time users)
- 500 prompt credits/month after trial
- All Free features, plus:
  - All Premium Models
  - SWE-1.5 Model
  - Full Fast Context access
- Add-on prompt credits: $10 for 250 credits
Teams – $30/user/month
- 500 prompt credits/user/month
- Add-on credits available at the org level
- Includes:
  - Centralized billing
  - Admin dashboard with analytics
  - Priority support and enterprise-aligned controls (SSO, RBAC, etc., on higher tiers)
Enterprise (200+ users) – Let’s talk
- Volume-based discounts
- Hybrid deployment option
- Account management and advanced governance

Full details and up-to-date pricing live on the Pricing page in the Windsurf app and on windsuf.ai.

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly is a prompt credit in Windsurf?

Short Answer: A prompt credit represents one “unit” of AI usage tied to a message you send to Cascade or a comparable model invocation.

Details:
Every time you:

Send a chat message to Cascade,
Use Cmd+I in the editor or terminal to request a change or explanation,
Trigger a “Continue my work” or similar instruction that sends a new prompt,

Windsurf consumes prompt credits from your plan’s monthly allotment. Internal tool calls (Browser, Previews, MCP tools) and the agent’s own sub-steps do not each consume credits individually—they’re bundled into the cost of that prompt.

What happens when I run out of prompt credits?

Short Answer: You stop being able to send new AI prompts until credits reset or you purchase add-ons.

Details:
If you use up your monthly prompt credits:

On Free:
- You won’t be able to send additional prompts to Cascade until your credits reset at the start of your next billing cycle.
- You can upgrade to Pro to get a larger pool and access to premium models.
On Pro:
- You can purchase add-on credits (currently $10 for 250 credits).
- Once add-ons are applied, you can continue using Cascade, Tab, and other AI-powered workflows without waiting for the monthly reset.
On Teams/Enterprise:
- Admins can purchase organization-level add-on credits.
- Credits are distributed per user/month according to your plan.
- Admin dashboards provide visibility into usage so you can adjust before hitting hard limits.

Do all users share the same credits on Teams?

Short Answer: Each user on Teams has their own monthly prompt credit allocation; add-ons are managed centrally.

Details:
On Windsurf Teams:

Every licensed user gets 500 prompt credits per month.
The team/org admin manages add-on credit purchases centrally.
Admin analytics show which users are consuming credits and how quickly, so you can tune seat counts, training, and policies.

Will my Early Adopter or legacy pricing be affected by the switch to prompt credits?

Short Answer: Your base plan pricing may remain, but the usage model has moved to prompt credits instead of Flow Action Credits.

Details:
Windsurf’s 1.7.0 changes simplified pricing by:

Removing Flow Action Credits.
Introducing a single, unified prompt credit model across Free, Pro, and Teams.
Providing add-on prompt credits for Pro/Teams so you can scale usage without changing plans.

If you’re on an Early Adopter or legacy plan, your dollar price may stay the same, but the way usage is measured is now via prompt credits. Check your account billing page for specifics.

Summary

Prompt credits in Windsurf are intentionally straightforward: you pay for prompts, not for every hidden tool call or micro action. Free users get a small pool to explore; Pro and Teams users get 500 credits/month, with add-ons when you need more horsepower. That lets you lean into Cascade, Tab, and the full agentic workflow—multi-file edits, terminal commands, previews, and PR reviews—without playing guessing games about how every tool invocation is billed.

You stay in flow. Your finance and security teams get predictable, auditable usage. Everyone wins.

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