Best LLM for Windsurf
Windsurf meters agent work as credits, and different models draw different credit amounts per action — so the best model is the one that finishes your task in the fewest credits at the quality you need.
Models Windsurf supports
Windsurf's Cascade agent runs on a choice of frontier models (GPT, Claude, Gemini); each agent action consumes credits from your monthly pool, with heavier models costing more credits.
Best value pick
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
DeepSeek · Coding Arena 1619 · about $10.50/month at 100,000 calls. The top-ranked Claude Opus 5.5 costs $1,600.00/month — you save $1,589.50/month with DeepSeek V4.1 Flash.
| 1 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | 1619 | $10.50 | DeepSeek |
| 2 | Qwen3.8 Flash Next | 1628 | $25.00 | Alibaba |
| 3 | MiMo-V2.6-Flash | 1637 | $35.00 | Xiaomi |
| 4 | GLM-5.3-Flash | 1607 | $38.84 | Z.ai (Zhipu AI) |
| 5 | MiMo-V2.6-Pro | 1625 | $108.75 | Xiaomi |
| 6 | GLM-5.3 | 1623 | $388.43 | Z.ai (Zhipu AI) |
| 7 | GPT-6.1 Terra | 1673 | $400.00 | OpenAI |
| 8 | Muse Spark 1.3 | 1620 | $400.00 | Meta |
| 9 | GLM-5.2 | 1606 | $430.00 | Z.ai (Zhipu AI) |
| 10 | GPT-6.1 Terra (Bedrock)Est. | 1673 | $440.00 | AWS Bedrock |
| 11 | Grok 4.6 | 1616 | $600.00 | xAI |
| 12 | Grok 4.7 | 1637 | $600.00 | xAI |
Intelligence scores are community Arena ratings from LMArena / arena.ai, used under CC BY 4.0. Snapshot last refreshed 2 November 2026. Scores are a relative signal, not an absolute measure of capability. A Measured score was voted on directly; an Estimated score is inherited from an identical base model (a regional/creator-prefixed hosting duplicate). See our methodology.
Why picking isn’t obvious
Because Cascade charges credits per action, an expensive model that needs fewer retries can sometimes beat a cheap one that loops — but for most edits the cheaper coding-strong model wins outright. We rank the supported models by coding Arena score and cost so you can match model to task and stretch the credit pool.
FAQ
What is the best value LLM for windsurf?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the cheapest model that still clears our quality bar for this task, at about $10.50/month for 100,000 calls (1,500 in / 500 out). It scores 1619 on the Coding Arena.
Is the most expensive model worth it for this?
Claude Opus 5.5 tops the Coding Arena but costs about $1,600.00/month here — roughly $1,589.50/month more than DeepSeek V4.1 Flash for 191 extra Arena points. For most workloads that gap is not worth the premium.
How do credits relate to the model I choose in Windsurf?
Each agent action spends credits, and premium models spend more per action. A capable mid-tier model lets the same monthly pool cover far more edits; reserve the top model for tasks where its reliability avoids costly retries.
Which model is best for Windsurf's Cascade agent?
The strongest coding-Arena models with solid tool use are the safest for long agent runs, but for routine work a cheaper model is usually enough. The ranking below shows the value trade-off.
Cite / link to this page
You’re welcome to reference this page and its figures with attribution and a link back.
https://aicalculatorpro.com/best-llm-for/windsurf/<a href="https://aicalculatorpro.com/best-llm-for/windsurf/">Best LLM for Windsurf — AI Calculator Pro</a>