Windsurf, a rising AI-powered coding assistant platform rumored to be acquired by OpenAI, is facing a significant disruption as Anthropic has curtailed its access to some of its popular AI models, including Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
Varun Mohan, CEO of Windsurf, took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to express disappointment over the short notice and lack of transparency from Anthropic. According to Mohan, the decision was not mutually agreed upon and now leaves Windsurf scrambling for alternative third-party compute providers to ensure continued support for Claude-based services.
“We made it clear to Anthropic that we were willing to pay for full capacity. The abruptness of this decision is frustrating,” said Mohan.
Windsurf acknowledged in a blog post that while it has limited capacity through other inference providers, the restriction could temporarily affect availability of Claude models for its users. This development arrives on the heels of Claude 4’s launch, during which Windsurf reportedly did not receive direct access to the upgraded models. In contrast, other prominent AI coding tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursor by Anysphere, and Devin by Cognition had early access.
Despite growing rapidly and reaching a $100 million annual recurring revenue (ARR) milestone in April 2025, Windsurf now faces hurdles in staying competitive within the high-stakes AI coding tools sector. Claude models, known for their strong performance in software engineering tasks, are in high demand — particularly for tasks involving newer languages like Swift.
Indian developers, many of whom rely on Windsurf’s simplified coding interface and model support, may experience these limitations firsthand. Some users have already started shifting to alternatives that offer better integration with Claude 4.
To mitigate the impact, Windsurf is offering a temporary workaround: users can integrate their personal Anthropic API keys into the Windsurf platform. However, developers have noted that this “bring your own key” method is less cost-effective and more complex compared to native access provided by the platform.
An Anthropic spokesperson stated that the company is prioritizing long-term, sustainable partnerships and clarified that developers can still use Claude 4 through direct APIs or partner tools.
Windsurf emphasized its core mission to offer flexibility in AI model access, though recent developments have made this approach more difficult.
With competition intensifying and user expectations rising, the pressure is on Windsurf to secure more reliable partnerships and continue innovating in the fast-evolving AI-assisted coding landscape.
