Devin Review 2026: The Fully Autonomous AI Software Engineer
A review of Devin by Cognition, the autonomous AI coding agent that plans, writes, tests, and deploys code with minimal human intervention.
What Is Devin?
Devin is an autonomous AI software engineer built by Cognition. Unlike code completion tools or chat-based assistants, Devin operates as a fully independent agent with its own shell, browser, and code editor in a web-based environment. You assign it a task and it works through the problem from start to finish — planning, coding, testing, debugging, and deploying. Cognition also owns Windsurf, making Devin and Windsurf sibling products.
What Sets It Apart
Devin’s level of autonomy is unmatched in the AI coding space. No other tool operates with as little human intervention. You describe a task, and Devin plans the approach, writes code across multiple files, installs dependencies, runs tests, debugs failures, and iterates until the work is complete. For well-defined tasks with clear success criteria — CRUD features, API integrations, standard migrations — this translates to meaningful time savings.
Browser access is a notable differentiator. Devin can read documentation, research unfamiliar APIs, test deployed applications, and verify UI changes visually. Most coding agents are limited to the terminal and editor; Devin’s browser capability makes it more self-sufficient. Its Wiki feature also builds persistent knowledge about your codebase over time, reducing repeated context-setting.
The ACU-based pricing model makes budgeting difficult since task costs vary by complexity and duration. Devin also runs entirely in the browser with no local IDE integration, so it is a tool you delegate to rather than one you work alongside in your editor.
Who It’s For
- Teams that want to delegate well-defined development tasks to an autonomous agent
- Organizations with repetitive work like migrations, integrations, and boilerplate
- Developers comfortable reviewing AI-generated pull requests rather than pair-programming
- Individual developers who want AI inside their daily editor should look at Cursor or Copilot instead
Sources
Key Features
Supported Models
Proprietary model family
Devin Pricing
Core
Included ACU allowance; per-ACU overage
- ✓ Included ACU allowance; per-ACU overage
Team
Higher ACU allowance; per-ACU overage; multi-user
- ✓ Higher ACU allowance; per-ACU overage; multi-user
Enterprise
Custom ACU pricing
- ✓ Custom ACU pricing
Plans, features, and usage limits may change. Always check Devin's official pricing for the latest details.
Confirmed Features
Platform Support
Platforms: Web
IDEs: Web-based (VSCode-inspired interface)