Surfline vs Windy for Surfers (2026)
Verdict table
| Surfline | Windy | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free tier; Premium $15.99/mo or $119.99/yr; Premium with Ads $69.99/yr; Premium+ $149.99/yr | Free; Premium $24.99/yr subscription or $29.99 for a non-renewing year | Windy |
| Live cams | Largest surf cam network anywhere (Premium for ad-free + rewind) | Some third-party webcams on the map; not surf-oriented | Surfline |
| Spot-level surf rating | Yes — one star rating per break, plus human forecaster notes in many regions | No — you read wind/swell maps yourself | Surfline |
| Big-picture swell view | Regional charts (better on Premium) | Best in class: animated swell, wind, pressure from ECMWF, GFS, ICON and more | Windy |
| Forecast models | Proprietary LOTUS model + Surfline's own buoy network | Multiple public models side by side; more on Premium | Windy (transparency) |
| Forecast range | Short free window; 16 days on Premium | Up to ~10 days free depending on model; more detail on Premium | Tie |
| Ease for beginners | Easy — the star rating is the whole point | Steep — you need to know what 14s at 280° means | Surfline |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android | Tie |
| Personalization | None — same rating for everyone | None | Neither |
Where Surfline wins
Cams. This is the thing no one else has. If your break has a Surfline cam, a 20-second look tells you more than any forecast. Cam rewind on Premium lets you see what the last tide push did.
A rating you don't have to think about. Surfline distills swell, wind and tide into a star rating and a sentence. For a beginner or someone who doesn't want to learn swell period, that's genuinely valuable. (If you want to learn it, start with how to read a surf forecast.)
Spot coverage and editorial. Surfline's forecasters write regional outlooks that add context a model can't: "the first pulse arrives Thursday afternoon and fills in overnight."
Where Windy wins
Seeing the storm. Windy's animated map is the best way to watch a low deepen in the Gulf of Alaska or a hurricane track up the Atlantic. You'll know a swell is coming before any spot forecast shows it.
Model transparency. Windy shows you ECMWF, GFS and ICON side by side. If they disagree, you know the forecast is uncertain — something a single star rating hides.
Price. The free tier is generous, and Premium at $24.99/yr is about a fifth of Surfline Premium. Windy raised that price from $18.99 in late 2025 — its first increase in over seven years.
Wind. For the "is it going to be offshore at dawn?" question, Windy's high-resolution wind layers are excellent. See offshore vs onshore.
Where both fall short
Neither knows anything about you. Surfline's rating is an average opinion; Windy has no opinion at all. Neither uses your own history at a break to tell you whether 4ft at 13s from 290° on a dropping mid tide is your kind of day — and at most breaks, that combination is what decides the session.
Both are also modeled forecasts first. Real buoy observations — what the ocean is actually doing right now — are a layer below, and you can read them yourself for free from NOAA. Our NOAA buoy guide shows how.
Which one, by situation
| You are… | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A beginner who wants "go / don't go" | Surfline (free or Premium with Ads) | The star rating and cam do the interpreting. Learn the numbers later. |
| Planning a surf trip 1–2 weeks out | Windy first, then Surfline Premium's 16-day forecast | Windy shows whether the models agree on a storm; Surfline turns it into spot-level timing. |
| Surfing a spot with no Surfline cam | Windy + a buoy | Without a cam you're paying Surfline mostly for charts; Windy's are free and the buoy is the truth. |
| Chasing wind windows (dawn patrol, offshore days) | Windy | Hourly, high-resolution wind layers beat Surfline's wind summary. |
| A kiter or windsurfer who also surfs | Windy (or Windguru) | Surfline is surf-only; Windy covers every wind sport. |
| On a budget | Windy free + NOAA buoys | $0 gets you the swell picture and the live reading. Add a cheap spot-level tool if you want a rating. |
Free tiers compared
Both apps are usable for free, but the free tiers are shaped differently. Surfline free gives you the spot report, a short forecast window and limited, ad-supported cam access — enough to see today, not enough to plan. The real product is behind Premium. Windy free gives you almost everything: the full map, ECMWF and GFS, swell and wind layers, up to around ten days out depending on model. Premium mostly adds more models, finer time steps and a longer window. If "free" is the constraint, Windy's free tier is the more complete product; Surfline's is a preview.
The third option
Most surfers who compare Surfline and Windy are really asking: "what's the cheapest way to know if I should go?" That's the gap LazySurfer (our app) sits in. It pulls live NOAA NDBC buoy, NWS wind and tide data for your spot, logs your sessions against those readings, and trains a per-user deep-learning model that predicts the rating you'd give today. It's free with no ads; Pro is $7.99/mo, $29.99/6 mo or $49.99/yr. It has no cams and no storm map — so it pairs with Windy (free) or Surfline (cams) rather than replacing either.
- Surfline Premium with Ads ($69.99) + LazySurfer Pro ($49.99) = $119.98/yr: cams plus a personalized call, for the price of Premium alone.
- Windy free + LazySurfer free = $0: the storm picture plus a spot-level rating, no cams.
Head-to-heads: LazySurfer vs Surfline · LazySurfer vs Windy
Frequently asked questions
Is Windy good for surfing?
Windy is excellent for seeing swell and wind at the ocean-basin scale and for comparing weather models, but it does not rate surf spots or tell you whether a break is working. Surfers typically use it to spot incoming swells several days out and pair it with a spot-level tool for the morning decision.
Is Surfline more accurate than Windy?
They forecast different things. Surfline's LOTUS model is tuned to surf spots and adds human forecaster notes; Windy displays public models such as ECMWF and GFS that are not surf-specific. For a spot rating, Surfline; for watching a storm system and judging model agreement, Windy. Real buoy observations from NOAA are more reliable than either for what is happening right now.
Which is cheaper, Surfline or Windy?
Windy. Windy Premium is $24.99 per year (or $29.99 for a non-renewing year), while Surfline Premium is $119.99 per year or $15.99 per month. Both have free tiers.
Can I use Windy instead of Surfline?
You can if you are comfortable reading swell height, period, direction and wind yourself and your spot does not need a cam. You lose Surfline's star ratings, cams and editorial forecasts, but gain a free multi-model weather view.
Related: Is Surfline Premium worth it in 2026? · Surfline vs Windguru · Windy alternatives for surfers
Competitor prices and tiers on this page were checked on 2026-08-21 against the sources listed at the bottom. Prices are USD unless noted, exclude tax, and can change; app-store prices sometimes differ from web prices. If you spot something out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.