Lapce

Lapce is an open-source code editor written entirely in Rust, with a GPU-accelerated native UI built on the Floem toolkit, full LSP support, optional Vim-like modal editing and a WASI plugin system. We rate it 78/100 — if you want a genuinely fast VS Code alternative for everyday editing, Lapce is the best non-Electron option after Zed, with the only real catch being a smaller plugin ecosystem and a still-pre-1.0 release.

What is Lapce?

Lapce is a cross-platform desktop code editor created by Dongdong Zhou, with the first commit on February 6, 2018. It ships under the Apache 2.0 license on GitHub at lapce/lapce, where as of May 6, 2026 it has crossed 38,300+ stars, 1,260+ forks and an actively maintained release cadence — the latest release is v0.4.6, published on January 21, 2026.

The pitch is simple. VS Code is great until it is not: Electron startup, multi-hundred-megabyte memory footprints, and laggy keystrokes on large files. Lapce rebuilds the same idea — LSP-driven editor with extensions and a built-in terminal — from the ground up in Rust, draws its UI directly through the GPU, and treats any keystroke lag as a bug to be fixed. The result is an editor that feels closer to Sublime Text or Helix in responsiveness, but with the modern feature set developers expect from VS Code or Zed.

Key Features of Lapce

• GPU-accelerated native UI: The editor is rendered through Floem, a Rust GUI toolkit also created by the Lapce team. Cold-start launch is typically under 200 ms on modern hardware, and large-file scrolling stays at the monitor refresh rate where Electron-based editors stutter.
• Built-in LSP support: Language Server Protocol is wired in at the core — install a language server and you immediately get diagnostics, code completion, go-to-definition, hover docs, formatting and code actions, with no extension layer in between.
• Tree-sitter syntax highlighting: Highlighting uses Tree-sitter grammars instead of regex, which means it is both faster and more accurate, especially in templating languages where regex highlighters break down.
• Vim-like modal editing built in: A native modal editing mode ships out of the box — no plugin to install, no keymap conflicts. It is not feature-complete with full Vim, but covers the motions and operators most users actually rely on day to day.
• Remote development: Connect to any SSH-reachable Linux or macOS host and edit files with full LSP, debugger and terminal support running on the remote machine. The local Lapce window becomes a thin client to the remote workspace, similar to VS Code Remote-SSH but without the Electron tax on the local end.
• WASI plugin system: Plugins compile to WebAssembly System Interface, so you can write extensions in Rust, Go, Python, JavaScript or any language with a WASI target, and ship them as portable .wasm modules through the official plugin registry.
• Built-in terminal: A real terminal pane attached to your workspace path — no separate window, no marketplace plugin, no SSH gymnastics on remote hosts.
• Cross-platform builds: Official builds for Windows (x64 MSI and portable), macOS (Universal .dmg) and Linux (x86_64 and arm64 .tar.gz, plus distro packages), all signed and published to GitHub Releases.

What Users Say About Lapce

Sentiment is genuinely split. On Hacker News and Reddit's r/rust, the recurring praise is exactly what the marketing claims: people describe the cold-start as "instant," highlight the responsiveness on large files, and call out Floem's smooth scrolling as a clear step ahead of VS Code and even Sublime Text on long log files. The Open Source For You feature in 2025 went so far as to ask whether it is "the fastest open source code editor" — a label most reviewers seem comfortable with.

The recurring criticism is maturity. Multiple developers in long-form reviews describe Lapce as "a VS Code in Rust, but I don't think it is ready yet for actual use," pointing to a still-thin plugin marketplace, occasional rough edges in the LSP wiring for specific languages and a release cadence that has slowed compared to Zed's. The 879 open GitHub issues at the time of writing reflect that gap — plenty of feature requests and edge cases waiting on a still-small core team.

Lapce Pricing

Lapce is fully free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license. There is no paid tier, no telemetry, no upsell to a hosted version, and no enterprise gate — you download the binary or build from source, and that is the entire commercial experience.

Plan	Price	What's included
Lapce	$0	Full editor: LSP, modal editing, plugins, remote development, terminal, all platforms

The same team also builds Lapdev, a separately licensed Kubernetes-based remote development environment platform. Lapdev is a different product with its own pricing — Lapce itself stays free.

Who Should Use Lapce?

Best for: Rust, Go, Python and TypeScript developers who feel VS Code or JetBrains is too heavy for their machine, who want a single editor that works across Linux, macOS and Windows, and who are comfortable filing the occasional GitHub issue or living without one or two niche plugins.

Not ideal for: Teams that depend on a deep VS Code extension ecosystem (live-share-style collaboration, niche linters, enterprise integrations), or developers who need polished support for very specific stacks like .NET or Salesforce where the language-server story is still uneven.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Cold-start under 200 ms and consistently smooth scrolling — the speed claim is real, not marketing
• LSP, modal editing, terminal and remote development all built in, no plugin scavenger hunt
• Plugins compile from any language to WASI — lower barrier than Zed's Rust-only extensions
• Apache 2.0, no telemetry, no account required — a genuinely libre alternative to Cursor, Zed and VS Code
• Light enough to run usefully on older hardware where VS Code grinds

Cons:

• Still pre-1.0 — v0.4.6 is the current release, and stability for niche languages is uneven
• Plugin marketplace is small relative to VS Code; many extensions you might want simply do not exist yet
• AI coding integrations are minimal compared to Cursor or Zed's Anthropic integration
• Vim mode is functional but does not match the depth of vim-mode in IdeaVim or VS Code Neovim
• Release cadence in 2025–2026 has been slower than competitors, with months between tags

Alternatives to Lapce

Zed is the most direct competitor — also Rust-built and GPU-rendered, with a stronger AI integration and built-in collaboration, but a stricter Rust-only plugin model. Helix is the best terminal-native modal editor in Rust if you live in tmux. VS Code remains the right pick if extension breadth matters more than raw speed, and Zen is unrelated but worth checking if you want the same minimalism in a browser.

Verdict: Is Lapce Worth It?

Yes, with caveats. Lapce delivers on the one thing it sets out to do — a code editor that feels instant on every keystroke — and pairs that with a sensible feature set you can actually use as a daily driver. Rate it 78/100: it is not yet as polished as VS Code or as feature-rich as Zed, but it is the only fully-libre native code editor in Rust that handles LSP, modal editing, remote development and a WASI plugin system in one binary. If you have ever closed VS Code in frustration over fan noise on a 2,000-line file, Lapce is worth a 30-minute test drive today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Lapce free?

Yes. Lapce is fully free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license, with no paid tier, no telemetry and no account required. Download installers for Windows, macOS and Linux directly from GitHub Releases.

What platforms does Lapce support?

Lapce ships official builds for Windows (x86_64 MSI and portable .zip), macOS (Universal .dmg covering Intel and Apple Silicon) and Linux (x86_64 and arm64 .tar.gz). There is no mobile, web or browser version.

How does Lapce compare to Zed?

Both are Rust-built, GPU-accelerated editors that target VS Code. Zed is more polished, has stronger AI integration and built-in real-time collaboration, but its plugin system is Rust-only. Lapce is leaner, fully open source under Apache 2.0, and accepts WASI plugins written in any language — at the cost of a smaller marketplace today.

Is Lapce open source?

Yes. Lapce is licensed under Apache 2.0 with the full source available on GitHub at lapce/lapce. The Floem GUI toolkit it is built on is also open source under MIT/Apache 2.0.

Does Lapce support remote development like VS Code Remote-SSH?

Yes. Lapce has built-in SSH-based remote development — connect to any reachable Linux or macOS host and edit files with full LSP, terminal and debugger support running on the remote machine.