Zed is a high-performance code editor built from scratch in Rust by the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter. We rate it 80/100 — a genuinely fast editor with impressive AI integration and real-time collaboration, though still maturing in extension ecosystem and stability.

What is Zed?

Zed was created by Nathan Sobo, Antonio Scandurra, and Max Brunsfeld — the same team behind GitHub's Atom editor and the Tree-sitter parsing library used across dozens of editors today. After Atom was discontinued in 2022, the team set out to build the editor they always wanted: one that leverages modern hardware properly by using the GPU for rendering and multiple CPU cores for everything else.

First announced in 2023 as an invite-only beta on macOS, Zed went open source in January 2024 under AGPL/Apache/GPL licenses. In 2025, the project secured $32 million in funding from Sequoia Capital, shipped Windows support, and grew to 78,000+ GitHub stars — making it one of the fastest-growing developer tools on the platform.

Zed — main editor interface on Windows — Zed: The main editor interface showing Rust-powered performance with a clean, minimal design

Key Features of Zed

Extreme Performance: Startup in 0.12 seconds vs VS Code's 1.2 seconds. Uses 142MB RAM vs 730MB for VS Code. Written entirely in Rust with GPU-accelerated rendering via their custom GPUI framework.
Native AI Agents: Built-in agentic editing with inline assistants, edit predictions (powered by their open-source Zeta model), and text threads with LLMs including Claude, GPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek.
Real-Time Collaboration: Multiplayer editing with shared cursors, screen sharing, and shared notes — powered by CRDTs, the same technology behind Google Docs.
Built-in Git: Native Git integration for staging, committing, branching, diffs, file history, and word-level change highlighting — no extension needed.
Built-in Debugger: Native debugger supporting multiple languages via the Debug Adapter Protocol, shipped after thousands of user requests.
Remote Development: Run the UI locally while the codebase executes on remote servers over SSH.
Multibuffer Editing: Edit code across multiple files simultaneously in a single view — a unique feature for large-scale refactoring.

Zed AI agent panel for agentic editing — Zed: The AI agent panel enabling inline code assistance and agentic editing workflows

What Users Say About Zed

On Hacker News, Zed generates consistently strong discussion. Performance is the most praised aspect — developers report startup times 10x faster than VS Code and significantly lower memory usage. The Vim mode is frequently called the best of any GUI editor. Multiple users describe Zed as making their development flow feel noticeably snappier on everyday tasks.

However, criticism is real. A February 2025 HN thread titled "Zed Has Suddenly Become Terrible" documented CPU spikes, freezes, and broken language server features. Some users have switched back to Neovim citing stability concerns. The decision to gate advanced autocomplete behind a paid plan ($10/month Pro) drew backlash, and a privacy-focused fork called Gram emerged in March 2026 that strips out telemetry and AI features entirely.

On DEV Community, a developer noted Zed felt "like using notepad" due to bugs in autocomplete and auto-import, though they acknowledged its "huge potential." The consensus across platforms: Zed is genuinely the fastest GUI editor available, but the extension ecosystem and stability still trail VS Code.

Zed native Git integration — Zed: Native Git integration with staging, diffs, and commit workflows built into the editor

Zed Pricing

Plan	Price	Key Limits
Personal	Free forever	2,000 edit predictions/month, unlimited with your own API keys
Pro	$10/month	Unlimited edit predictions, $5 of tokens included, usage-based beyond that
Enterprise	Custom	SSO, usage analytics, security guarantees, premium support

Users can also bring their own API keys from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google AI, DeepSeek, Amazon Bedrock, and others — bypassing Zed's billing entirely for AI features.

Who Should Use Zed?

Best for: Developers who prioritize raw speed and minimal resource usage. Vim users wanting a fast GUI editor. Teams that value real-time collaborative editing. Developers already using AI coding assistants who want native, non-extension-based integration.

Not ideal for: Developers heavily reliant on VS Code's massive extension ecosystem. Teams needing mature debugging workflows across many languages. Anyone requiring rock-solid stability for production work today — Zed is still pre-1.0.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

10x faster startup and 5x lower memory usage than VS Code, verified by independent benchmarks
Open source (AGPL/Apache) with 78K+ GitHub stars and active development — 182 stable releases in 2025 alone
Native AI integration without extensions — supports Claude, GPT, Gemini, and BYOK
Real-time collaboration with multiplayer cursors, built on CRDTs
Best Vim mode of any GUI editor, according to multiple community reviews
Backed by $32M from Sequoia Capital with a dedicated full-time team

Cons:

Extension ecosystem is small compared to VS Code's 50,000+ extensions
Stability issues reported — CPU spikes, freezes, and broken LSP features on some configurations
Still pre-1.0 (v0.229 as of March 2026) — expect rough edges
Advanced autocomplete now gated behind $10/month Pro plan, drawing community criticism
Privacy concerns led to a fork (Gram) — some users uncomfortable with telemetry defaults

Alternatives to Zed

VS Code remains the dominant editor with the largest extension ecosystem and best language support breadth, but uses significantly more resources. Cursor is the leading AI-first fork of VS Code, offering deeper AI integration at $20/month but inheriting VS Code's Electron weight. Neovim is the best option for terminal-native developers who want maximum customizability and zero bloat, though with a steeper learning curve.

Verdict: Is Zed Worth It?

At 80/100, Zed is the fastest GUI code editor available and a legitimate contender to VS Code — but not yet a full replacement. The Rust-powered performance is genuinely game-changing, the AI integration is thoughtfully designed, and the collaboration features are unique. However, the extension gap, occasional stability issues, and pre-1.0 status mean most developers should treat it as a secondary editor or daily driver for specific workflows. If speed matters most to you, Zed already delivers on its promise.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Zed free?: Yes, Zed's Personal plan is free forever with 2,000 monthly edit predictions. You can also use your own API keys for unlimited AI features at no cost through Zed. Pro is $10/month for unlimited predictions and included token credits.
What platforms does Zed support?: macOS, Linux, and Windows. Windows support launched in October 2025. There is no web or mobile version.
How does Zed compare to VS Code?: Zed starts 10x faster (0.12s vs 1.2s), uses 5x less memory (142MB vs 730MB), and has native AI and collaboration built in. VS Code has a vastly larger extension ecosystem and broader language support. Choose Zed for speed; VS Code for ecosystem breadth.
Is Zed open source?: Yes, Zed is open source under AGPL, Apache, and GPL licenses. The source code is at github.com/zed-industries/zed with 78K+ stars.
Who created Zed?: Nathan Sobo, Antonio Scandurra, and Max Brunsfeld — the same team that created GitHub's Atom editor and the Tree-sitter parsing library.

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