Zed

A fast, open-source code editor with built-in AI agents and real-time collaboration.

Free + PaidAI Codingby Zed Industries
Visit Zed (opens in a new tab)

What is Zed?

Zed is a high-performance code editor written in Rust. It includes an AI agent panel, edit predictions and support for external agents, plus live collaboration with teammates. It runs on macOS, Linux and Windows.

Best for: Developers who want speed and AI without a heavy editor.

What you can do with Zed

  1. Ask the agent to make changes across a project

  2. Pair-program live with a teammate

  3. Use your own API key for AI features

Key features

  • Very fast native editor
  • Built-in AI agent and edit predictions
  • Bring your own model or agent
  • Real-time collaboration

Zed pros and cons

Pros

  • Extremely responsive
  • Open source

Cons

  • Smaller extension ecosystem than VS Code

Zed pricing

Free + PaidEditor is free and open source; paid plan adds hosted AI usage

Zed has a free plan, with paid plans that add more usage or features. Plans change often, so check the official site for current prices.

How to get started

  1. Open zed.dev and create a free account.
  2. Try one real task first: ask the agent to make changes across a project.
  3. Compare the result with Cline or CodeRabbit, then keep the one that fits how you work.

Compare Zed

Side-by-side comparisons of features, pricing, pros and cons.

Zed alternatives

Other tools that do a similar job, ranked by our editors.

  • Cline

    Open source

    An open-source coding agent for VS Code that plans, edits files and runs commands.

    AI CodingVisit

  • CodeRabbit

    Free + Paid

    AI code reviews on every pull request, with summaries and line-by-line feedback.

    AI CodingVisit

  • Aider

    Open source

    An open-source AI pair programmer that edits code in your terminal and commits to git.

    AI CodingVisit

  • Continue

    Open source

    Open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains with any model you like.

    AI CodingVisit

  • GitHub Copilot

    Free + PaidEditor's pick

    AI pair programmer inside VS Code, JetBrains and GitHub.

    AI CodingVisit

  • Cursor

    Free + PaidEditor's pick

    An AI-first code editor that understands your whole project.

    AI CodingVisit

Top AI coding tools

How Zed compares with the best in AI Coding.

  1. 1. GitHub Copilot

    Free + Paid

    AI pair programmer inside VS Code, JetBrains and GitHub.

  2. 2. Cursor

    Free + Paid

    An AI-first code editor that understands your whole project.

  3. 3. Claude Code

    Paid

    Anthropic's agentic coding tool for the terminal, IDE and web.

  4. 4. OpenAI API Platform

    Paid

    OpenAI's developer platform for building apps with GPT, image, audio and embedding models.

  5. 5. Claude Developer Platform

    Paid

    Anthropic's console and API for building with the Claude family of models.

See all 26 AI coding tools

Zed FAQ

What is Zed?

Zed is a high-performance code editor written in Rust. It includes an AI agent panel, edit predictions and support for external agents, plus live collaboration with teammates. It runs on macOS, Linux and Windows.

Is Zed free?

Zed has a free plan, with paid plans that add more usage or features. Editor is free and open source; paid plan adds hosted AI usage. Check the official site for current limits and prices.

What can you do with Zed?

With Zed you can ask the agent to make changes across a project; pair-program live with a teammate; use your own API key for AI features.

Who is Zed best for?

Developers who want speed and AI without a heavy editor.

Does Zed have an app?

Yes. Besides its main version, Zed has apps for Mac, Linux and Windows.

Who makes Zed?

Zed is made by Zed Industries.

What are the best alternatives to Zed?

Popular alternatives include Cline, CodeRabbit, Aider and Continue. See the full ranking on our AI Coding page.

AltFTool is not affiliated with Zed. This summary was written by our editors from the tool's public information. Browse all 451 AI tools