Zedvs
Cursor
Cursor: AI-first code editor with built-in GitHub Copilot integration and collaborative features
Zed
Code at the speed of thought
As of 30 August 2026, Zed has a free plan and paid plans start at $10/month. Zed is a high-performance, multiplayer code editor built in Rust. Softwr lists it under Software Development. Zed is made by Zed Industries, launched in 2021, available on macOS, Linux, Windows.
Overview
What Zed does
Zed is a high-performance, multiplayer code editor built in Rust. It combines the power of an IDE with the responsiveness of a lightweight editor, featuring real-time collaboration and AI assistance.
What people use it for
- Collaborative coding
- High-performance editing
- Real-time pair programming
- Systems programming
- Web development
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Zed.
- Newer product with smaller ecosystem than established editors
- Limited extensions and plugin marketplace compared to VSCode or Sublime Text
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Zed
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- ZedvsSublime Text
Sublime Text: Lightweight, fast code editor with extensive plugin ecosystem and multi-platform support
- ZedvsPyCharm
PyCharm: Full-featured IDE with advanced debugging, refactoring, and language-specific tools
Pricing
What Zed costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Free
Free
- Single-player editing
- Local AI assistance
- Fast performance
- Rust-based engine
Plus
$10 /mo
- Multiplayer collaboration
- Cloud AI assistance
- Advanced features
- Priority support
Capabilities
Features
Real-time collaboration
AI code completion
Lightning-fast performance
Rust-based architecture
Multi-language support
Integrated terminal
Git integration
Vim keybindings
Git
Integration with Git
GitHub
Integration with GitHub
Language servers
Integration with Language servers
Tree-sitter
Integration with Tree-sitter
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
What platforms does Zed support?
Zed is available for macOS, Linux, and Windows, providing cross-platform support for developers.
SourceIs Zed free to use?
Yes. Zed is open-source software available free to download and use. The editor and GPUI framework are available under open-source licenses (GPL for editor, Apache/MIT for GPUI).
SourceWhat makes Zed fast compared to other editors?
Zed is written in Rust and uses GPU-accelerated rendering to achieve startup times under 500ms and keystroke latency below 2ms.
SourceDoes Zed support real-time collaboration?
Yes. Zed provides real-time collaborative editing and screen sharing capabilities, enabling multiple developers to work on the same code simultaneously.
SourceWhat AI models does Zed support?
Zed supports multiple AI models and agents for agentic editing, enabling human-AI collaboration during development.
SourceWhen was Zed 1.0 released?
Zed 1.0 was officially released on April 29, 2026, marking the stable production release.
SourceBehind it
Who makes Zed
- Company
- Zed Industries
- Based in
- San Francisco, CA
- Founders
- Nathan Sobo
Timeline
Zed over time
- Launch2026-04-29
Zed 1.0 officially released as stable production-ready version
Source - Milestone2024-07-15
Zed editor released for Linux platform
Source - Licence change2024-01-01
Zed went open-source under copyleft license (GPL for editor, Apache/MIT for GPUI framework)
Source - Launch2023-03-15
Zed entered public beta for macOS
Source
Keep looking
Where to go from Zed
- Zed alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Zed pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Zed badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Software Development softwareThe full category
- Best Software Development softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Zed, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Zed
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What people switch to, and what they give up
Zed pricing
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