VSCodium — A free, community-maintained build of VS Code's MIT-licensed source code, compiled without Microsoft's telemetry, branding, or marketplace terms.

What is VSCodium?

VSCodium exists because Microsoft's official VS Code binaries, while built from MIT-licensed source, ship with proprietary additions Microsoft applies at build time — a custom product.json enabling telemetry, the Microsoft-branded icon and marketplace connection, and license terms restricting redistribution. VSCodium recompiles the same open-source code without those additions, producing what the project calls a 'clean' build under the plain MIT license. The result is functionally the same editor: the same interface, keyboard shortcuts, integrated terminal, and extension API as VS Code, but with telemetry disabled by default and no Microsoft branding. It's distributed through standard package managers on every major desktop platform — WinGet, Chocolatey, and Scoop on Windows; Homebrew on macOS; and Snap, AUR, Flatpak, Nix, and distribution-specific packages (Debian/Ubuntu, RPM, Arch, Gentoo) on Linux. The main practical tradeoff is the extension marketplace. Microsoft's Marketplace license terms don't permit VSCodium to connect to it, so extensions are installed from the community-maintained Open VSX Registry instead. Open VSX doesn't mirror every extension published to Microsoft's Marketplace, and a small number of extensions that check specifically for Microsoft's product.json fields won't install or function correctly in VSCodium. There is no official Microsoft support channel; the project is maintained entirely by community contributors on GitHub.

VSCodium is a free, community-maintained distribution of Microsoft's Visual Studio Code editor, built from the same MIT-licensed source code but compiled without Microsoft's proprietary telemetry, branding, and product.json customizations. It targets developers who want VS Code's editing experience, extension model, and interface without Microsoft's data collection or licensing terms attached to the official build. VSCodium is available free on Windows, macOS, and Linux through standard package managers (WinGet, Chocolatey, Scoop, Homebrew, Snap, AUR, Flatpak, Nix), with no account or subscription required. Because it can't use Microsoft's official Visual Studio Marketplace, extensions install from the community-run Open VSX Registry instead, which doesn't mirror every extension available to standard VS Code users.

Standout feature: Ships the exact same MIT-licensed source as VS Code, compiled without Microsoft's proprietary product.json customizations, so telemetry is disabled by default.

Biggest weakness: Can't use Microsoft's official Visual Studio Marketplace due to its licensing terms, so extension installation depends on the smaller Open VSX Registry, which doesn't mirror every extension available to VS Code users.

VSCodium pricing

Free · verified undefined NaN, NaN from the vendor's pricing page

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