Zed — A fast, Rust-built, open-source code editor with native AI agent support; free for personal use, with Pro at $10/month and Business at $30/seat/month for team AI features.
By Noahlast updated pricing verified
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Best for: developers who want a fast, native (non-Electron) editor with built-in agentic AI support
Pricing: Editor is free and open-source; Zed's AI subscription is free (Personal), $10/month (Pro), or $30/seat/month (Business).
- Zed is a code editor built from scratch in Rust by Zed Industries, avoiding the Electron/Chromium runtime most competitors use.
- The editor core is open-source (GPL-3.0-or-later with Apache-2.0 components) with 89,000+ GitHub stars.
- Personal plan is free with 2,000 accepted edit predictions; Pro is $10/month, Business is $30/seat/month.
- Zed supports connecting external coding agents such as Claude Code directly inside the editor.
Limitations: Extension ecosystem and IDE tooling (debuggers, language-specific integrations) are thinner than VS Code's.; Pro plan's usage-based billing beyond the monthly credit can produce unpredictable costs for heavy AI users.
Top alternatives: Visual Studio Code, Cursor, Sublime Text — full list
What is Zed?
Zed is a code editor written from scratch in Rust, built by Zed Industries to be fast on multi-core CPUs and GPUs rather than running inside Electron/Chromium the way VS Code and most competitors do. The editor core is open-source (GPL-3.0-or-later, with some Apache-2.0-licensed components) and free to use indefinitely, including with a user's own API keys for AI features or by connecting external coding agents such as Claude Code — Zed's paid tiers exist specifically for Zed's own hosted AI subscription (edit predictions and agent access), not for the editor itself. The free Personal plan includes 2,000 accepted edit predictions; Pro ($10/month) adds unlimited edit predictions and $5 of monthly token credits with usage-based billing beyond that at API list price plus 10%; Business ($30/seat/month, no minimum seat count for self-serve) adds org-wide AI model policies, data governance controls, and unified spend visibility for teams. Zed ships native multiplayer collaboration, a debugger built on the Debug Adapter Protocol, native Git integration, Vim-style modal editing, and Language Server Protocol support with an extension catalog, on macOS, Linux, and Windows.
Zed is a code editor built from scratch in Rust by Zed Industries, designed for speed and native multiplayer/AI collaboration rather than being an Electron app or VS Code fork. The editor itself is free and open-source (GPL-3.0/Apache-2.0, 89,000+ GitHub stars) with unlimited use when paired with a user's own API keys or external agents like Claude Code; Zed's own AI subscription starts with a free Personal plan (2,000 accepted edit predictions), a $10/month Pro plan with $5 of monthly token credits and usage-based billing beyond that, and a $30/seat/month Business plan adding org-wide model policies and data governance. Zed supports macOS, Linux, and Windows, with a built-in debugger, native Git integration, and Language Server Protocol support. It holds a 5.0/5 rating from Product Hunt reviewers (46 reviews) who praise its speed relative to Electron-based editors like VS Code, while noting a smaller extension ecosystem.
Standout feature: Native Rust performance (no Electron/Chromium runtime) combined with built-in multiplayer collaboration and support for bringing an external coding agent like Claude Code directly into the editor.
Biggest weakness: Extension ecosystem and IDE-style workflows (debugging integrations, language-specific tooling) are noticeably thinner than VS Code's, since Zed is a much younger project without VS Code's decade-plus head start on plugins; teams standardized on VS Code extensions will find some tooling missing.
Pros
- Genuinely fast, native performance versus Electron-based editors like VS Code.
- Editor core is free, open-source, and usable indefinitely without a paid plan, including with a user's own API keys.
- Native multiplayer collaboration and Claude Code integration built in, not bolted on via extension.
- Business plan requires no minimum seat count for self-serve signup.
Cons
- Smaller extension ecosystem and less mature IDE tooling (debuggers, language-specific integrations) than VS Code.
- Pro plan's usage-based billing beyond the $5 monthly credit (at API price +10%) can produce unpredictable costs for heavy AI users.
- Windows support is newer than macOS/Linux support and historically lagged behind in feature parity.
Zed pricing
Free tier · paid from $10/mo · verified from the vendor's pricing page
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Personal | Free | Free forever; 2,000 accepted edit predictions, unlimited use with your own API keys or external agents such as Claude Code. |
| Pro | $10/mo | 2-week free trial with $20 token credits; unlimited edit predictions plus $5/month token credits, usage-based billing beyond that at API list price +10%. |
| Business | $30/mo | Per seat; no minimum for self-serve (order forms available at 25+ seats); adds org-wide AI model policies, data governance, unified spend visibility, and role-based access controls. |
What reviewers say
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