Zed
Fast, GPU-rendered code editor written in Rust with built-in collaboration and an AI agent panel.
About
Written from scratch in Rust by the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter, Zed reached 1.0 in April 2026 after five years of development and now runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows. Its custom GPUI framework renders the entire interface on the GPU the way a game engine would, which keeps input latency low even in large files, and Tree-sitter drives syntax awareness throughout. Collaboration is native rather than bolted on: real-time multiplayer editing, channels, SSH remoting, a git panel, and a debugger all ship in the box. AI features center on the Agent Panel, where built-in or external agents edit code agentically using your own provider keys, local models through Ollama, or the optional Zed Pro subscription that funds the company. The editor itself is free and the roughly 88,000-star repository is GPL-3.0 licensed, with the GPUI framework under Apache-2.0. Developers choose it when they want editor performance measurably faster than Electron-based tools without giving up modern agentic workflows.
Should you use Zed?
Pick it when
Pick it when editor speed matters to you, especially in large files, and you want real-time multiplayer editing, SSH remoting, a debugger, and an agent panel that takes your own keys, local Ollama models, or external agents in one native app.
Look elsewhere when
Skip it if your workflow depends on VS Code extensions, since Zed is a separate native editor, or if you want cloud background agents and automated PR review built in, as Cursor offers. GPL-3.0 also matters if you plan to fork and redistribute it.
Alternatives to Zed
Reviews (0)
Leave a Review
No reviews yet. Be the first to review!
Details
- Category
- AI Code Assistants
- Price
- Freemium
- Platform
- Local/Desktop
- Difficulty
- Beginner (1/5)
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Added
- Jul 29, 2026