Visual Studio Code vs Zed
Both are free editors; Zed is built from scratch in Rust and has no browser version, while VS Code also runs in the browser.
Pick Visual Studio Code if…
Pick Visual Studio Code if you want to use it in a browser at vscode.dev, or want a free editor with Microsoft's built-in terminal, debugging and Git.
Pick Zed if…
Pick Zed if you want an editor whose source is GPL-3.0-or-later and that is built around speed, and you are fine adding your own AI keys or paying US$10 a month for hosted AI.
Price
- Free
- Open source
- Freemium
- Open source
Starting price
Free plan
Open source
Works on
| Feature | Free code editor from Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Linux and the web, built on open-source code. | Fast code editor written in Rust for macOS, Linux and Windows, with optional paid AI features. |
|---|---|---|
| Price |
|
|
| Starting price | — | Free (Personal, US$0); Pro US$10/month |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Works on | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Try Visual Studio Code (opens the Visual Studio Code website in a new tab) | Try Zed (opens the Zed website in a new tab) |
Both editors are free to use. Visual Studio Code is free for private or commercial use. Zed's Personal plan is US$0 forever and works with your own API keys or external agents. Zed also sells Pro (US$10 a month, with US$5 of tokens for hosted models) and Business (US$30 per seat per month).
Platforms differ slightly. Visual Studio Code runs on Windows, macOS and Linux and in the browser at vscode.dev. Zed is available for macOS, Linux and Windows, and no browser version was found.
On licences, Visual Studio Code's source is MIT-licensed, but the build you download from Microsoft uses a Microsoft product licence and collects usage data by default. Zed's source is licensed primarily under GPL-3.0-or-later, with Apache-2.0 components where marked.
Both list a debugger, Git support and remote development. Zed says it is written in Rust to use multiple CPU cores and the GPU. Zed also supports external agents through ACP and MCP servers, and you can turn its AI features off.
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Last updated 16 October 2026. How we make money