Zed is a fast, open-source code editor written in Rust for macOS, Linux and Windows, with real-time collaboration and built-in AI agents. The Personal plan is free forever, with 2,000 accepted edit predictions and unlimited use of your own API keys or external agents such as Claude's and Codex CLI. Pro costs $10 a month with unlimited edit predictions and $5 of hosted model tokens, billed beyond that at API list price plus 10%. Business costs $30 per seat for admin controls. Delta, Zed's new multiplayer workspace for coding agents, entered public beta in September 2026.
Reviewed by EdGrows·Updated Sep 30, 2026This analysis is based on documentation, public user reports, and vendor materials — not yet on our own hands-on testing. How we rate
Zed is the code editor built by the team behind Atom, written from scratch in Rust to use multiple CPU cores and the GPU. Its homepage calls it "a minimal code editor crafted for speed and collaboration with humans and AI", and the three claims describe the product: it opens and responds faster than Electron-based editors, it has real-time collaboration built in, with shared projects, chat and screen sharing, and it runs AI agents in parallel inside the editor.
AI in Zed is opt-in in a way it is not in most rivals. You can use hosted models through a Zed subscription, bring your own API keys, run local models, connect external agents you already pay for, or turn every AI feature off. The editor is open source, with about 91,000 stars on GitHub, runs on macOS, Linux and Windows, and ships weekly releases.
That flexibility is the reason to consider Zed. It suits developers who want a fast editor first and choose their own AI, rather than an AI product with an editor attached.
Zed's pricing page, checked September 30, 2026.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Personal | $0 forever | Full editor and collaboration, 2,000 accepted edit predictions, unlimited use of your own keys and external agents |
| Pro | $10 a month | Unlimited edit predictions, $5 of Zed-hosted model tokens, usage beyond at API list price plus 10%, spending cap |
| Business | $30 per seat a month | Org-wide AI model policies, data governance, role-based access, unified spend, unlimited edit predictions |
Zed's pricing reflects its philosophy. You pay for hosted services, meaning Zed-run AI models and admin controls, and the editor itself stays free. Edit predictions, Zed's inline suggestions of your next edit, are the one AI feature limited on the free plan, at 2,000 accepted predictions.
Pro's hosted AI is metered in dollars. The $10 subscription includes $5 of model usage each month, and beyond that Zed bills tokens at each model's API list price plus 10%, charging at the end of the month or each time another $10 accrues, whichever comes first. A spending cap stops surprises.
The math favors light and moderate users. Someone who uses the agent panel for occasional questions and edits stays within the included $5, and unlimited edit predictions make Pro worth $10 on their own for many. Heavy agent users pay for what they use, with a 10% markup over going direct, so developers who already have API keys or a Claude or ChatGPT subscription often do better on the free plan with their own access.
New users can try Pro free for 14 days with $5 of usage on GPT-6 Luna, the only hosted model during the trial, and no credit card. The trial ends when the $5 is used or 14 days pass, and its balance is shared with Delta.
Zed's free plan allows unlimited AI use as long as you supply the model. It supports keys from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google AI, DeepSeek, Mistral, OpenRouter, Amazon Bedrock, Vercel and GitHub Copilot, and local models through Ollama and LM Studio, which keeps code on your machine entirely.
External agents go a step further. Claude's agent, Codex CLI and others run inside Zed's agent panel using your own subscriptions, so a developer paying for Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus can use that agent in a fast editor without paying Zed anything. For teams, Business adds admin controls over which Zed-hosted models are allowed, org-wide switches for edit predictions and locked data-sharing settings, while members can still use their own provider contracts.
In August 2026 Zed Industries launched Delta, a separate app for coding with agents and reviewing what they build, and on September 16 it entered public beta. Delta keeps code and the conversations that produced it connected, so teammates and agents work with the full history of how a change came about. It runs on a real-time database, DeltaDB, that syncs conversations and code alongside existing git repositories.
Delta works with outside agents including Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, Cursor and Goose, and runs on macOS, Linux, Windows and in the browser. It is Zed's answer to the question of what code review looks like when agents write much of the code, and the team plans to bring its technology into the editor later.
The main cost of Zed is ecosystem. It has its own extension system with far fewer extensions than VS Code, so developers who rely on particular VS Code extensions, debuggers or language tooling should check support before switching. Cursor and other VS Code forks import your setup in one click; Zed means rebuilding it.
Zed's own AI is also leaner than Cursor's. It has no equivalent of Cursor's in-house Composer models, cloud agents or Projects, and Business lacks SSO, SAML and SCIM for now, which rules it out for many companies' standard tooling. For developers who want those, Cursor at $20 a month or GitHub Copilot inside VS Code are the fuller packages.
For speed, openness and control over AI costs, Zed is hard to beat: a free editor that works with the agent you already pay for, or $10 a month for hosted models. Compare the wider field in our guide to the best AI coding tools.
Yes. The Personal plan is free forever and includes the full editor, collaboration, 2,000 accepted edit predictions and unlimited AI use with your own API keys or external agents. Zed supports keys from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek, Mistral, OpenRouter, Amazon Bedrock and more, plus local models through Ollama and LM Studio. You can also turn off all AI features.
Unlimited edit predictions and $5 of Zed-hosted model tokens each month, so you can use AI without managing API keys. Beyond the included $5, usage is billed at the model's API list price plus 10%, charged at the end of the month or every additional $10, and you can set a spending cap. A 14-day free trial with $5 of usage needs no credit card.
Business costs $30 per seat a month and adds an admin layer on top of the editor: org-wide AI model policies, data governance and sharing controls, role-based access, unified spend visibility and unlimited edit predictions. Seats do not include AI credits; teams use Zed-hosted models at standard rates or their own provider contracts. There is no seat minimum, and SSO, SAML and SCIM are planned but not yet available.
Yes. Zed runs external agents such as Claude's agent and Codex CLI in its agent panel, using your own subscriptions or keys, and that use is unlimited even on the free Personal plan. It is one of the cheapest ways to pair a fast editor with the agent you already pay for.
Zed is built from scratch in Rust and renders with the GPU, using multiple CPU cores, while VS Code and its forks such as Cursor are Electron apps. In practice Zed tends to open and respond faster, especially on large files. The trade-off is ecosystem: Zed has its own extension system and far fewer extensions than VS Code.
Yes. Zed's source code is public on GitHub, where the repository has about 91,000 stars, and the editor ships weekly releases. Zed's paid plans cover its hosted AI and admin services; the editor itself stays free, and Zed accepts optional sponsorship through GitHub Sponsors.
Zed if you want speed, open source, collaboration and the freedom to bring your own models or agents at low cost. Cursor if you want the most complete AI-first editor, with its own Composer models, cloud agents and VS Code extension compatibility, and are happy to pay $20 or more a month.
The fast issue tracker for software teams, now built for agents too: free up to 250 issues, Basic $10 and Business $16 per user a month billed yearly.
The AI code editor most developers compare against, now owned by SpaceX: Pro from $16 a month yearly, agents, Projects and its own Composer models.
A free terminal coding agent that commits every change to git. It still works with almost any model, but its releases have slowed to a trickle.