Zed

Zed is a high-performance code editor written in Rust, built from scratch for speed and real-time collaboration, with AI features built in natively. In August 2025 it raised a $32M Series B from Sequoia Capital, targeting a 1.0 release in Spring 2026.

Why It's in Trial

Zed is genuinely fast — it renders code using the GPU and starts instantly even on large projects. Its AI integration has matured significantly into a full agentic environment:

• Inline AI assist: Describe changes and apply them to selected code
• AI chat panel: Discuss your code with an LLM, with full context of your open files
• Agent Panel with ACP: Zed's Agent Client Protocol connects to external agents (Claude Code, Gemini CLI), making it a hub for multi-agent workflows
• Model flexibility: Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, GitHub Copilot (February 2026), and local models via Ollama (BYOK is free; hosted AI features require Zed Pro)
• Native debugger: Shipped in 2025, closing a long-standing capability gap
• Zeta model: Zed's own open-source edit prediction model for next-edit suggestions

Tradeoffs

• Extension ecosystem is smaller than VS Code/JetBrains — many niche language plugins don't exist yet
• Hosted AI features require Zed Pro (token-based pricing introduced late 2025); BYOK via your own API key is free
• GPL/AGPL licensing has implications for teams embedding or redistributing Zed

When to Choose Zed

• You want raw editor performance above all else
• You work primarily in languages with good Zed support (Rust, TypeScript, Python, Go)
• You're interested in real-time collaborative editing

Key Characteristics

Property	Value
Interface	Standalone IDE (macOS, Linux, Windows)
License	GPL/AGPL
Underlying model	Claude, GPT, Copilot, local via Ollama
Pricing	Free (BYOK) / Zed Pro (token-based, for hosted AI)
Provider	Zed Industries
Website	zed.dev
GitHub	zed-industries/zed