Zed
High-performance code editor with built-in AI
Overview
Zed is a Rust-built, GPU-accelerated code editor with collaborative editing and built-in AI assistants. Founded by the team behind Atom. Free with a Pro tier for AI features and team collaboration. Strong reputation for performance and keyboard ergonomics.
Use cases
What you can produce with Zed
- Edit large files and monorepos with near-instant startup and keystroke response, thanks to GPU-accelerated rendering and multithreaded indexing.
- Run AI coding agents inside the editor — hosted models on a Pro plan, your own API keys, or external agents like Claude Code and Gemini CLI via the Agent Client Protocol.
- Pair-program in real time by sharing a project through Zed channels, with collaborative editing and built-in voice calls, no screen-sharing tool required.
- Apply one edit across every search result or diagnostic at once using multibuffers, which gather matches from many files into a single editable view.
- Get inline autocomplete from Zed's edit-prediction model, free for 2,000 predictions on the Personal plan and unlimited on Pro.
- Debug code with the built-in debugger — breakpoints, step-through and variable inspection — without installing extensions.
- Use Vim mode with most Neovim motions working out of the box, and remap anything else through JSON keybindings.
ASEAN Perspective
Zed in Southeast Asia
ASEAN-region availability and pricing notes coming soon. Drop the editorial team a note via /contact/ if you can supply local context (Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia/Thailand/Vietnam).
Zed is a blazing-fast, Rust-built code editor with first-class AI assistance, multiplayer real-time collaboration and a clean, low-latency interface. Its standout strength is raw performance and a thoughtful, native feel, with AI features (chat, edit prediction, agentic assists) integrated rather than bolted on, and a free open-source core that makes it excellent value.
Its ecosystem of extensions and language support is younger and thinner than VS Code, and some advanced AI/collab features depend on accounts or paid plans. There is no ASEAN-specific provisioning, just global access. Best for developers who prioritise speed and a native editor and are happy to trade a smaller extension ecosystem for it; VS Code-dependent teams may find gaps.
What people say
Zed, the Rust-built editor from the team behind Atom, has matured from a fast-but-sparse curiosity into a credible daily driver. The company doubled down on agentic AI through 2025, and in January 2026 launched the Agent Client Protocol (ACP) in collaboration with JetBrains, letting external agents like Claude Code, Codex CLI and Gemini CLI run inside the editor. Pricing moved in users' favour too: Pro was cut from $20 to $10 a month with $5 of hosted AI credits included, a free Personal tier keeps 2,000 edit predictions, and a $30-per-seat Business tier arrived in May 2026.
Performance is the praise that never varies. Reviewers describe startup and editing as effectively instant thanks to GPU rendering and multithreaded indexing, and 2026 roundups rank it around 4.5/5 among AI code editors. The built-in collaboration (shared projects with voice calls), first-class debugger, and a Vim mode that reviewers estimate delivers most of the Neovim experience with zero configuration all earn genuine goodwill, as does the bring-your-own-key flexibility across Claude, GPT and Gemini.
The consistent complaint is ecosystem depth. Zed offers roughly 800 extensions against VS Code's tens of thousands, so teams relying on niche language servers, linters or framework-specific debuggers can hit walls. Its AI context handling — focused on current files and open buffers — trails Cursor's whole-repo indexing for large-codebase questions, and Windows support, which arrived well after macOS and Linux, is still the least battle-tested platform. Vim users note their vimrc does not transfer, even if keybindings are remappable.
Zed genuinely fits performance-sensitive developers on macOS or Linux who want a fast native editor with solid built-in AI and are willing to live with a leaner extension catalogue. Developers whose workflow depends on specific VS Code extensions, or who want the deepest whole-repo AI context, will likely keep Cursor or VS Code alongside it.
Summary of public user & expert reviews, compiled by RECATOOLS.
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including Zed's official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with Zed unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
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