Zed

The honest take

A high-performance, Rust-built code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter, with AI edit prediction built in.

Best for: Developers who want a fast, native multiplayer editor with AI edit prediction rather than a heavier Electron-based IDE

Where it falls short: Smaller plugin ecosystem than VS Code forks like Cursor or Windsurf; AI features center on edit prediction, not full agentic workflows

What you actually get

• Native performance
• Edit prediction
• Multiplayer editing
• Open source

Pricing history

Should you pay for it?

The free tier of Zed is good enough for casual use. Pay $10 only when you start hitting daily caps or need access to the better models.