Zed
Rust-built code editor with native AI agents, edit prediction, and real-time collaboration — all at native speed that makes Electron editors feel sluggish.
Updated 2026-05-02
Overview
Zed is a high-performance code editor built from the ground up in Rust by the team behind Atom and Tree-sitter. It reached 1.0 in late April 2026 with a clear thesis: a code editor should feel instant, and AI should be a first-class citizen rather than a bolted-on extension. The result is an editor that launches in milliseconds, scrolls without jank, and treats AI agent workflows as core functionality.
The standout feature at 1.0 is Parallel Agents — you can spin up multiple AI agents working on different parts of your codebase simultaneously. While one agent refactors a module, another can be writing tests for a different file. Edit prediction goes beyond autocomplete: Zed anticipates multi-cursor edits, structural changes, and repetitive patterns before you type them. It feels less like tab-completion and more like the editor reading your mind.
Where Zed differs from Cursor and Windsurf is its BYOK (bring your own key) approach. There's no built-in AI subscription — you connect your own API keys from Anthropic, OpenAI, or other providers. This means you control costs and model choice directly, but it also means there's more setup friction compared to editors that bundle AI credits. The real-time collaboration features, inherited from the team's experience building Atom, are genuinely excellent — think Google Docs for code, with shared cursors and voice chat built in.
What sets Zed apart
- Parallel AI agents work on different parts of the codebase at the same time
- BYOK model connects your own API keys instead of a built-in AI subscription
- Built-in real-time collaboration with shared cursors and voice chat, no extensions needed
- Written entirely in Rust with a GPU-accelerated UI for sub-millisecond input latency
Key features
Parallel AI Agents
Run multiple AI agents simultaneously across your codebase. Each agent operates independently — one can refactor a module while another writes tests or updates documentation. No waiting for sequential completions.
Edit Prediction
Goes beyond autocomplete to predict structural edits, multi-cursor changes, and repetitive patterns. Learns from your editing behavior within a session to anticipate what you'll do next.
Real-time Collaboration
Built-in multiplayer editing with shared cursors, project-wide navigation, and integrated voice chat. No extensions or third-party services needed — collaboration is part of the editor core.
Native Performance
Written entirely in Rust with a custom GPU-accelerated UI framework (GPUI). Sub-millisecond keystroke latency, instant file switching, and smooth scrolling even in massive files.
Pricing
Free tier: Fully free and open source. AI features require your own API keys from model providers.
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Zed Editor | Free | Full editor, extensions, collaboration, terminal, AI agent support — open source (GPL/AGPL) |
| AI Features | BYOK | Connect your own API keys from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or other providers. You pay providers directly at their rates. |
Full editor, extensions, collaboration, terminal, AI agent support — open source (GPL/AGPL)
Connect your own API keys from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or other providers. You pay providers directly at their rates.
Pros & cons
Pros
- ✓Exceptional speed — fastest modern code editor available, with sub-millisecond input latency
- ✓Parallel agents let you run multiple AI tasks at once without blocking your workflow
- ✓No AI subscription lock-in — use any model provider with your own API keys
- ✓Built-in real-time collaboration with voice chat, no extensions needed
Cons
- ×Smaller extension ecosystem compared to VS Code-based editors like Cursor
- ×BYOK model means more setup friction — you need API keys before AI features work
- ×No Windows support yet — currently macOS and Linux only
- ×Fewer built-in language integrations than mature IDEs like JetBrains
How it compares
| Tool | Best for | Pricing | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zed | Developers who want a native-speed code editor with built-in AI agents and real-time collaboration, without being locked into a bundled AI subscription. | Free (open source) — BYOK for AI features | 8.8/10 |
| Cursor vs Cursor → | Professional developers handling complex, multi-file refactors who want AI built into a familiar VS Code-based editor. | Freemium | 9.5/10 |
| GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.5 → | Developers and teams needing a frontier reasoning model for agentic coding workflows and large-codebase context handling. | API: $5/$30 per 1M tokens (in/out). ChatGPT Plus $20/mo, Pro $200/mo | 9.4/10 |
| Windsurf vs Windsurf → | Developers who want an AI IDE that autonomously plans, codes, tests, and iterates across a project with minimal input. | Freemium | 9.1/10 |
Compare head-to-head
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Ready to try Zed?
Head to the official site to start with Zed — pricing and plans are listed above.
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