- Pick it if you are:
- Web developers (JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Vue); Students and beginners
- Top complaint:
- High memory usage and lag with extensions
- Price:
- Free plan, paid from $10/mo
- Pick it if you are:
- Rust and Go developers; VS Code users annoyed by slowness
- Top complaint:
- Zed not working on Linux: Vulkan and GPU errors
- Price:
- Free plan, paid from $10/mo
Score Comparison
Signals Comparison
VS Code
- High memory usage and lag with extensions(7/10)
- Struggles with large monorepo projects(7/10)
- Slow search on large projects(5/10)
Zed
- Why is Zed using 100% CPU or freezing?(7/10)
VS Code
- Telemetry sends data to Microsoft by default(6/10)
- Not truly open source in distributed form(4/10)
Zed
No signals
VS Code
- Limited refactoring compared to JetBrains IDEs(6/10)
- No local change history built-in(5/10)
- Git integration inferior to JetBrains(5/10)
- Requires extension hunting for basic features(5/10)
- Python interpreter and IntelliSense not detected(6/10)
Zed
- Migrating from VS Code to Zed: settings and keymaps(5/10)
VS Code
- Extension conflicts and breakage(6/10)
- Integrated terminal fails to launch or exits immediately(7/10)
Zed
- Zed not working on Linux: Vulkan and GPU errors(8/10)
- Zed blank or invisible window on Linux and WSL(7/10)
- Zed on Windows: later and rougher than macOS(7/10)
- Zed Max tokens reached error in the agent panel(5/10)
VS Code
- Closed-source extensions hard to debug(5/10)
Zed
- Zed language support gaps: C#, Vue and niche languages(6/10)
VS Code
- Electron-based means inherent overhead(4/10)
Zed
- Zed extensions: why is the library so small?(7/10)
- Zed debugger and remote development less polished than VS Code(7/10)
- Zed git integration is less mature than GitLens(5/10)
- Zed AI agent less polished than Cursor(6/10)
VS Code
No signals
Zed
- Is Zed Pro worth it? $10/month with only $5 of tokens(6/10)
- Zed AI usage stops when the spend limit is reached(6/10)
Pricing Comparison
VS Code
Users: Unlimited
Limits: Not a full IDE—requires extensions for many features. Includes Microsoft telemetry.
Users: Unlimited
Limits: Uses Open VSX marketplace instead of Microsoft's—some extensions unavailable
Users: 1 user
Limits: Separate product from the free editor; not available in VSCodium's Open VSX setup
Zed
Users: 1
Storage: N/A
Limits: No Zed-hosted AI models and no hosted edit predictions, no included tokens
Users: 1
Storage: N/A
Limits: Trial lasts 14 days with $5 of one hosted model
Users: Per seat, no minimum
Storage: N/A
Limits: SSO, SAML and SCIM not yet available
Feature Comparison
| Feature | VS Code | Zed |
|---|---|---|
| Development | ||
| IntelliSense autocomplete Excellent for JS/TS/Python, varies by extension | ||
| Integrated debugging Good for most languages via extensions | ||
| Remote development SSH, Containers, WSL support excellent | ||
| Jupyter notebooks Via Python extension | ||
| Terminal integration Built-in terminal | ||
| AI | ||
| Built-in AI agent | ||
| Edit predictions Hosted ones need Pro | ||
| GitHub Copilot Separate subscription $10-19/month | ||
| Version Control | ||
| Git integration Basic built-in, GitLens extension adds more | ||
| Core | ||
| Debugger | ||
| SSH remote development | ||
| Real-time collaboration | ||
| Vim mode | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Extension marketplace Massive - thousands of extensions | ||
| Usability | ||
| Settings sync Sync across machines via Microsoft/GitHub | ||
| Ecosystem | ||
| Extensions Much smaller than VS Code | ||
| VS Code extension compatibility | ||
| Platforms | ||
| Windows, macOS, Linux Linux needs Vulkan | ||
| Platform | ||
| Cross-platform Windows, Mac, Linux identical | ||
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier 100% free, no limitations | ||
| Privacy | ||
| Telemetry opt-out Can disable, but opt-out not opt-in | ||
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