Built for speed, with multiplayer editing and weekly releases on every plan. Zed is a code editor that developers pick for speed and low memory use. The Personal plan is free forever and gives unlimited use with your own API keys or external agents such as Claude Agent and Codex CLI. Pro costs $10 a month with unlimited edit predictions and $5 of tokens, billed by usage after that, and Business costs $30 per seat per month. On Hacker News, a former RubyMine and IDEA user said those IDEs used excessive RAM and kept the fan spinning on a 2019 Intel MacBook Pro, and that Zed made the laptop enjoyable again. Another commenter called it insanely fast. Critics point to a narrow extension model, missing JetBrains features, and gaps in git tools and debugging in older comments. It suits developers who want a quick editor and accept less IDE depth.
Free tier quotas
Plan
Personal, $0 forever
AI with your own keys
Unlimited use with your API keys
External agents
Unlimited use with agents such as Claude Agent and Codex CLI
Editor
Fast performance, multiplayer collaboration and weekly releases on all plans
Pro plan
$10 per month, unlimited edit predictions, $5 of tokens included
Business plan
$30 per seat per month
Token usage beyond $5
Usage-based billing on Pro
Last sniffed Oct 11, 2026. Always confirm on the official pricing page.
👍 Good boy
+The Personal plan is $0 forever and allows unlimited use with your own API keys or external agents such as Claude Agent and Codex CLI.
+A Hacker News commenter who left RubyMine and IDEA said Zed fixed the high RAM use and fan noise on their 2019 Intel MacBook Pro.
+Another Hacker News commenter called Zed insanely fast.
+A r/ZedEditor user said it is faster than VS Code and does not eat much RAM, and that they like the vim keybinding mode.
+A Hacker News commenter praised the simple settings, the default settings and keymap files you can open and copy from, and a single option to hide the Collaboration panel.
+All plans include multiplayer collaboration and weekly releases, per the pricing page.
👎 Watch out
−A Hacker News commenter argued in May 2025 that Zed extensions only cover themes, tree-sitter grammars, language servers and slash commands, with no way to add features.
−The same commenter said you cannot change tabs or spaces for a single file and have to use an editorconfig file or global settings.
−A former JetBrains user on Hacker News said they miss some features from the JetBrains editors.
−Two Hacker News commenters in May 2025 said the debugger was the missing piece. I did not check its current status.
−A r/webdev commenter found their experience with Zed not spectacular and felt core features such as git tools were missing. The thread may be older than the current release.
−On Pro, the $10 plan includes $5 of tokens and usage-based billing beyond that.
The catch
The Personal plan covers the editor and unlimited AI use through your own API keys or external agents. Hosted model tokens appear under Pro, where $5 is included and usage beyond that is billed. If you want Zed to pay for the model calls, expect to pay.
The Hacker News comments I read about extensions, indentation settings and the missing debugger are from May 2025, and the r/webdev comment about git tools is older still. Zed ships weekly, so some of these gaps may be closed. I did not verify the current state of each one. Read the changelog before you decide based on them.
Zed is an editor, and one r/vscode commenter put it plainly: Zed is a text editor and will never have something like Azure cluster management. I found no G2 or Capterra review text for Zed.
What’s included
✓Fast editor with low memory use
✓Multiplayer collaboration
✓Weekly releases
✓Vim keybinding mode
✓Unlimited AI use with your own API keys
✓Unlimited use with external agents such as Claude Agent and Codex CLI
✓Unlimited edit predictions (Pro and Business)
✓Default settings and keymap files you can open and copy from
✓Org-wide AI model policies and role-based access control (Business)
Free tier value
Generosity
A
Estimated value
$10/mo (Pro plan)
Feature parity
Editor is free. Hosted AI tokens and unlimited edit predictions need Pro at $10 a month.
Screenshots
HomepagePricing page
Paid plans
Pro, $10 per month
Unlimited edit predictions, $5 of tokens included and usage-based billing beyond $5.
Business, $30 per seat per month
Org-wide AI model policies, data governance controls, unified spend visibility, unlimited edit predictions and role-based access control.
Enterprise, contact for pricing
Custom pricing. The pricing page lists no features for this tier.
Common questions
Is Zed free?
Yes. The Personal plan is $0 forever and includes unlimited AI use with your own API keys or external agents.
What does Pro add?
Unlimited edit predictions and $5 of tokens for $10 a month. Usage beyond $5 is billed.
Why do people switch from VS Code or JetBrains?
Commenters cite speed, lower RAM use and less fan noise. Others say they miss IDE features.
Does Zed have a debugger?
Hacker News comments from May 2025 said it was missing. I did not check its current status, so read the latest release notes.
Can I extend Zed with plugins?
Extensions exist, but one Hacker News commenter argued in May 2025 that they cover only themes, grammars, language servers and slash commands.
Change history
Checked October 22, 2026
The pricing page lists Personal at $0 forever, Pro at $10 a month, Business at $30 per seat per month and Enterprise by quote.
