Comparison

Cursor vs Zed

On the evidence we track, Zed leads this comparison with a composite score of 54/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Cursor full profile →Zed full profile →

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Cursor46

★Zed54

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Cursor	ZedLeader
vioscaleAI score	46 / 100medium · 69%	54 / 100medium · 53%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	freemium
Price levelpricing.price_level	mid	mid
Starting pricepricing.starting_price	-	$20
Transparentpricing.transparent	✗	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	2	10
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	✓	✓
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	-	✓
Soc2security.soc2	✓	-
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	-	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=cargo&package_name=gpui&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	-	0
Github starsadoption.github_stars	-	91,706
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	-	100
Release
Historyrelease.history	-	20 items
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	-	Rust
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	-	Available worldwide · Popular in US
Content
Faqcontent.faq	5 items	7 items

Score

vioscaleAI score

Cursor46 / 100medium · 69%

Zed54 / 100medium · 53%

Pricing

Free tier

Cursor✓

Zed✓

Model

Cursorfreemium

Zedfreemium

Price level

Cursormid

Zedmid

Starting price

Cursor–

Zed$20

Transparent

Cursor✗

Zed✓

Integrations

Count

Cursor2

Zed10

Security

Disclosure policy

Cursor✓

Zed✓

Gdpr

Cursor–

Zed✓

Soc2

Cursor✓

Zed–

Vulnerabilities

Cursor–

ZedCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=cargo&package_name=gpui&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Reliability

Status page

Cursor✓

Zed✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

Cursor–

Zed0

Github stars

Cursor–

Zed91,706

Activity

Commits last 30d

Cursor–

Zed100

Release

History

Cursor–

Zed20 items

Language

Primary

Cursor–

ZedRust

Market

Availability

Cursor–

ZedAvailable worldwide · Popular in US

Content

Faq

Cursor5 items

Zed7 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for ides & code editors. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for IDEs & Code Editors
Capability	Cursor	Zed
Core
Type	Full IDE	Code editor
Language scope	Polyglot	Polyglot
Deployment
Deployment	Both	Desktop
Platform support
OS support	Windows	macOS 10.15+, Windows, Linux
Base platform	-	Original
Extensibility
Extensibility	Extension marketplace	Plugins
DX
LSP / DAP support	-	✓
Remote / dev-containers	✓	✓
Integrated debugger / profiler	-	✓
Code intelligence depth	IDE-grade	IDE-grade
Built-in git integration	✓	✓
AI
Built-in AI	Native	Native
Licensing
Openness	Closed	Open-source
Pricing
Pricing model	Per-seat subscription	Per-seat subscription

Core

Type

CursorFull IDE

ZedCode editor

Language scope

CursorPolyglot

ZedPolyglot

Deployment

CursorBoth

ZedDesktop

Platform support

OS support

CursorWindows

ZedmacOS 10.15+, Windows, Linux

Base platform

Cursor-

ZedOriginal

Extensibility

CursorExtension marketplace

ZedPlugins

LSP / DAP support

Cursor-

Zed✓

Remote / dev-containers

Cursor✓

Zed✓

Integrated debugger / profiler

Cursor-

Zed✓

Code intelligence depth

CursorIDE-grade

ZedIDE-grade

Built-in git integration

Cursor✓

Zed✓

Built-in AI

CursorNative

ZedNative

Licensing

Openness

CursorClosed

ZedOpen-source

Pricing

Pricing model

CursorPer-seat subscription

ZedPer-seat subscription

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Cursor

An AI-assisted development environment with desktop and CLI interfaces that uses codebase indexing and AI models to help generate code, complete tasks, and integrate with developer tools.

Independently observed

Zed

Leader

An open-source IDE emphasizing speed and real-time team collaboration, with optional integrated AI features for code assistance. Runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Cursor

from $20/moSubscriptionFree tier

Hobby free, Pro $20/mo, Teams $40/user/mo, Enterprise custom

HobbyFree
- Limited Agent requests
- Access to Composer
- No credit card required
Pro$20/mo
- Extended limits on Agent
- Generous limits for Grok & Composer
- Access to frontier models
- MCPs, skills, and hooks
- Cloud agents
- +1 more
Pro+-
- 3x Pro limits on Agent
- Generous limits for Grok & Composer
- Access to frontier models
- MCPs, skills, and hooks
- Cloud agents
- +1 more
Ultra-
- 20x Pro limits on Agent
- Generous limits for Grok & Composer
- Access to frontier models
- MCPs, skills, and hooks
- Cloud agents
- +2 more
Standard$40/user/mo
- Centralized team billing and administration
- Team marketplace for internal rules, skills, and plugins
- Agentic code reviews with Bugbot
- Cloud agents and automations with shared team context
- Usage analytics to understand team behavior
- +2 more
Premium-
- 5x Standard limits on Agent
- Centralized team billing and administration
- Team marketplace for internal rules, skills, and plugins
- Agentic code reviews with Bugbot
- Cloud agents and automations with shared team context
- +3 more
EnterpriseContact sales
- Pooled usage
- Invoice/PO billing
- SCIM seat management
- Repository, model, and MCP access controls
- Auto-run, browser, and network controls
- +3 more

as of 2026-08-01verify ↗

Zed

Leader

from $20/moSubscriptionFree tier14-day trial

Free tier available. Pro at $20/month with token-based overages.

FreeFree
Pro$20/month with $5 token credits; overages at API list price + 10%
- Unlimited accepted edit predictions
- 500 prompts per month
- Claude Sonnet, Claude Opus, GPT-5, Gemini 2.5 Pro/Flash
Pro TrialFree

as of 2026-10-14verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	Cursor	Zed
macOSPlatforms	✓	✓
WindowsPlatforms	✗	✓
LinuxPlatforms	✗	✓
CLIPlatforms	✓	✗
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✓

Platforms

macOS

Cursor✓

Zed✓

Windows

Cursor✗

Zed✓

Linux

Cursor✗

Zed✓

CLI

Cursor✓

Zed✗

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Cursor✓

Zed✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (1)

GitHub

Cursor

2 total - 1 not shared

Slack

Independently observed

Zed

Leader

15 total - 14 not shared

Anthropic
OpenAI
Google
xAI
GitHub Copilot
OpenRouter
AWS Bedrock
Ollama
Claude
Grok
Gemini
Google Gemini
Gemini CLI
Claude Code

Independently observed

Still deciding?

Cursor or Zed: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.