Comparison

IntelliJ IDEA vs Zed

No clear leader: Zed (54.3) and IntelliJ IDEA (51.9) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

IntelliJ IDEA full profile →Zed full profile →

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.

IntelliJ IDEA52

Zed54

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	IntelliJ IDEA	Zed
vioscaleAI score	52 / 100medium · 72%	54 / 100medium · 53%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	freemium
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	mid
Starting pricepricing.starting_price	-	$20
Transparentpricing.transparent	-	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	9	10
Security
Certificationssecurity.certifications	SOC 2 Type II	-
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	✓	✓
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	✓	✓
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	4.4	-
Soc2security.soc2	✓	-
Trust centersecurity.trust_center	https://www.jetbrains.com/company/commitment/compliance-highlights/	-
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=com.intellij%3Aannotations&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0	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	890	0
Github starsadoption.github_stars	20,630	91,706
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	100	100
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	2	-
Historyrelease.history	20 items	20 items
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	Java	Rust
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	-	Available worldwide · Popular in US
Content
Faqcontent.faq	4 items	7 items

Score

vioscaleAI score

IntelliJ IDEA52 / 100medium · 72%

Zed54 / 100medium · 53%

Pricing

Free tier

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Zed✓

Model

IntelliJ IDEAfreemium

Zedfreemium

Price level

IntelliJ IDEAlow

Zedmid

Starting price

IntelliJ IDEA–

Zed$20

Transparent

IntelliJ IDEA–

Zed✓

Integrations

Count

IntelliJ IDEA9

Zed10

Security

Certifications

IntelliJ IDEASOC 2 Type II

Zed–

Disclosure policy

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Zed✓

Gdpr

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Zed✓

Scorecard

IntelliJ IDEA4.4

Zed–

Soc2

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Zed–

Trust center

IntelliJ IDEAhttps://www.jetbrains.com/company/commitment/compliance-highlights/

Zed–

Vulnerabilities

IntelliJ IDEACount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=com.intellij%3Aannotations&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

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

Reliability

Status page

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Zed✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

IntelliJ IDEA890

Zed0

Github stars

IntelliJ IDEA20,630

Zed91,706

Activity

Commits last 30d

IntelliJ IDEA100

Zed100

Release

Cadence days

IntelliJ IDEA2

Zed–

History

IntelliJ IDEA20 items

Zed20 items

Language

Primary

IntelliJ IDEAJava

ZedRust

Market

Availability

IntelliJ IDEA–

ZedAvailable worldwide · Popular in US

Content

Faq

IntelliJ IDEA4 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	IntelliJ IDEA	Zed
Core
Type	Full IDE	Code editor
Language scope	Polyglot	Polyglot
Deployment
Deployment	Desktop	Desktop
Platform support
OS support	Windows, macOS	macOS 10.15+, Windows, Linux
Base platform	Original	Original
Extensibility
Extensibility	Plugins	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	Open-core	Open-source
Pricing
Pricing model	Per-seat subscription	Per-seat subscription

Core

Type

IntelliJ IDEAFull IDE

ZedCode editor

Language scope

IntelliJ IDEAPolyglot

ZedPolyglot

Deployment

IntelliJ IDEADesktop

ZedDesktop

Platform support

OS support

IntelliJ IDEAWindows, macOS

ZedmacOS 10.15+, Windows, Linux

Base platform

IntelliJ IDEAOriginal

ZedOriginal

Extensibility

IntelliJ IDEAPlugins

ZedPlugins

LSP / DAP support

IntelliJ IDEA-

Zed✓

Remote / dev-containers

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Zed✓

Integrated debugger / profiler

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Zed✓

Code intelligence depth

IntelliJ IDEAIDE-grade

ZedIDE-grade

Built-in git integration

IntelliJ IDEA-

Zed✓

Built-in AI

IntelliJ IDEANative

ZedNative

Licensing

Openness

IntelliJ IDEAOpen-core

ZedOpen-source

Pricing

Pricing model

IntelliJ IDEAPer-seat subscription

ZedPer-seat subscription

What each one is

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

IntelliJ IDEA

Professional integrated development environment for Java and Kotlin with built-in AI assistance for code generation and validation. Includes integrated debugging, testing, database tools, and application profiling in a unified interface.

Independently observed

Zed

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.

IntelliJ IDEA

SubscriptionFree tier30-day trial

as of 2026-09-14verify ↗

Zed

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	IntelliJ IDEA	Zed
macOSPlatforms	✓	✓
WindowsPlatforms	✓	✓
LinuxPlatforms	✗	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	-	✓

Platforms

macOS

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Zed✓

Windows

IntelliJ IDEA✓

Zed✓

Linux

IntelliJ IDEA✗

Zed✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

IntelliJ IDEA–

Zed✓

Integrations

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

In common (4)

Claude
Gemini
Grok
GitHub Copilot

IntelliJ IDEA

10 total - 6 not shared

GPT
Cursor
Junie
Claude Agent
Codex
Spring Framework

Independently observed

Zed

15 total - 11 not shared

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

Independently observed

Still deciding?

IntelliJ IDEA 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.