vioscale
Comparison

IntelliJ IDEA vs Zed

No clear leader: Zed (56.5) and IntelliJ IDEA (53.3) 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 formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
IntelliJ IDEA53
Zed57
Score
Vioscale score
IntelliJ IDEA53 / 100medium · 53%updating
Zed57 / 100medium · 57%updating
Pricing
Free tier
IntelliJ IDEA–
Zed✓
Model
IntelliJ IDEAcommercial
Zedcommercial
Price level
IntelliJ IDEA–
Zedlow
Transparent
IntelliJ IDEA–
Zed✓
Integrations
Count
IntelliJ IDEA9
Zed9
Security
Disclosure policy
IntelliJ IDEA✓
Zed✓
Gdpr
IntelliJ IDEA✓
Zed✓
Scorecard
IntelliJ IDEA4.4
Zed–
Soc2
IntelliJ IDEA✓
Zed–
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Status page
IntelliJ IDEA✓
Zed✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
IntelliJ IDEA890
Zed0
Github stars
IntelliJ IDEA20,488
Zed89,264
Activity
Commits last 30d
IntelliJ IDEA100
Zed100
Release
Cadence days
IntelliJ IDEA1
Zed–
History
IntelliJ IDEA20 items
Zed20 items
Language
Primary
IntelliJ IDEAJava
ZedRust
Market
Availability

Capabilities

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

Core
Type
IntelliJ IDEAFull IDE
ZedCode editor
Language scope
IntelliJ IDEA-
ZedPolyglot
Deployment
Deployment
IntelliJ IDEADesktop
ZedDesktop
Platform support
OS support
IntelliJ IDEA-
ZedmacOS 10.15+, Windows, Linux
Base platform
IntelliJ IDEAOriginal
ZedOriginal
Extensibility
Extensibility
IntelliJ IDEAPlugins
ZedPlugins
DX
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✓
AI
Built-in AI
IntelliJ IDEANative
ZedNative
Licensing
Openness
IntelliJ IDEAOpen-core
ZedOpen-source
Pricing
Pricing model
IntelliJ IDEA-
Zed-

What each one is

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

IntelliJ IDEA

An IDE that accelerates software development through smart code editing, debugging, and analysis tools, enhanced with native AI capabilities for code completion and suggestions.

Independently observed

Zed

A minimal code editor built for fast, responsive coding and seamless collaboration. Includes built-in AI features with multiple model options, real-time code collaboration with teammates, and agent integration for automated editing and navigation.

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

Pricing not documented yet.

Zed

from $0.10/moHybridFree tier14-day trial

Free tier available. Pro at $10/month with $5 token credits included; token-based billing for additional AI usage at API list price + 10%.

  • FreeFree
    • 2,000 accepted edit predictions
    • 50 Zed-hosted prompts per month
  • Pro$10/month with $5 token credits; overage at API list price + 10%
    • Unlimited accepted edit predictions
    • $5 of token credits included
    • Additional usage at API list price + 10%
    • Claude Sonnet and Claude Opus
    • GPT-5 + mini/nano
    • +1 more
  • Pro TrialFree
    • Unlimited accepted edit predictions
    • $20 of token credits
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
macOS
IntelliJ IDEA✓
Zed✓
Windows
IntelliJ IDEA✓
Zed✓
Linux
IntelliJ IDEA✓
Zed✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
IntelliJ IDEA–
Zed✓
Hybrid
IntelliJ IDEA–
Zed✓

Integrations

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

In common (1)
  • GitHub Copilot

IntelliJ IDEA

9 total - 8 not shared
  • Claude
  • GPT
  • Gemini
  • Grok
  • Cursor
  • Junie
  • Claude Agent
  • Codex
Independently observed

Zed

9 total - 8 not shared
  • Anthropic
  • OpenAI
  • Google
  • xAI
  • GitHub
  • OpenRouter
  • AWS Bedrock
  • Ollama
Independently observed

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