# Visual Studio Code vs Zed

| Attribute | Visual Studio Code | Zed |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 58.1 (62% (medium)) | 54.3 (53% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 72 | 0 |
| adoption.github_stars | 193,646 | 91,706 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A multi-platform code editor combining traditional editing, debugging, and terminal capabilities with built-in AI agents that research, modify code, run commands, and iterate toward task completion. It is indexed under IDEs & Code Editors.","source":"https://code.visualstudio.com","question":"What is Visual Studio Code?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Visual Studio Code offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://code.visualstudio.com","question":"Is Visual Studio Code free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Visual Studio Code supports the web, Windows, macOS, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://code.visualstudio.com","question":"What platforms does Visual Studio Code support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Visual Studio Code can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://code.visualstudio.com","question":"Can Visual Studio Code be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 5 integrations for Visual Studio Code, including GitHub, Azure Pipelines, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps and MCP servers. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://code.visualstudio.com","question":"What does Visual Studio Code integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Visual Studio Code is published under the MIT licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode","question":"Is Visual Studio Code open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"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. It is indexed under IDEs & Code Editors.","source":"https://zed.dev/blog/pricing-change-llm-usage-is-now-token-based","question":"What is Zed?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Zed offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $0.10. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://zed.dev/blog/pricing-change-llm-usage-is-now-token-based","question":"Is Zed free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Zed supports Windows, macOS and Linux. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://zed.dev/blog/pricing-change-llm-usage-is-now-token-based","question":"What platforms does Zed support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Not fully, on what we have confirmed. Zed is offered as cloud / SaaS and hybrid, and a hybrid deployment usually means some components can run on your own infrastructure while the rest stays vendor-hosted. We have not confirmed a completely self-hosted option, so check with the vendor if that is a requirement.","source":"https://zed.dev/blog/pricing-change-llm-usage-is-now-token-based","question":"Can Zed be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 8 integrations for Zed, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, GitHub, OpenRouter, AWS Bedrock and Ollama. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://zed.dev/blog/pricing-change-llm-usage-is-now-token-based","question":"What does Zed integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed GDPR for Zed. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Zed not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://zed.dev/blog/tagged/security","question":"What security certifications does Zed have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Zed is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States.","source":"https://zed.dev/blog/pricing-change-llm-usage-is-now-token-based","question":"Where is Zed available?","confidence":0.5}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | Visual Studio Code is a free, open-source editor available on desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux) and web platforms, supporting dozens of programming languages through its extension marketplace. It features integrated source control, debugging, and AI-powered agent capabilities to automate coding tasks and development workflows. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"type":"full_ide","lsp_dap":true,"builtin_ai":"native","deployment":"both","os_support":"Windows, macOS, Linux","remote_dev":true,"open_source":"open_core","base_platform":"original","extensibility":"marketplace","pricing_model":"free","language_scope":"polyglot","git_integration":true,"code_intelligence":"ide_grade","integrated_debugger":true}` | `{"type":"code_editor","lsp_dap":true,"builtin_ai":"native","deployment":"desktop","os_support":"macOS 10.15+, Windows, Linux","remote_dev":true,"open_source":"oss","base_platform":"original","extensibility":"plugins","pricing_model":"subscription","language_scope":"polyglot","git_integration":true,"code_intelligence":"ide_grade","integrated_debugger":true}` |
| integrations.count | 6 | 10 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"GitHub Actions"},{"name":"GitHub Copilot"},{"name":"Azure Pipelines"},{"name":"GitLab CI"},{"name":"Azure DevOps"},{"name":"MCP servers"},{"name":"Git","native":true,"category":"source_control","direction":"bidirectional"}]` | `[{"name":"Anthropic"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Google"},{"name":"xAI"},{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"GitHub Copilot"},{"name":"OpenRouter"},{"name":"AWS Bedrock"},{"name":"Ollama"},{"name":"Claude","native":true,"category":"ai","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Grok","native":true,"category":"ai","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Gemini","native":true,"category":"ai","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Google Gemini","native":true},{"name":"Gemini CLI","native":false},{"name":"Claude Code","native":false}]` |
| language.primary | TypeScript | Rust |
| license.spdx | MIT | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"web":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"free","summary":"Free and open source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://code.visualstudio.com","retrievedAt":"2026-10-15T20:21:51.031Z"}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","summary":"Free","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"$20/month with $5 token credits; overages at API list price + 10%","features":["Unlimited accepted edit predictions","500 prompts per month","Claude Sonnet, Claude Opus, GPT-5, Gemini 2.5 Pro/Flash"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":20,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"edit_predictions":"unlimited","prompts_per_month":"500","token_credits_per_month":"$5"}},{"free":true,"name":"Pro Trial","summary":"Free for 14 days","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"duration_days":"14","token_credits":"$20"}}],"summary":"Free tier available. Pro at $20/month with token-based overages.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://zed.dev/blog/pricing-change-llm-usage-is-now-token-based","retrievedAt":"2026-10-14T11:29:44.756Z","freeTrialDays":14,"startingPrice":{"amount":20,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | free | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | mid |
| pricing.starting_price | - | `{"amount":20,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 6 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.142.0","date":"2026-10-14T19:46:12Z","type":"stable","version":"1.142.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.141.2","date":"2026-10-14T14:32:33Z","type":"stable","version":"1.141.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.141.1","date":"2026-10-13T21:53:53Z","type":"stable","version":"1.141.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.141.0","date":"2026-10-07T11:01:16Z","type":"stable","version":"1.141.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.140.0","date":"2026-09-30T22:00:22Z","type":"stable","version":"1.140.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.139.1","date":"2026-09-25T09:58:03Z","type":"stable","version":"1.139.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.139.0","date":"2026-09-23T10:32:34Z","type":"stable","version":"1.139.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.138.0","date":"2026-09-16T07:14:47Z","type":"stable","version":"1.138.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.137.0","date":"2026-09-09T15:32:58Z","type":"stable","version":"1.137.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.136.2","date":"2026-09-08T17:54:34Z","type":"stable","version":"1.136.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.136.1","date":"2026-09-03T15:25:32Z","type":"stable","version":"1.136.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.136.0","date":"2026-09-02T16:18:16Z","type":"stable","version":"1.136.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.135.0","date":"2026-08-26T16:52:46Z","type":"stable","version":"1.135.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.134.0","date":"2026-08-19T09:08:11Z","type":"stable","version":"1.134.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.133.0","date":"2026-08-12T09:41:17Z","type":"stable","version":"1.133.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.132.1","date":"2026-08-11T22:23:22Z","type":"stable","version":"1.132.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.132.0","date":"2026-08-05T09:49:29Z","type":"stable","version":"1.132.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.131.0","date":"2026-07-29T14:07:58Z","type":"stable","version":"1.131.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.130.0","date":"2026-07-22T17:39:17Z","type":"stable","version":"1.130.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/releases/tag/1.129.1","date":"2026-07-17T21:32:58Z","type":"stable","version":"1.129.1"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.24.2-pre","date":"2026-10-12T19:35:15Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.24.2-pre"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.23.3","date":"2026-10-12T18:38:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.23.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.24.1-pre","date":"2026-10-07T18:28:21Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.24.1-pre"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.23.2","date":"2026-10-07T18:27:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.23.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.23.1-pre","date":"2026-09-30T18:26:15Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.23.1-pre"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.22.0","date":"2026-09-30T16:03:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.22.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.22.0-pre","date":"2026-09-23T16:21:36Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.22.0-pre"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.21.0","date":"2026-09-23T15:42:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.21.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.20.2","date":"2026-09-17T05:05:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.20.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.21.0-pre","date":"2026-09-16T16:53:39Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.21.0-pre"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.20.1","date":"2026-09-16T16:23:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.20.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.20.1-pre","date":"2026-09-14T15:58:36Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.20.1-pre"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.20.0-pre","date":"2026-09-09T17:41:48Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.20.0-pre"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.19.2","date":"2026-09-09T17:41:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.19.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.19.1-pre","date":"2026-09-04T16:00:43Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.19.1-pre"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.18.1","date":"2026-09-04T16:59:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.18.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.19.0-pre","date":"2026-09-02T18:09:48Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.19.0-pre"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.18.0","date":"2026-09-02T18:13:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.18.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.18.0-pre","date":"2026-08-26T17:33:29Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.18.0-pre"},{"url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.17.2","date":"2026-08-26T15:25:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.17.2"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7.4 | - |
| security.trust_center | https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/agents/run/security | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40typefox%2Fmonaco-editor-core&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=cargo&package_name=gpui&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (IDEs & Code Editors)

| Capability | Visual Studio Code | Zed |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Type | Full IDE | Code editor |
| Language scope | Polyglot | Polyglot |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | Both | Desktop |
| **Platform support** |  |  |
| OS support | Windows, macOS, Linux | macOS 10.15+, Windows, Linux |
| Base platform | Original | 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 | Open-core | Open-source |
| **Pricing** |  |  |
| Pricing model | Free | Per-seat subscription |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T20:03:54.481Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*