---
title: "Visual Studio Code vs Zed"
description: "Visual Studio Code and Zed are both AI-native IDEs. Visual Studio Code has a Web build, Zed does not."
canonical_url: "https://whichcoding.tools/compare/vscode-vs-zed"
---
# Visual Studio Code vs Zed

> Visual Studio Code is an AI-native IDE by Microsoft. Zed is an AI-native IDE by Zed Industries. Every cell below is read from the directory data and points back to a vendor page.

## General

|  | Visual Studio Code | Zed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Layer | AI-native IDE | AI-native IDE |
| Vendor | Microsoft | Zed Industries |
| Website | [code.visualstudio.com](https://code.visualstudio.com) | [zed.dev](https://zed.dev) |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux, Web | macOS, Linux, Windows |
| License | MIT (Open source) | GPL-3.0-or-later AND AGPL-3.0-or-later AND Apache-2.0 (Open source) |
| Status | active | active |

## Pricing

|  | Visual Studio Code | Zed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | Free | Free |
| Top individual plan | Free | $10/mo |
| Team plan | — | $30/user/mo |
| Included usage | — | $5/mo (Pro) |
| Beyond the plan | — | Blocked, API list price +10% |
| Part of a plan | — | — |

## Models

|  | Visual Studio Code | Zed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Providers | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Moonshot | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, Mistral, DeepSeek, OpenRouter, Vercel AI Gateway |
| Bring your own key | Partial BYOK | BYOK |
| Local models | Yes | Yes |

## Features

|  | Visual Studio Code | Zed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Git worktrees | Yes | No |
| Parallel agents | Yes | No |
| Subagents | Yes | Yes |
| MCP client | Yes | Yes |
| ACP client | No | Yes |
| Browser automation | Yes | No |
| Sandboxing | Yes | No |
| Remote execution | Yes | Yes |
| Diff review | Yes | Yes |
| Checkpoints | Yes | No |
| Plugins | Yes | No |
| Hooks | Yes | No |
| Tab completion | Yes | Yes |

## Works with

|  | Visual Studio Code | Zed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Runs | GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Codex CLI | Augment Code, Claude Code, Cline, CodeBuddy, Codex CLI, GitHub Copilot CLI, Cursor, Devin, Factory, Gemini CLI, Google Antigravity, goose, Grok Build, Junie CLI, Kilo Code, Kimi Code CLI, MiniMax Code, Mistral Vibe, OpenCode, Qoder, Qwen Code |
| Runs inside | — | — |
| Pricing verified | 2026-09-28 | 2026-09-18 |

## Related

[Add more tools](https://whichcoding.tools/compare?tools=vscode,zed), up to four at a time.

Data: CC BY 4.0. Credit whichcoding.tools and link to https://whichcoding.tools. Full terms in [LICENSE-DATA](https://github.com/benjamincanac/whichcodingtools/blob/main/LICENSE-DATA).

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