Zed

A closer look at Zed

Zed is a minimal code editor crafted for speed and collaboration with humans and AI, written from scratch in Rust to use multiple CPU cores and the GPU. It supports agentic work with agents running in parallel to edit files, navigate code, and run tools at native speed, plus collaborative chat, shared coding, and screen and project sharing. It is available for macOS, Linux, and Windows, with a free-forever Personal plan, a Pro plan with AI, and a Business plan with org-level controls.

Editorial guidance based on published documentation. The workflow below is a suggested starting point, not a measured product result.

When to choose Zed

• Developers who want a fast, minimal editor with parallel AI agents and multiplayer collaboration, since Zed runs agents in parallel and lets teammates chat, code together, and share screens and projects.
• Developers who want a free editor they can extend with their own API keys or external agents, since the Personal plan is free forever with unlimited use on that basis.

When to choose something else

• Buyers who want unlimited included AI tokens on Pro, since Pro includes $5 of tokens and bills usage beyond $5 on a usage basis.
• Teams who want org-level AI model policies on the free tier, since org-level controls are described under the Business plan.

A practical starting workflow

1. Download Zed for macOS, Linux, or Windows and start with the Personal plan, using your own API keys or external agents such as Claude Agent or Codex CLI.
2. Run agents in parallel to edit files, navigate code, and run tools while keeping the editor's speed.
3. Collaborate by chatting with teammates, coding together, and sharing your screen and project.
4. Move to Pro for unlimited edit predictions with included tokens, or to Business when org-level AI model policies are needed.

Check before committing

• Amounts are shown with a $ sign but no named currency on the pricing page, so they are recorded as observations, not as currency-named facts.
• Pro's $5 token inclusion is a starting allowance; usage beyond $5 is billed on a usage basis, so heavy AI use costs more than the headline monthly rate.
• The FAQ notes there is currently no convenient way to log out of GitHub inside Zed; the documented route is deleting the Zed entry from the login keychain and restarting.

Common questions

Compare approaches for this task

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• Zest — Engineering teams that want visibility into AI coding usage, since Zest tracks which agents, models, and skills run in Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Copilot and which sessions end in merged pull requests.; Teams that want per-workspace pricing with a free start, since the Starter plan is free for 3 seats with no credit card.