Zed is an open-source code editor written in Rust, built for speed and for real-time collaboration where several people edit the same project at once. It runs natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Zed collects anonymous telemetry, which is enabled by default and can be switched off in its settings.
Reviewed by Marco Wollank
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Threat level
Covered
A covered pick. Anyone can use it as a private drop-in, with no setup or know-how. Enough for most people. Threat levels
Our take
Zed is the pick when raw speed is what you are after, since its Rust core makes it noticeably quicker than the editor most developers are leaving, and the multiplayer editing is genuinely useful for pairing. The honest catch is the telemetry: it ships on by default, so privacy is something you opt into rather than the starting point, and you must disable it in settings first. Its ecosystem is also younger than VS Code’s, so the long tail of plugins is thinner. Choose Zed if you value performance and collaboration and will flip the telemetry off on day one. Skip it if you want zero data collection out of the box or depend on a mature extension catalogue.
Website at a glance
zed.dev
B+ score 80
Solid website security headers
Graded by Mozilla HTTP Observatory, tested today
Inspect this site yourself
Measures the security configuration of the tool's own website, not the privacy of the product itself. A strong tool can still score low here.
Zed alternatives
VSCodium A community build of VS Code's open-source core with Microsoft's telemetry and branding removed, under the MIT license. Uses the Open VSX extension registry.
Neovim A hyperextensible, fully open-source modal editor that runs in the terminal and collects no telemetry. Configured in Lua, with a built-in language-server client.
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