Zed

Zed is a code editor written from scratch in Rust, rendered on the GPU, and engineered around latency. Files open the moment you click them, scrolling never tears, and keystrokes land with no perceptible delay — even in large projects.

Why it makes the list

Built by the people who made Atom, Zed is their answer to what a modern editor should feel like: as capable as a heavyweight IDE, as quick as a terminal. Multiplayer editing, an integrated terminal, tree-sitter syntax, and first-class language server support all ship in the box, and the whole thing is open source under the GPL.

Standout features

• GPU rendering that holds 120fps on ProMotion displays

• Real-time collaboration with shared projects, cursors, and voice channels

• AI assistant and edit prediction with bring-your-own-key support

• Native git: inline blame, a diff view, and staged-hunk commits

• Integrated debugger and terminal, no extension required

• Vim mode that is actually good, plus a fast command palette

Pricing

Free and open source. Optional paid plans cover hosted AI usage and team collaboration features, but the editor itself has no paywall.