Zed is a GPU-accelerated, Rust-built code editor with AI agent support built directly into the core product, made by Zed Industries, the company started by Nathan Sobo, one of the creators of Atom. Zed open-sourced its client and server code on January 24, 2024, under copyleft licenses, and has since layered in agentic editing, an open edit-prediction model, and an open protocol for connecting third-party coding agents.
Who builds it
- Built by Zed Industries, Inc., founded by Nathan Sobo (co-creator of Atom) and team.
- Source published at github.com/zed-industries/zed: the editor itself is licensed under GPL, server-side components under AGPL, and the GPUI UI framework under the more permissive Apache 2.0 license.
- The company has said it plans to keep any future proprietary, enterprise-only code a small fraction of what it open-sources.
Core features
- Agent mode: describe a task in natural language and let an agent handle file discovery, edits, and execution, with a unified diff view so changes can be reviewed and accepted or rejected before landing.
- Zeta: Zed's own open-weight, open-data edit-prediction model that predicts a developer's next edit at keystroke granularity, trained on real developer workflows.
- Agent Client Protocol (ACP): an open standard that lets external agents — including Claude Agent, Codex, and opencode — plug directly into Zed's interface.
- Three ways to supply models: Zed-hosted premium models (e.g. Claude Opus, GPT-5.4), local execution via Ollama so code never leaves the machine, or bring-your-own-key to an existing provider account.
- Built in Rust and rendered at up to 120fps, aimed at keeping the editor responsive even during rapid multi-file agentic edits.
Pricing
- Personal: free forever, includes 2,000 accepted edit predictions and unlimited use when supplying your own API keys or external agents.
- Pro: $10/month, unlimited edit predictions plus $5 of included tokens per month for Zed-hosted models, with usage-based billing for tokens beyond that allotment; a free trial with $20 of token credits is available.
- Business: $30 per seat per month, adding org-wide AI model policies, data governance controls, unified spend visibility, role-based access controls, and unlimited edit predictions; no minimum seat count, with order-form contracts available at 25+ seats.
Who it's for
Zed suits developers who want a genuinely fast, native editor rather than an Electron-based one, and who want to bring or mix their own AI agents rather than being locked into a single vendor's assistant via the open Agent Client Protocol. Its free Personal tier and low-cost Pro plan make it accessible to individual developers, while Business adds the governance and spend controls larger engineering organizations need to roll it out at scale.