Zed is a native, open-source code editor from Zed Industries, written from scratch in Rust to use multiple CPU cores and your GPU. Its agent panel runs hosted or bring-your-own models, and through the Agent Client Protocol (ACP) it can host external agents such as Claude Agent and Codex CLI inside the editor.
AI pricing is light: the Personal plan is free with your own keys, and Pro is $10 a month with $5 of tokens included. The latest stable release is 1.28.1 from November 11, 2026.
Who it’s for
Developers who want a fast, lightweight editor and the freedom to use any agent or model, including Claude Code or Codex on the subscriptions they already have. The Business plan is aimed at teams rolling Zed out across an organisation.
What stands out
- Speed. A native Rust editor rather than a fork of VS Code.
- Host any agent. ACP runs Claude, Codex, OpenCode, Copilot, Gemini CLI and others in Zed’s panel, at no charge from Zed.
- Your own keys or local models. Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Mistral, DeepSeek, xAI, OpenRouter, Ollama, LM Studio and any compatible endpoint.
- Edit predictions. Powered by Zeta2, Zed’s open-weight model, unlimited on Pro.
- Built-in collaboration. Shared projects, chat and screen sharing.
Drawbacks and things to watch
- Checkpoints removed. Since 1.27.0 you undo agent edits by rejecting them or with Git.
- Business is early. SSO, SAML, SCIM and SOC 2 aren’t available yet.
- Older Macs dropped. macOS 12 or later is now required.
- Smaller extension ecosystem. It can’t run VS Code extensions, so check the languages and tools you rely on.
Privacy and security
Zed says it doesn’t retain your prompts or code context by default, and its hosted models have zero data retention agreements, except some Anthropic models whose prompts are kept for at least 30 days. Data is only kept if you share feedback or opt in. On Business, prompt sharing and edit-prediction training are off for the whole organisation.
Getting started
On macOS, run brew install --cask zed; on Windows, winget install -e --id ZedIndustries.Zed; on Linux, curl -f https://zed.dev/install.sh | sh. Open the agent panel to sign in, add a key, or connect an external agent.
Plans and prices
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Personal | $0 | Free forever. Bring your own keys and external agents. |
| Pro | $10/mo | Unlimited edit predictions, $5 of tokens included, then API list price plus 10%. 14-day free trial, no card. |
| Business | $30/seat/mo | Org-wide model policies and data governance. No SSO, SCIM or SOC 2 yet. |
Zed FAQ
Is Zed free?
Yes. The Personal plan is free forever and lets you use your own API keys or external agents such as Claude and Codex. Pro is $10 a month for hosted models, with a 14-day trial that needs no card.
Can I run Claude Code or Codex inside Zed?
Yes. Through the Agent Client Protocol (ACP), Zed hosts external agents including Claude, Codex, OpenCode, Copilot, Gemini CLI and others inside the editor, and doesn't charge for them.
Does Zed store my code or prompts?
Zed says it doesn't retain your prompts or code context by default, and its provider agreements prohibit training on your data. The exception is that Anthropic keeps some models' prompts and outputs for at least 30 days. Requests made with your own key go straight to the provider.
Which platforms does Zed run on?
macOS 12 or later, Windows 10 and 11 (x64 and Arm64), and Linux with Vulkan 1.3. There's no web version.
What happened to agent checkpoints in Zed?
They were removed in version 1.27.0 on November 4, 2026. To undo an agent's edits, reject them in review or use Git.
Latest changes
Sources
- Zed pricing
- Zed AI models
- Zed stable releases
- Zed docs: installation
- Zed docs: external agents
- Zed docs: AI privacy and security
- Zed for business
Facts last checked November 14, 2026.