Zed

Our verdict: a fully open-source, GPU-fast code editor with signed builds and optional, anonymous telemetry — a transparent default for developers, provided you accept that hosted AI features are paid and no third-party audit has been published.

Zed is an open-source code editor built in Rust by Zed Industries. It uses a custom GPU-accelerated rendering framework for very low input latency, and pairs first-class LSP language support, Tree-sitter syntax handling, native Git integration, a built-in DAP debugger, and real-time multiplayer collaboration in a single native application for macOS, Linux, and Windows.

The full source is public on GitHub under GPL-3.0-or-later (with some components under Apache-2.0 and the collaboration server historically under AGPL-3.0), and official macOS builds are code-signed and notarized. You can edit locally with no account, and client-side telemetry is optional and anonymous when signed out. The main trade-offs: a Zed account is required for collaboration and hosted AI, those hosted AI plans are paid and send data to model providers, and no independent third-party security audit has been published as of our review.