Cursor vs Zed
Cursor has the best AI features but is a VS Code fork. Zed is blazingly fast (written in Rust) and open source with growing AI capabilities.
Feature Comparison
Cursor
39/60
65%
3W-0T-3L
Zed
45/60
75%
AI Features
10:6
Editor Speed
6:10
Open Source
2:10
Collaboration
4:9
Extension Ecosystem
9:5
Platform Support
8:5
Click any criterion to see details
Verdict
It depends on your use case.
Choose Cursor for the best AI coding experience today. Choose Zed if you value speed, open source, and collaboration, and are willing to trade AI features for editor performance.
Quick Specs
| Feature | Cursor | Zed |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $0 — $40/mo/user | $0 — $0 |
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Open Source | No | Yes |
| Platforms | desktop | desktop |
| IDE Support | Cursor | Zed |
| LLMs | Claude 3.5 Sonnet, GPT-4o, Claude 3 Opus, cursor-small | Claude, GPT-4, Ollama (local) |
| Rating | 4.8/5 | 4.3/5 |
FAQ
Is Zed faster than Cursor?
Yes, significantly. Zed is written in Rust and is 2-5x faster than Cursor/VS Code in operations like file opening, text rendering, and search.
Will Zed catch up to Cursor on AI?
Zed's AI features are improving rapidly, and their open architecture allows using any LLM. However, Cursor has a significant head start and dedicated AI team.