Zed / Alternatives
Alternatives · Nov 2025 – Nov 2026
Best Zed alternatives, according to developers who switched
First come the tools that developers on Hacker News explicitly said they prefer over Zed. After that, the best-rated editor tools.
| # | Alternative | Type | Approval | Picked over Zed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cursor | AI IDE | 55% | 7 | Compare |
| 2 | Claude Code | Terminal agent | 54% | 2 | Compare |
| 3 | Pi | Terminal agent | 84% | – | Compare |
| 4 | Amp | Terminal agent | 90% | – | |
| 5 | OpenAI Codex | Terminal agent | 69% | – | Compare |
| 6 | OpenCode | Terminal agent | 66% | – | Compare |
| 7 | Crush | Terminal agent | 77% | – | |
| 8 | Roo Code | IDE extension | 79% | – | |
| 9 | Cline | IDE extension | 73% | – | Compare |
| 10 | JetBrains Junie | IDE agent | 60% | – | Compare |
Zed itself has 59% approval from 457 opinions. See what developers say about it →