OpenCode vs Zed: what developers actually say
Based on 1,237 opinions on Hacker News from developers who discussed these two, most of them first-hand users.
OpenCode leads on volume with 780 opinions from 569 authors and on cost, where cost/pricing mentions run 113 positive to 24 negative. Its approval of 66 is above Zed's 59, though over the last 90 days it slips to 55 against Zed's 57. Reliability is OpenCode's weak point at 39 positive and 83 negative mentions, while Zed's speed stands out at 62 positive and 16 negative. The one explicit head-to-head went to Zed, so pick Zed when agent results and editing speed matter more than price and customization.
When developers explicitly said they prefer one or switched: 0 picked OpenCode, 1 picked Zed.
Choose OpenCode if
- Want lower cost and roomy usage limits
- Need deep customization and open-source control
- Accept reliability risk for wide model support
Choose Zed if
- Want an editor and agent in one tool
- Value speed over configuration depth
- Want the tool that won the only direct comparison
Where each one wins and loses
Why developers switched
Picked OpenCode
No explicit switches recorded.
Picked Zed
Summaries are paraphrased. Each links to the original comment.