How to get started with Zed’s 2026 multiplayer code editor

High-performance architecture and speed

Zed provides a massive performance gain over Electron-based editors like VS Code. In May 2026, ToolChew measured Zed v1.2.6 cold starting in 0.12 seconds, whereas VS Code took 1.2 seconds. A clean install with no cache showed Zed opening in 0.40 seconds compared to 3.00 seconds for VS Code. This speed results from the Rust codebase and the custom GPUI framework. GPUI rasterizes the entire window on the GPU. Memory consumption also differs greatly. An August 2026 benchmark found Zed using 222 MB of RAM while VS Code used 3,549 MB. This 16x difference allows developers to run more containers and databases on 16 GB machines. Typing latency in Zed stays at 2ms, while VS Code stays at 12ms. In testing, Zed opens 100,000-line files 8x faster than VS Code. DevToolReviews measured Zed idling at 142 MB against VS Code’s 730 MB in February 2026. Because Zed uses a single Rust binary that talks directly to the GPU, it does not need to start a separate runtime or spin up an extension host. In July 2026, Ricardo Gil and DevToolReviews reconfirmed the 2ms versus 12ms split. The 1.0 milestone arrived in April 2026, providing native SSH, WSL, and dev-container remote development. CodeOxi measured Zed’s typing latency staying under 10ms even under heavy load, while VS Code’s latency climbed past 50ms in August 2026. Zed remains the best choice for developers who prioritize raw speed and minimal resource usage over a massive plugin library.

Multiplayer collaboration and AI

Teams utilize Zed for multiplayer editing through CRDTs and team channels. Users join a teammate’s project and edit code as if it lives on their own machine. They call teammates from the built-in contacts panel or follow their location in the code. Zed also includes a screen-sharing tool for observing documentation or app experiments. AI capabilities include support for GitHub Copilot and Anthropic’s Claude. Users can use Zed-hosted models or bring their own API keys from providers like Amazon Bedrock, Google AI, OpenAI, or Deepseek. This flexibility allows teams to use existing AI contracts without switching providers. The company, founded by Nathan Sobo, Antonio Scandurra, and Max Brunsfeld, raised a $10 million Series A led by Redpoint Ventures, which brings the total investment to $12.5 million and values the startup at $40 million. These creators previously worked on the Atom editor at GitHub. Individual developers use the Pro plan to access Zed-hosted AI models and unlimited edit predictions. The plan offers a 14-day free trial with $5 of GPT-5.6 Luna usage. For companies, the Business plan adds an admin layer with org-wide controls over AI features, data sharing policies, and unified billing. This tier has no minimum seat requirement and offers month-to-month options.

Platform support and ecosystem

Zed now supports Windows, although early users report issues with UTF-8 with BOM file encoding and diagnostics. The extension ecosystem relies on WebAssembly and contains around 800 plugins, a figure much smaller than the 100,000 extensions available in VS Code. You might find the lack of a dedicated workspace feature frustrating if you work with many large projects. In testing, Zed opens 100,000-line files 8x faster than VS Code. A developer on Reddit noted that the command palette feels less accessible because it requires a keyboard shortcut instead of staying visible at the top of the screen. The 2024 ROSS Index placed Zed Industries among the top 20 hottest open source startups, noting it gained 52,000 GitHub stars last year. Will the extension catalog ever match the scale of the industry leader?