JetBrains abandons Fleet as Zed outperforms VS Code in performance

JetBrains abandons the Fleet experiment

JetBrains stopped offering Fleet for download on December 22, 2025. The company decided that running two general-purpose IDE families created confusion and diluted its focus. Fleet did not replace IntelliJ IDEA or provide a clear niche to compete with VS Code. It was a worthwhile experiment. The product identity failed to evolve. JetBrains now builds Air, an agentic development environment using the Fleet platform. This tool targets workflows where developers guide agents and review output rather than writing every line of code.

JetBrains prioritizes agentic workflows.

Air targets a niche where developers delegate tasks like updating tests or refactoring modules to agents. These tasks run asynchronously and return full patches for the developer to review. This approach differs from the classic IDE workflow which relies on immediate feedback and synchronous control. Air remains in public preview and requires an Anthropic subscription for use. Future updates will bring support for Windows and Linux.

Zed outperforms VS Code in performance

Zed outperforms VS Code in performance. A May 2026 benchmark shows Zed v1.2.6 cold-starts in 0.12 seconds. VS Code takes 1.2 seconds for the same operation. Zed uses 222 MB of RAM, while VS Code consumes 3,549 MB. This 16x difference matters for developers running heavy local containers. Input latency in Zed stays at 2ms, but VS Code hits 12ms. Zed uses a custom GPU-accelerated rendering framework called GPUI, which uses Metal on macOS and DirectX on Windows. This allows for 120 frames per second in remote mode.

Speed ruins everything.

You should watch the extension gap. VS Code maintains a marketplace of over 100,000 plugins. Zed uses a WebAssembly-based extension model that grows. While VS Code uses Electron and Chromium to render code, Zed talks directly to the GPU. This architecture means VS Code spawns 23 processes for a single folder, while Zed uses only 5. Large file handling also favors Zed. Zed handles a 100,000-line file in 0.15 seconds. VS Code takes 1.19 seconds and often stutters during scrolling. Zed opens large codebases in 0.25 to 0.6 seconds, while VS Code takes between 1.3 and 3.8 seconds.

AI tools change the remote workflow

Remote development remains a priority for teams. Zed allows users to edit code on a remote server while running the UI locally via SSH. Users connect via the Remote Projects dialog or the command line. Language servers and terminals run on the remote host to keep the interface responsive. Amazon Q also provides inline chat support for both VS Code and JetBrains IDEs. This feature uses Claude 3.5 Sonnet to help developers optimize code or add comments directly in the editor. Claude 3.5 Sonnet holds a top rank, outperforming OpenAI’s o1 model in SWE-bench tests. Amazon Q is available in the free tier of Q Developer, and the Pro tier costs $19 per user per month. This allows developers to see differences in added or deleted code without manual copying.

While Zed provides native SSH and WSL support, VS Code relies on extensions to manage remote sessions and handle the complexities of connecting to different environments across many different and truly extremely diverse and complex operating systems.

AI adoption stays high. A JetBrains survey from January 2026 found that 90% of developers regularly use at least one AI tool at work. Of those, 74% have adopted a specialized AI tool rather than a general-purpose LLM. Claude Code adoption also grew, with work adoption rising to 18% globally.

The industry moves toward agents.

Will Air gain enough users to replace the lost Fleet community? I conclude that Zed is the better choice for performance-driven developers.