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Pulsar Editor VS Zed

Compare Pulsar Editor VS Zed and see what are their differences

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Pulsar Editor logo Pulsar Editor

A Community-led Hyper-Hackable Text Editor, built on Electron. and based on everything we love about our favorite editors.

Zed logo Zed

Zed is a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter.
  • Pulsar Editor Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-05
  • Zed Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-06-20

Pulsar Editor features and specs

  • Open Source
    Pulsar Editor is open source, allowing developers to contribute, modify, and customize the editor according to their needs.
  • Extensible
    The editor supports a wide range of plugins and packages, enabling users to extend its functionality to suit various development workflows.
  • Cross-Platform
    Pulsar Editor runs on major operating systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing a consistent experience across different platforms.
  • Community Support
    Pulsar Editor has a growing community that can help with troubleshooting, plugins, and development advice.
  • Familiar Interface
    It offers an interface that is intuitive for users familiar with Atom, making it easy to transition for existing Atom users.

Possible disadvantages of Pulsar Editor

  • Performance Issues
    As an Atom fork, it may still inherit potential performance issues, particularly when handling very large files or projects.
  • Limited Ecosystem
    Compared to more established editors like VS Code, the ecosystem for extensions and plugins might be smaller.
  • Early Development
    Being a relatively new project, it may have fewer features and a less mature development environment.
  • Fewer Integrations
    May offer fewer integrations with third-party tools and services compared to more widely used editors.
  • Resource Heavy
    It may consume more system resources than some lightweight editors, which can be a concern for users with limited resources.

Zed features and specs

  • Collaborative Editing
    Zed offers real-time collaborative editing features, allowing multiple developers to work on the same codebase simultaneously, enhancing team productivity and communication.
  • Minimalist Interface
    The interface is designed to be distraction-free and minimalist, which helps developers focus on coding without unnecessary clutter and distractions.
  • Speed and Performance
    Zed is built with performance in mind, offering fast loading times and a smooth user experience, making coding more efficient.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Zed is available on multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, making it accessible to a wide array of users regardless of their operating system.
  • Innovative Features
    Zed includes several innovative features such as advanced search and navigation capabilities, which can significantly enhance the coding experience.

Possible disadvantages of Zed

  • Limited Extensions
    Compared to more established editors like VS Code, Zed currently has a more limited library of extensions and plugins, which might restrict customization and functionality.
  • Learning Curve
    New users coming from other development environments may face a learning curve due to Zed's unique interface and features.
  • Early Development
    As a relatively new tool, Zed may still be in its early stages of development, with potential bugs and missing features that could affect stability and user experience.
  • Community Size
    The community and user base for Zed is still growing, which can mean less community support, tutorials, and shared resources compared to more mature editors.

Analysis of Zed

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Zed is considered a good code editor by many developers.

Why this product is good

  • Zed offers a modern and efficient code editing experience with features such as real-time collaboration, a clean interface, and high performance. It is built to be fast and responsive, making it suitable for developers who value speed in their editing tools.

Recommended for

    Developers looking for a collaborative and fast code editor with a modern interface would benefit from using Zed. It is especially suited for teams that require real-time collaboration capabilities.

Pulsar Editor videos

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Zed videos

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Zed “kills” VSCode

More videos:

  • Review - Zed - The 'Visual Studio Code Killer' - Now on Linux!

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Pulsar Editor and Zed)

Pulsar Editor

Zed

Text Editors
34 34%
Text Editors
66% 66
IDE
100 100%
IDE
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
Developer Tools
100% 100
Software Development
37 37%
Software Development
63% 63

User comments

Share your experience with using Pulsar Editor and Zed. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Zed should be more popular than Pulsar Editor. It has been mentiond 68 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Pulsar Editor mentions (10)

  • I still like Sublime Text in 2025
    Nobody mentionned Pulsar (https://pulsar-edit.dev/) which is the community maintained Atom since its sunsetting (Dec 2022). Atom was created by Nathan Sobo, who is now working on Zed (https://zed.dev/). - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Zed on Linux Is Here
    The Atom editor is being maintained as a fork: Pulsar https://pulsar-edit.dev Zed is co-founded by one (or more?) original developer of Atom. So, it's a successor in a sense that it is a new project by the same author. Atom was developed at GitHub, and GitHub Inc remains the owner of the original Atom project. From their perspective the successor of Atom is VSCode - developed by their parent company, - despite the... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Show HN: Open-source alternatives to tools You pay for
    You may be thinking of Pulsar ()? - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Help: Atom Alternatives/Copy-Pasting Scripts
    Pulsar has a TTS package, for those who were very comfortable in Atom. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Libre-friendly IDEs?
    In addition to the already mentioned Emacs, I would check Pulsar, the Atom successor. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

Zed mentions (68)

  • Zed for Laravel - Complete Editor Setup in One Command
    Setting up a code editor for Laravel development can be time-consuming. After switching to Zed - the lightning-fast editor from Atom's creators - I spent weeks configuring it perfectly for Laravel. - Source: dev.to / about 20 hours ago
  • KDE is now my favorite desktop
    One thing I'm happy with in KDE is that the menu is still a thing. At least there is an option in many apps, such as the file manager, Dolphin to show the menu. Unlike Gnome which is very inconsistent about hamburger menus and open buttons, KDE just sticks to the old-fashioned menu bar. In this it is like MacOS, (although if you don't use a Mac you mightn't be aware of the universality of the main menu, because... - Source: Hacker News / 16 days ago
  • The Helix Text Editor
    You are looking for https://zed.dev. - Source: Hacker News / 26 days ago
  • Stop Treating Your Blade Files Like Trash Bins. Give Them Contracts And Structure
    This step does not require any code setup but requires installing plugin/extension in your IDE. I use VS Code for Laravel development. I found an excellent extension PHP Tools by DevSense for VS Code which I used to use in Visual Studio when working with .Net framework. This extension is available for Cursor, Zed ,Visual Studio and VS Code. But if you are using a different editor you need to find similar extension. - Source: dev.to / 24 days ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (September 2025)
    Zed is a company for developers, by developers. All 3 of our founders have spent years in the trenches writing software and still do it almost every single day. We know the only way to build the world's best code editor is by equipping every single member of the team to do the best work of their career. We've raised $42M to support our ultimate vision, a new way to collaborate on software, where conversations... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Pulsar Editor and Zed, you can also consider the following products

VSCodium - Binary releases of Visual Sudio Code without Microsoft branding, telemetry and licensing

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

Notepad++ - A free source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment.

Sublime Text - Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, html and prose - any kind of text file. You'll love the slick user interface and extraordinary features. Fully customizable with macros, and syntax highlighting for most major languages.

Vim - Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing

Eclipse Theia - Extensible cloud & desktop platform for building multi-language IDEs with web technology.

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