Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Zed VS GitHub Copilot

Compare Zed VS GitHub Copilot and see what are their differences

Zed logo Zed

Zed is a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter.

GitHub Copilot logo GitHub Copilot

Your AI pair programmer. With GitHub Copilot, get suggestions for whole lines or entire functions right inside your editor.
  • Zed Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-06-20
  • GitHub Copilot Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-03

Trained on billions of lines of public code, GitHub Copilot puts the knowledge you need at your fingertips, saving you time and helping you stay focused.

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.

GitHub Copilot features and specs

  • Productivity Boost
    GitHub Copilot helps developers write code faster by providing intelligent suggestions and automating repetitive tasks. This can save significant time and reduce the cognitive load on developers.
  • Learning Tool
    For less experienced developers, Copilot can serve as a learning tool by suggesting best practices and introducing them to new coding patterns and techniques.
  • Support for Multiple Languages
    Copilot supports a wide range of programming languages, making it a versatile tool for developers working in different tech stacks.
  • Context-Aware Suggestions
    Copilot offers context-aware suggestions based on the code that has been written so far, making its recommendations relevant to the current development task.
  • Integration with GitHub
    Seamless integration with GitHub simplifies the development workflow, enabling smoother transitions from coding to version control and collaboration.

Possible disadvantages of GitHub Copilot

  • Code Quality Concerns
    The quality of the code generated by Copilot may vary, and it might introduce suboptimal code or practices that could lead to maintenance challenges.
  • Security Risks
    Copilot might suggest insecure code patterns or snippets, potentially introducing vulnerabilities into the project if not carefully reviewed by the developer.
  • Dependence on AI
    Over-reliance on Copilot's suggestions can lead to a lack of deep understanding of the code, which may hinder a developer's growth and problem-solving skills.
  • Licensing and Code Reuse Issues
    There are concerns about the legality and ethics of using AI-generated code snippets that might be derived from copyrighted sources, which can lead to licensing issues.
  • Limited Customizability
    Copilot may not always align with specific coding standards or preferences of a development team, and the ability to customize its behavior to enforce such standards is limited.

Zed videos

Zed “kills” VSCode

More videos:

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

GitHub Copilot videos

Game over… GitHub Copilot X announced

More videos:

  • Review - The New GitHub Copilot X Powered by GPT-4 is Here!
  • Review - GitHub Copilot X -- AI Programming Gets Better... and Scary.
  • Review - GitHub Copilot Review 2023: I Love It, But It's Not For Everyone
  • Review - Is Github Copilot Worth Paying For??

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Zed and GitHub Copilot)
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
8 8%
92% 92
Productivity
100 100%
0% 0
AI
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Zed and GitHub Copilot

Zed Reviews

We have no reviews of Zed yet.
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GitHub Copilot Reviews

  1. Stan
    · Founder at SaaSHub ·
    Indispensable

    It definitely increases my productivity.

    🏁 Competitors: Tabnine

Cursor vs Windsurf vs GitHub Copilot
GitHub Copilot Chat is similar — you can ask it to explain code or suggest improvements. It's integrated right into VS Code, so it feels pretty seamless. They've been rolling out some new features lately, like better chat history, drag and & folders and ways to attach more context. But if you're already using Cursor, you might not find anything groundbreaking here.
Source: www.builder.io
Cursor vs GitHub Copilot
GitHub Copilot Chat is similar — you can ask it to explain code or suggest improvements. It's integrated right into VS Code, so it feels pretty seamless. They've been rolling out some new features lately, like better chat history, drag and & folders and ways to attach more context. But if you're already using Cursor, you might not find anything groundbreaking here.
Source: www.builder.io
Top 10 Vercel v0 Open Source Alternatives | Medium
Next up, we have GitHub Copilot, a popular AI-powered code completion tool that’s been making waves in the developer community. Built on top of OpenAI Codex, Copilot integrates seamlessly with various code editors and IDEs to provide intelligent code suggestions as you type.
Source: medium.com
10 Best Github Copilot Alternatives in 2024
GitHub Copilot is an excellent tool for developers, allowing them to boost their workflow and project quality. Are you looking for a GitHub Copilot alternative that fits your needs in 2024? Whether you’re searching for a free GitHub Copilot alternative, an open-source alternative to GitHub Copilot, or a tool that works well with VSCode, this guide is here to help.
The Best GitHub Copilot Alternatives for Developers
Moreover, GitHub Copilot provides a wide range of functionalities, such as code explanation, answering coding questions, refactoring code, and generation of unit tests and docs. With it, developers can automate coding tasks, improve productivity and focus more on complex coding. GitHub Copilot supports various programming languages, including JavaScript, Python, Ruby, Go,...
Source: softteco.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GitHub Copilot should be more popular than Zed. It has been mentiond 287 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.

Zed mentions (55)

  • Void: Open-Source Cursor Alternative
    > and there is no open source full IDE alternative (besides Void). And Zed: https://zed.dev Yesterday on the front page of HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43912844. - Source: Hacker News / about 7 hours ago
  • What's Happening in Developer Tools? (OpenAI Just Bought Windsurf for $3B)
    There are other AI agents and text editors out there, including Replit, Zed, and many others, but if you say AI text editor at the moment, most people will think of Cursor/Windsurf/VSCode. - Source: dev.to / 1 day ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (May 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. 1. AI Rust Engineer - https://zed.dev/jobs/ai-engineer. - Source: Hacker News / 7 days ago
  • OpenVSX, which VSCode forks rely on for extensions, down for 24 hours
    Have you compared helix to zed (https://zed.dev/)? I want something VSCode-ish, could never really get used to vim myself. But definitely don't want something built on Electron, it's too bloated. Zed and Helix are both built in Rust without Electron, which is already promising. - Source: Hacker News / 14 days ago
  • I Use Kate Editor
    TIL about Kate editor, but after 30 years of just using vi in a terminal (Unix, Mac, even Windows in cmd.exe) I switched to Zed editor (https://zed.dev). I had tried other editors in the past, but quickly fell back to vi/vim after a few hours or days, for various reasons. Been using Zed for a couple of months now and no plans to go back. It also uses LSPs, but whenever I connect to some (Linux) dev host from Zed... - Source: Hacker News / 18 days ago
View more

GitHub Copilot mentions (287)

  • What's Happening in Developer Tools? (OpenAI Just Bought Windsurf for $3B)
    Microsoft's Visual Studio Code is a free code editor that relies on community plugins for support across various languages and frameworks. It also has an AI offering, Copilot, that provides code completion and it just added its own agent. VSCode supports multiple LLMs, but initially, there seemed to be a preference for ChatGPT, in part given its early lead and no doubt influenced by the fact Microsoft was an early... - Source: dev.to / 1 day ago
  • Inline AI Suggestions in NeoVim: GitHub Copilot vs Windsurf (Codeium) — A Technical Comparative Analysis
    GitHub Copilot Official Site — Overview of Copilot’s capabilities, pricing, and integrations from GitHub. - Source: dev.to / 2 days ago
  • Reference Architecture for AI Developer Productivity
    There are a growing number of IDE plugins that provide chat capabilities including GitHub Copilot, Continue.dev, and Roo Code. There are even already some dedicated AI IDEs such as Cursor. - Source: dev.to / 2 days ago
  • Most Effective Approaches for Debugging Applications
    Artificial intelligence is transforming debugging by accelerating bug detection and suggesting fixes. Bill Mann, Privacy Expert at Cyber Insider, recounts, “I enlisted an LLM to help me, and within a few minutes, found the offending code and sorted out a workaround.” Tools like GitHub Copilot, DeepCode, or CodeQL analyze code patterns, identifying issues faster than manual reviews. A 2024 Gartner report predicts... - Source: dev.to / 11 days ago
  • Top 10 Vibe Coding AI Tools Every Developer Needs in 2025
    GitHub Copilot uses OpenAI to provide autocomplete suggestions, generate entire code blocks, and even write tests based on comments. It supports a wide range of languages and integrates seamlessly with VS Code. - Source: dev.to / 22 days ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Zed and GitHub Copilot, you can also consider the following products

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

Codeium - Free AI-powered code completion for *everyone*, *everywhere*

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

Tabnine - TabNine is the all-language autocompleter. We use deep learning to help you write code faster.

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.

Visual Studio IntelliCode - Visual Studio IntelliCode is an experimental set of AI-assisted development capabilities for next-generation developer productivity.