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Zed VS OpenAI Codex CLI

Compare Zed VS OpenAI Codex CLI 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.

OpenAI Codex CLI logo OpenAI Codex CLI

Frontier reasoning in the terminal
  • Zed Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-06-20
Not present

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.

OpenAI Codex CLI features and specs

  • Efficiency
    Codex CLI allows developers to generate code snippets quickly, improving productivity and reducing the time spent on manual coding tasks.
  • Ease of Use
    With natural language processing capabilities, Codex CLI allows users to interact with the tool using simple commands, making it accessible even for those with limited programming knowledge.
  • Integration
    Codex CLI can be integrated into various development environments, allowing seamless transition between AI-assisted coding and traditional coding workflows.
  • Iterative Feedback
    The CLI provides immediate feedback on code input, which helps developers quickly understand and iterate on their implementations.
  • Versatility
    Codex CLI supports a wide range of programming languages and paradigms, making it useful in diverse coding scenarios.

Possible disadvantages of OpenAI Codex CLI

  • Accuracy Limitations
    The generated code may not always be perfectly accurate or optimized, requiring manual review and adjustments by experienced developers.
  • Dependency on Internet
    Since Codex CLI relies on online resources to function, its usability can be affected by internet connectivity issues.
  • Learning Curve
    While designed for simplicity, there is still a learning curve associated with understanding the limitations and best use cases for Codex CLI.
  • Ethical Concerns
    Relying on AI for code generation could raise concerns about the originality of code, intellectual property rights, and potential biases in the training data.
  • Cost
    Depending on OpenAI's pricing model, using Codex CLI might involve costs that can accumulate, especially for large-scale or long-term projects.

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.

Zed videos

Zed โ€œkillsโ€ VSCode

More videos:

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

OpenAI Codex CLI videos

OpenAI Codex CLI

More videos:

  • Review - My Honest Review of OpenAI Codex CLI - Is It Worth It?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Zed and OpenAI Codex CLI)
Text Editors
84 84%
16% 16
Developer Tools
75 75%
25% 25
AI
0 0%
100% 100
Productivity
83 83%
17% 17

User comments

Share your experience with using Zed and OpenAI Codex CLI. 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 OpenAI Codex CLI. 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.

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 18 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
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OpenAI Codex CLI mentions (15)

  • Building a Rust API with Claude Sonnet 4.5
    Sonnet has proven itself to be very powerful and capable of handling complex tasks, but lately the community were claiming that Claude is slowly getting worse and it's not as good as it first was. This is especially after OpenAI released their leading coding model Codex model for their open source Codex CLI. - Source: dev.to / 3 days ago
  • No โ€œresumeโ€ in Codex CLI, so I built one: quickly โ€œcontinueโ€ with `codex-history-list`
    Codex CLI is an AI coding agent that runs in your terminal, but thereโ€™s still no official โ€œresumeโ€ feature. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Codex CLI: Running GPT-OSS and Local Coding Models with Ollama, LM Studio, and MLX
    This file allows you to configure providers and create profiles for different models. Some options arenโ€™t fully documented yet, but you can explore the Codex source code for details. You can also configure MCP servers here. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • GPT-5 for Developers
    You are looking for Codex CLI [0]. 0 - https://github.com/openai/codex. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • OpenAI Open Models
    Inference in Python uses harmony [1] (for request and response format) which is written in Rust with Python bindings. Another OpenAI's Rust libraries is tiktoken [2], used for all tokenization and detokenization. OpenAI Codex [3] is also written in Rust. It looks like OpenAI is increasingly adopting Rust (at least for inference). [1] https://github.com/openai/harmony [2] https://github.com/openai/tiktoken [3]... - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Zed and OpenAI Codex CLI, you can also consider the following products

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

Awesome ChatGPT Prompts - Game Genie for ChatGPT

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

DeepWiki by Congnition - Understand Any GitHub Repo with AI Wikis

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.

aider - aider is AI pair programming in your terminal