Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Zed VS Visual Studio IntelliCode

Compare Zed VS Visual Studio IntelliCode 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.

Visual Studio IntelliCode logo Visual Studio IntelliCode

Visual Studio IntelliCode is an experimental set of AI-assisted development capabilities for next-generation developer productivity.
  • Zed Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-06-20
  • Visual Studio IntelliCode Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-23

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.

Visual Studio IntelliCode features and specs

  • Intelligent Code Recommendations
    IntelliCode uses machine learning models trained on open-source GitHub projects to provide contextual code recommendations, helping developers write better code faster.
  • Custom Models for Teams
    Teams can train their own models based on their codebase, enhancing the relevance of IntelliCode's suggestions and ensuring they conform to the team's coding standards and practices.
  • Improved Code Quality
    By suggesting best practices and common code patterns, IntelliCode aids in maintaining high code quality and consistency across projects.
  • Supports Multiple Languages
    IntelliCode supports a wide range of programming languages, including Python, Java, JavaScript, and more, making it versatile for different types of projects.
  • Code Completion and Refactoring Assistance
    It provides intelligent code completions and helps with code refactoring tasks, making the development process more efficient and less error-prone.

Possible disadvantages of Visual Studio IntelliCode

  • Limited Training Data
    The effectiveness of IntelliCode's suggestions depends on the quality and breadth of the training data. For very unique or proprietary codebases, the recommendations may not be as relevant.
  • Dependency on Visual Studio
    IntelliCode is integrated with Visual Studio, so developers using other IDEs might not be able to benefit from its features unless they switch to Visual Studio.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running IntelliCode, especially with custom models, can be resource-intensive, potentially impacting the performance of the development environment.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Using custom models might raise privacy concerns as code from the teamโ€™s repository could be used to train the AI, potentially exposing sensitive information.
  • Learning Curve
    There might be a slight learning curve for new users to understand and effectively use the recommendations provided by IntelliCode.

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.

Analysis of Visual Studio IntelliCode

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Visual Studio IntelliCode is generally considered a valuable tool for developers. Its AI-driven suggestions help streamline the coding process, reduce repetitive tasks, and improve code quality. It is praised for its ability to learn from both individual code patterns and open-source projects, providing users with a comprehensive and personalized coding assistant.

Why this product is good

  • Visual Studio IntelliCode leverages AI to enhance the developer experience by providing intelligent suggestions for code completion, style, and refactoring. It is designed to save time and increase productivity by understanding the context of your code, offering more relevant suggestions compared to traditional autocomplete features. Additionally, IntelliCode supports a variety of programming languages and frameworks, making it versatile for different development needs.

Recommended for

    Visual Studio IntelliCode is recommended for developers who are looking to increase their coding efficiency and accuracy. It is particularly beneficial for those working in collaborative environments, as it aids in maintaining consistent code quality across teams. Developers using Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code will find IntelliCode easy to integrate into their existing workflow.

Zed videos

Zed โ€œkillsโ€ VSCode

More videos:

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

Visual Studio IntelliCode videos

Visual Studio IntelliCode

More videos:

  • Review - Visual Studio IntelliCode -- AI meets IntelliSense!

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Zed and Visual Studio IntelliCode)
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
AI
0 0%
100% 100
Developer Tools
56 56%
44% 44
Productivity
60 60%
40% 40

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 Visual Studio IntelliCode

Zed Reviews

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Visual Studio IntelliCode Reviews

Top 10 Vercel v0 Open Source Alternatives | Medium
While not entirely open-source, Microsoftโ€™s IntelliCode deserves a mention on this list due to its powerful AI-assisted coding capabilities and integration with popular development tools. IntelliCode uses machine learning to provide intelligent code completions and suggestions.
Source: medium.com
10 Best Github Copilot Alternatives in 2024
Some of the best free GitHub Copilot alternatives are Kite, Codeium, and IntelliCode. These tools offer AI-powered code completions without costing you anything. They help you write code faster and are great options if youโ€™re looking for a Copilot alternative free of charge.
6 GitHub Copilot Alternatives You Should Know
Visual Studio IntelliCode is an extension for Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code that provides AI-assisted code completions and recommendations. IntelliCode is based on the previous generation of machine learning techniques, so it provides a more basic level of code completion compared to other tools. One of its key features is the ability to learn patterns from the...
Source: swimm.io
Top 10 GitHub Copilot Alternatives
A Microsoft tool exclusively accessible through Visual Studio, IntelliCode is an experimental AI coding assistance trained on a sample of GitHub projects. Your completion list is prioritized by IntelliCode so that the items youโ€™re most likely to utilize are at the front.
Source: hashdork.com
Top 9 GitHub Copilot alternatives to try in 2022 (free and paid)
IntelliCode is an experimental AI coding assistant trained on a subset of GitHub projects, a Microsoft product available for Visual Studio only. One of the more attractive features of IntelliCode is team completion. Team completion may prove beneficial for organizations with a Microsoft-based architecture and developers accustomed to Visual Studio in an age of remote...
Source: www.tabnine.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Zed should be more popular than Visual Studio IntelliCode. 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 22 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

Visual Studio IntelliCode mentions (12)

  • Cloudlflare builds OAuth with Claude and publishes all the prompts
    I use https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/services/intellicode/ for my IDE which learns on your codebase, so it does end up saving me a ton of time after its learned my patterns and starts suggesting entire classes hooked up to the correct properties in my EF models. It lets me still have my own style preferences with the benefit of AI code generation. Bridged the barrier I had with code coming from... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • ๐ŸŽˆ5 AI Coding Tools That Will Change the Way You Develop Forever๐ŸŽ‡(You Won't Believe #3!)
    IntelliCode is Microsoftโ€™s own AI-powered code completion tool, and it integrates seamlessly with Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code. With IntelliCode, developers get context-aware suggestions based on a vast number of GitHub repositories, allowing them to write more efficient and error-free code. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Beware the Mid-Career Crisis for Programmers: The Four Major Causes
    Visual Studio IntelliCode is an intelligent code editor that offers efficient and personalized code completion suggestions based on context and your coding habits, making coding smoother. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • 6 AI tool that you should use as a developer
    IntelliCode is a machine learning-powered intelligent code assistant that significantly boosts developer productivity. IntelliCode suggests context-aware code completions by analyzing millions of lines of code from various open-source projects, making coding faster and more efficient. Its advanced algorithms recognize coding patterns and make intelligent suggestions, saving developers time and reducing errors.... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Rider: Refact vs CoPilot
    OP is referring to IntelliCode. It's a step beyond IntelliSense, but I agree with other posts here: you should be really sure you're not leaking business code this way or implement code from sources you didn't approve yourself. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Zed and Visual Studio IntelliCode, you can also consider the following products

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

GitHub Copilot - Your AI pair programmer. With GitHub Copilot, get suggestions for whole lines or entire functions right inside your editor.

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.

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