
VS Code
Cursor
Sublime Text
Windsurf Editor
Notepad++
VSCodium
Claude Code
Zed is a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter.

Microsoft Visual Studio
IntelliJ IDEA
Android Studio
Sublime Text
VS Code
Eclipse
PyCharm
Xcode is Apple’s powerful integrated development environment for creating great apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Xcode 4 includes the Xcode IDE, instruments, iOS Simulator, and the latest Mac OS X and iOS SDKs.
Which is more popular?
Xcode might be a bit more popular than Zed. We know about 151 links to it since March 2021 and only 103 links to Zed.
Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Website | zed.dev | developer.apple.com |
| Pricing | — | |
| Company | — | Startup from the United States |
| Listed in |
What each product offers, as listed by its team.


Possible disadvantages
Possible disadvantages
An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.


Overall verdict
Why this product is good
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.
Overall verdict
Why this product is good
Recommended for
Walkthroughs and reviews on video.
Zed “kills” VSCode
More videos
Getting Started: An Overview of Xcode
More videos
How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.


Share your experience with using Zed and Xcode. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.


We have no reviews of Zed yet. Be the first one to post
While Xcode is primarily free, a subscription to the Apple Developer Program is required for iOS app development at $99 per year.
Occupying the sixth spot on my list is Xcode, Apple's flagship IDE. And yes, it's probably most well-known for macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS development, but Xcode is also an excellent choice for C++ developers...
Apple’s integrated development environment (IDE) for macOS is Xcode, which can be used to create software for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS. In addition, it provides Command Line Tools (CLT), which enable...
Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.


If you haven't heard of Zed, it's a free, open-source code editor built in Rust. It's designed to be fast, lightweight, and collaborative, with AI features built into the development environment. - Source: dev.to / 3 days ago
Which I believe GPUI is the same framework that Zed (the editor)[0] is using [0]: http://zed.dev/. - Source: Hacker News / 7 days ago
For desktop outside macOS, we'd go with GPUI, the UI framework the Zed team built for their editor. GPUI draws its own UI on the GPU instead of using the operating system's toolkit, compiles to a native binary, and integrates with each... - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
Back to the MacBook that kept restarting. I let the agents create their own git worktrees, one per parallel session, so 2 agents never edit the same checkout. Each worktree gets its own node_modules or .venv, and Xcode builds each one... - Source: dev.to / about 20 hours ago
Coding agents changed part of that math. Writing a SwiftUI view and then its Jetpack Compose twin used to be the expensive part, and today an agent writes most of it while you review. What's still expensive is compiling it, and if you've... - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
The split is cleaner than most forum threads make it sound. Apple's toolchain (the compiler with the iOS SDK, the code signer, the Simulator and the uploader) only ships inside Xcode, and Xcode only runs on macOS. Everything that is... - Source: dev.to / 24 days ago
When comparing Zed and Xcode, you can also consider the following products.

Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft
Compare VS Code to Zed or Xcode:

Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft.
Compare Microsoft Visual Studio to Zed or Xcode:

The AI-first Code Editor. Build software faster in an editor designed for pair-programming with AI.
Compare Cursor to Zed or Xcode:


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.
Compare Sublime Text to Zed or Xcode:

Android development environment based on IntelliJ IDEA
Compare Android Studio to Zed or Xcode: