VS Code is undoubtedly the most popular IDE there. There is this has evolved beyond being just a code editor because of the massive ecosystem built around it. There isn’t much to complain about when it comes to functionality, expansion support or flexibility, but performance has always been one of its weak points. Even on powerful systems, VS Code can sometimes feel heavier than it needs to be. There is also the privacy aspect. Although VS Code is open source, Microsoft still collects telemetry data, which means it’s not the most privacy-oriented development environment out there.
There are many Alternatives to VS Codehowever, most of them are still built on the same open source foundation. Few attempt to create a completely different editor experience while still offering modern IDE features and powerful developer tools. Zed is one of the few who do.
I’ve been trying to switch to Zed for a while, but after years of working inside VS Code I’ve come to appreciate it. Zed gives you a simpler editor with built-in Git support, tasks, debugging workflows, and a keyboard system compatible with other editors. It also ships with a VS Code base keyboard map, so you can keep most of your old habits while deciding what actually needs to be changed. Switching to Zed is less about abandoning familiar muscle memory and more about deciding which parts of that muscle memory are still useful, which parts are just habit, and which parts will slow you down.
Zed feels better than VS Code
Once you get used to it
I’ve always been hesitant to switch to Zed because it doesn’t have the extensive extension ecosystem that VS Code has. However, the developers understand this and have tried to add as many features as possible to Zed itself so that you don’t have to rely on extensions.
It comes with built-in Git support, integrated tasks, debugging support, native language tools, and a customizable button system that can be adjusted directly in the settings or via the keyboard editor. The real benefit of Zed comes when you use it for remote development. Zed only keeps the UI on your machine while the language servers, tasks, and terminals are running on the server, which is why it’s one of the fastest editors out there.
Zed also treats projects differently than VS Code. Instead of supporting multi-root workspaces or .code-workspace files, it treats each folder as its own project. This is a real limitation if your workflow depends on juggling multiple related repositories at once, but it also removes a whole layer of project management complexity. If most of your work lives in individual repos, you’ll find that a simpler structure is actually cleaner and easier to manage.
You need to make muscle memory changes
But you get used to Zed very quickly
While Zed is definitely better than VS Code, it also comes with a learning curve and you have to forget the muscle memory you built while using VS Code. It’s not that hard and the learning curve isn’t that steep, but there are some tweaks here and there. The first thing to adjust is movement and choice. Zed has different defaults for some shortcuts that people use all the time in VS Code.
Uses moving lines Cmd + Ctrl + Up/Down In Zed instead of Opt + Up/Down in VS Code. Uses partition panels Cmd + K then arrow keys instead of Cmd + \\. Expanding Choice Uses Select + Up In Zed instead of Shift + Alt + Right in VS Code. Opening the final project is also different from Ctrl + R compared to VS Code Cmd + Opt + O Zedda. These differences are not difficult in themselves, but they appear so often that they create a sense of speed. In the first few days, the editor may feel slow because your hands are reaching for the wrong thing.
But if you’re already using VS Code, Zed can import your settings and you can enable VS Code-style keyboard mapping via settings.json. No need to rebuild your muscle memory from scratch or relearn every shortcut on day one.
It’s also worth noting that while Git support is built right into Zed, it’s simpler than many VS Code users are used to, especially those who rely on extensions like GitLens. Zed gives you the basics like modified files, staging, commits, and branch information without turning the editor into a full source control panel. This lighter approach helps keep the interface cleaner and faster, but it also means you lose some of the advanced Git tools and detailed views available in the VS Code extension ecosystem.
Zed is off to a great start
Zed is still not perfect. There are niche extensions and workflows that I still miss from VS Code, and bugs that remind me that the editor is still relatively young compared to something as mature as VS Code. But for the first time in years, I’m not looking for a reason to go back.
