Best Zed Alternative
Zed alternatives come up when you need a bigger extension ecosystem, or when you would rather have a workspace built around many CLI agents, with worktrees, containers, and remote hosts managed for you, than an editor that hosts agent threads.
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What to look for in a Zed alternative
- A bigger extension ecosystem
- Agents from many vendors, each in its own worktree
- Container or remote isolation for risky tasks
- An editor you can keep using next to the agents
Recommended options
Agentastic
Our pickNative macOS workspace with 55 built-in agent definitions and a git worktree or container per task. Built-in editor, browser, diff viewer, and AI code review.
VS Code
Microsoft's free, open-source editor, now with built-in agents: run Copilot, Claude, or OpenAI agents locally or in the cloud and track every session in one view.
Cursor
AI editor based on the VS Code codebase, with local and cloud agents, worktrees in its Agents Window, a CLI, and Bugbot for pull-request review.
Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
Windsurf is now Devin Desktop, Cognition's AI IDE for macOS, Windows, and Linux. It runs local and cloud Devin agents alongside Codex, Claude, and OpenCode.
How to switch from Zed cleanly
You don't have to leave Zed. Its projects are plain folders, so run agents in Agentastic and use the Open In toolbar button to open the current worktree in Zed; Agentastic remembers the choice. VS Code and Cursor are the options if you want a larger extension ecosystem.
Common questions
Zed vs Cursor: which should I use?
Zed is a fast, open-source editor written in Rust that hosts agents, including Claude Code and Codex through the Agent Client Protocol. Cursor is an AI editor based on VS Code, with its own agents and a larger extension ecosystem. Both can run several agents in parallel.
Zed vs VS Code: what is the difference?
Zed is a newer editor written in Rust that uses your GPU, with collaboration and agent threads built in. VS Code has the larger extension ecosystem and now runs Copilot, Claude, and OpenAI agents too. Both are free and open source.
Does Zed support git worktrees for agents?
Yes. Zed's parallel agent threads can run in linked git worktrees, grouped under the project in its Threads Sidebar. Agentastic creates a worktree for every agent by default and adds containers, SSH hosts, and cloud sandboxes.
Can I keep Zed and still run many agents?
Yes. Run the agents in Agentastic, each in its own worktree, and open any worktree in Zed from the Open In toolbar button.