| Rating |
|---|
| AgentsWisdom score | 73 | 71 |
|---|
| Confidence | high | high |
|---|
| Rank in category | No. 3 of 16 | No. 5 of 16 |
|---|
| Pillars |
|---|
| Adoption & momentum | 93 | 92 |
|---|
| Experts (independent reviews) | 73 | 55 |
|---|
| Crowd (community sample) | 46 | 67 |
|---|
| Community posts sampled | 29 | 15 |
|---|
| Experts vs crowd | Crowd cooler by 27 | Crowd warmer by 12 |
|---|
| Adoption |
|---|
| GitHub stars | 91k | 127k |
|---|
| npm weekly downloads | n/e | 19M |
|---|
| PyPI monthly downloads | n/e | n/e |
|---|
| VS Code installs | n/e | 15M |
|---|
| Reported users | n/e | 5M |
|---|
| Reported customer organisations | n/e | n/e |
|---|
| Releases, last 90 days | 46 | 35 |
|---|
| Benchmarks (shown, not scored) |
|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.0 | not listed | No. 4 of 43 · 82.25%
Codex CLI + GPT-5.5 |
|---|
| SWE-bench | not listed | not listed |
|---|
| Independent reviews | 8 | 8 |
|---|
| Trust & safety |
|---|
| Overall grade | A | B |
|---|
| Permission model | A | A |
|---|
| Data access scope | A | A |
|---|
| Data storage | A | B |
|---|
| Data retention & training | A | C |
|---|
| Incident history | C | C |
|---|
| Compliance | B | A |
|---|
| Transparency | A | A |
|---|
| Price |
|---|
| Price | Free, paid from $10 | Free, paid from $8 |
|---|
| Plans | - Personal: Free
- Pro: $10 / monthly
- Business: $30 / monthly
| - Free: Free
- Go: $8 / monthly
- Plus: $20 / monthly
- Pro: $100 / monthly
- Business: $20 / monthly
- Enterprise & Edu: Custom
- API key: Custom
|
|---|
| Product |
|---|
| Category | Coding agents | Coding agents |
|---|
| Maker | Zed Industries | OpenAI |
|---|
| Licence | GPL-3.0-or-later | Apache-2.0 |
|---|
| Use it via | Desktop app | CLI, Desktop app, IDE extension, Web app, API |
|---|
| Runs on | macos, linux, windows | macos, linux, windows, web |
|---|
| Models it drives | Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Mistral, Amazon Bedrock, GitHub Copilot models, any model via OpenRouter / Vercel gateway, local via Ollama / LM Studio, external ACP agents (Claude Agent, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Copilot, Cursor, Pi, Poolside) | GPT |
|---|
| Key features | - Agent Panel with built-in agent: file edits, terminal, fetch, MCP tools
- Parallel agent threads in a Threads Sidebar, optional per-thread Git worktree isolation
- Hosts external agents over the Agent Client Protocol, with an ACP Registry for installing them
- Per-tool permission rules (allow / confirm / deny) with pattern matching on commands and paths
- OS-level sandbox for terminal and fetch tools on by default since v1.14 (Seatbelt on macOS, Bubblewrap on Linux, WSL on Windows)
- Checkpoints to restore code, multibuffer review of agent edits, follow-the-agent view
- Agent profiles to choose which built-in and MCP tools are available
- Edit predictions (inline next-edit completions) alongside the agent
| - Open-source Rust CLI (Apache-2.0) installable via npm, Homebrew or standalone installers
- Desktop app with in-app diff review and inline comments
- IDE extension for VS Code, Cursor and Windsurf
- OS-level sandbox on by default locally, with configurable approval policy and network off by default
- Optional auto-review mode that routes approval requests through a reviewer agent
- Cloud tasks that run in OpenAI-hosted environments
|
|---|
| Verdicts |
|---|
| Praised for | - Can run and switch between several agents (built-in and ACP external agents) in one editor window
- Parallel agent threads with worktree isolation are praised by users moving from single-thread agent workflows
- Fast, lightweight editor that users keep even when they run agents elsewhere
- Free bring-your-own-key use and external agents on the $0 plan
| - Generous usage within ChatGPT subscriptions compared with rivals, per many community comments (HN)
- Strong Terminal-Bench 2.0 result: rank 4 of 43 harnesses
- Safe-by-default local sandbox and approval model (docs)
- Delegation and review workflow in the app praised by reviewers (Every; Composio)
|
|---|
| Criticised for | - Agent UI and parallel-agent layout described as confusing by several users after the April 2026 changes
- Built-in agent seen by some reviewers and users as less capable or less turnkey than Cursor, Claude Code or OpenCode
- ACP-hosted external agents reported as buggy or limited (buffer not refreshing, lost LSP access, never-ending runs)
- Diff/code-review tooling for reviewing agent output considered insufficient by some users
| - Usage-limit and rate-limit changes cause sharp complaints (GitHub issue #28879 with 364 upvotes)
- Reported bugs with serious side effects, e.g. $HOME deletion in full-access mode (Simon Willison, July 2026) and excessive SSD writes from logs
- Weak front-end/UI output reported by some users (r/codex)
|
|---|
| Evidence |
|---|
| Evidence collected | 26 Sept 2026 | 26 Sept 2026 |
|---|
| Sources cited | 10 | 3 |
|---|