best-of ranking · updated nightly

Best Open Source IDEs & Code Editors Tools

Ranked by GitHub stars — actual adoption, not editorial taste. All 4 are free, open source and self-hostable; license and last activity on every entry.

  1. 1
    Neovim ★ 102K

    Hyperextensible, Lua-powered Vim-based text editor

    NOASSERTION Vim Script pushed 2026-09-17 details →
  2. 2
    Zed ★ 90K

    High-performance code editor built for speed and AI

    NOASSERTION Rust pushed 2026-09-17 details →
  3. 3
    Kilo ★ 27K

    AI coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains, CLI, and Cloud

    MIT TypeScript pushed 2026-09-17 details →
  4. 4
    CodeEdit ★ 23K

    A native code editor for macOS

    MIT Swift pushed 2026-08-18 details →
method stars desc · snapshot from github api refresh nightly related AI Assisted Coding, Build & Deployment, Website Builders, Terminals, API Development & Testing, Testing & Quality Assurance

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last updated nightly · ranking method: github stars, live-tracked

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Frequently asked questions

What is the best open source IDEs & Code Editors tool in 2026?

Neovim leads the ranking with 102,393 GitHub stars, ahead of Zed. Rankings use live GitHub star counts, refreshed nightly.

How is this list of IDEs & Code Editors tools ranked?

By GitHub stars — a proxy for adoption and community size. Each entry also shows its licence, primary language and last commit date, so you can judge maintenance activity rather than trusting the ranking alone.

Are the best IDEs & Code Editors tools free?

Every project on this list is open source and free to self-host. Some also offer paid managed hosting, but the software itself carries no licence fee.