head to head · open source
react vs Zed
react has 252,095 GitHub stars, 51,624 forks, 1,377 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Zed has 92,568 stars, 11,364 forks, 3,159 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. react leads on adoption by 172% (252,095 vs 92,568 stars). react is written in JavaScript under MIT; Zed is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence. react has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, Zed 12%. Zed was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| react | Zed | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 252K | ★ 93K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | JavaScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 52K | ⑂ 11K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick react if
- You weight community size — 252K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Zed if
- You want the Zed feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Zed fits your workflow better
About react
React · React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. Declarative: React makes it painless to create interactive UIs. Design simple views for each state in your application, and React will efficiently update and render just the right components when your data changes. Declarative views make your code more predictable, simpler to understand, and easier to debug. Component Based: Build encapsulated components that manage their own state, then compose them to make complex UIs. Since component logic is written in JavaScript instead of templates, you can easily pass rich data through your app and…
read the full react overview →
About Zed
Zed Welcome to Zed, a high performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree sitter. Installation On macOS, Linux, and Windows you can download Zed directly or install Zed via your local package manager (macOS/Linux/Windows). Other platforms are not yet available: Web (tracking discussion) Developing Zed Building Zed for macOS Building Zed for Linux Building Zed for Windows Contributing See CONTRIBUTING.md for ways you can contribute to Zed. Also... we're hiring! Check out our jobs page for open roles. Licensing Zed source code is licensed primarily under GPL 3.0 or later, with Apache 2.0…
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Frequently asked questions
Is react or Zed more popular?
react has 252,095 GitHub stars and Zed has 92,568. react has the larger community by that measure.
Are react and Zed free?
Both are open source. react is licensed under MIT, and Zed has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between react and Zed?
react is written in JavaScript and Zed in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, react or Zed?
Choose react if you want the larger community (252,095 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Zed if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.