head to head · open source
Zed vs code-server
Zed has 92,568 GitHub stars, 11,364 forks, 3,159 open issues and last shipped yesterday. code-server has 79,759 stars, 6,941 forks, 152 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Zed leads on adoption by 16% (92,568 vs 79,759 stars). Zed is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; code-server is written in TypeScript under MIT. Zed has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, code-server 9%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Zed | code-server | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 93K | ★ 80K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 6.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zed if
- You weight community size — 93K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick code-server if
- You want the code-server feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and code-server fits your workflow better
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…
About code-server
code server Run VS Code on any machine anywhere and access it in the browser. Highlights Code on any device with a consistent development environment Use cloud servers to speed up tests, compilations, downloads, and more Preserve battery life when you're on the go; all intensive tasks run on your server Requirements See requirements for minimum specs, as well as instructions on how to set up a Google VM on which you can install code server. TL;DR: Linux machine with WebSockets enabled, 1 GB RAM, and 2 vCPUs Getting started There are five ways to get started: 1. Using the install script, which automates most of…
read the full code-server overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More IDEs & Code Editors projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the IDEs & Code Editors field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Zed or code-server more popular?
Zed has 92,568 GitHub stars and code-server has 79,759. Zed has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zed and code-server free?
Both are open source. Zed has no licence declared in this registry, and code-server is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Zed and code-server?
Zed is written in Rust and code-server in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Zed or code-server?
Choose Zed if you want the larger community (92,568 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose code-server if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.