head to head · open source
Neovim vs Zed
Neovim has 102,393 GitHub stars, 7,115 forks, 1,900 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zed has 90,427 stars, 10,659 forks, 3,159 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Neovim leads on adoption by 13% (102,393 vs 90,427 stars). Neovim is written in Vim Script under a custom or non-standard licence; Zed is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence. Neovim has attracted 7% 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. The two share 1 topic tag (text-editor), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| Neovim | Zed | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 102K | ★ 90K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Vim Script | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.1K | ⑂ 11K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Neovim if
- You weight community size — 102K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Vim Script
- 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 Neovim
Neovim is a Vim fork text editor focused on extensibility and usability, built as a modern refactoring of Vim’s codebase. It lives in the developer tools ecosystem, specifically as a terminal based code editor that maintains compatibility with Vim’s core editing model while adding new capabilities.
read the full Neovim overview →
About Zed
Zed is a high performance, multiplayer code editor written in Rust, built by the creators of Atom and Tree sitter and aimed at developers who want a native, fast editing surface with AI assistance built in.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Neovim or Zed more popular?
Neovim has 102,393 GitHub stars and Zed has 90,427. Neovim has the larger community by that measure.
Are Neovim and Zed free?
Neither Neovim nor Zed declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Neovim and Zed?
Neovim is written in Vim Script 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, Neovim or Zed?
Choose Neovim if you want the larger community (102,393 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Zed if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.