head to head · open source
Zed vs opcode
Zed has 92,568 GitHub stars, 11,364 forks, 3,159 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. opcode has 22,429 stars, 1,705 forks, 332 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Zed leads on adoption by 313% (92,568 vs 22,429 stars). Zed is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; opcode is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Zed has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, opcode 8%. 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
| Zed | opcode | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 93K | ★ 22K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| 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 opcode if
- You want the opcode feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and opcode 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 opcode
opcode A powerful GUI app and Toolkit for Claude Code Create custom agents, manage interactive Claude Code sessions, run secure background agents, and more. [!TIP] ⭐ Star the repo and follow @getAsterisk on X for early access to asteria swe v0 . [!NOTE] This project is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic. Claude is a trademark of Anthropic, PBC. This is an independent developer project using Claude. 🌟 Overview opcode is a powerful desktop application that transforms how you interact with Claude Code. Built with Tauri 2, it provides a beautiful GUI for managing your Claude Code sessions…
read the full opcode overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zed or opcode more popular?
Zed has 92,568 GitHub stars and opcode has 22,429. Zed has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zed and opcode free?
Both are open source. Zed has no licence declared in this registry, and opcode is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Zed and opcode?
Zed is written in Rust and opcode 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 opcode?
Choose Zed if you want the larger community (92,568 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose opcode if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.