Continue.dev vs Zed

Detailed side-by-side comparison to help you choose the right tool

Continue.dev

🔴Developer

AI coding

Open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains with a hub for custom assistants, MCP tools, prompts, and rules — the go-to when a team wants a Copilot-shaped experience they fully control.

Was this helpful?

Starting Price

No license fee verified

Full Review Visit Site

Zed

🔴Developer

AI coding

Zed supports fast code editor, ai assistance, collaboration for native code editing and pair programming.

Was this helpful?

Starting Price

Personal is $0 forever with 2,000 accepted edit predictions and unlimited use with your own API keys or external agents. Pro is $10/month with unlimited edit predictions and $5 of tokens included, then usage-based billing beyond $5. Business is $30/seat/month with org-wide model policies, governance, spend visibility, unlimited edit predictions, and RBAC; SSO/SAML/SCIM were listed as planned, not currently available.

Full Review Visit Site

Feature Comparison

Scroll horizontally to compare details.

Feature	Continue.dev	Zed
Category	AI coding	AI coding
Pricing Plans	2 listed plans	Plan details unavailable
Starting Price	No license fee verified	Personal is $0 forever with 2,000 accepted edit predictions and unlimited use with your own API keys or external agents. Pro is $10/month with unlimited edit predictions and $5 of tokens included, then usage-based billing beyond $5. Business is $30/seat/month with org-wide model policies, governance, spend visibility, unlimited edit predictions, and RBAC; SSO/SAML/SCIM were listed as planned, not currently available.
Key Features	• Open-source AI assistant for configurable developer workflows • Source-controlled AI checks on every pull request • Custom team standards that can be reviewed like code	• GPU-Accelerated Rendering: Uses Metal on macOS and Vulkan on Linux to render the entire UI on the GPU, achieving sub-millisecond keystroke latency and smooth scrolling even in very large files with thousands of lines of code. • Built-in AI Assistant: Integrated assistant panel supporting Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, and other LLMs for code generation, refactoring, explanation, and inline transformations with full project-wide context indexing for deeper codebase understanding. • Real-Time Multiplayer Collaboration: CRDT-based collaboration engine allows multiple developers to edit the same workspace simultaneously with live cursors, shared terminals, and zero-conflict merging.

Continue.dev - Pros & Cons

Pros

✓Supports chat, autocomplete, edits, and agents in VS Code and JetBrains
✓Works with hosted, self-hosted, and local model providers
✓Versioned assistants package models, rules, docs, prompts, and tools
✓Apache 2.0 licensing gives teams meaningful control over deployment

Cons

✗Model and embedding configuration can be more work than a bundled assistant
✗Local models require capable hardware and careful quality testing
✗Team-tier prices and exact entitlements were not independently verified
✗A broad provider matrix can create inconsistent experiences across developers

Zed - Pros & Cons

Pros

✓Native architecture emphasizes responsiveness and low input latency
✓Collaboration is part of the editor rather than a separate screen-sharing layer
✓MCP support makes assistant extensions less vendor-specific

Cons

✗Teams must verify language, debugger, and extension coverage for their stack
✗Switching editors carries keybinding, workflow, and plugin-migration costs
✗Current AI allowances and paid-plan prices were not retrievable in this run

Not sure which to pick?

🎯 Take our quiz →

🦞

New to AI tools?

Read practical guides for choosing and using AI tools

Read Guides →

🔔

Price Drop Alerts

Get notified when AI tools lower their prices

Get weekly AI agent tool insights

Comparisons, new tool launches, and expert recommendations delivered to your inbox.

Ready to Choose?

Read the full reviews to make an informed decision

Review Continue.dev Review Zed