I've been using Cursor as my daily driver for about a year and a half now. It's a solid editor. The AI integration is impressive, and if you're coming from VS Code, the transition is practically seamless. But somewhere along the way, I started noticing things. Small things at first-a lag here, a UI shift there. Then bigger things. The interface changing every couple of months. Performance hiccups that made me question whether my machine was the problem. Spoiler: it wasn't 😅.
A few weeks ago, I opened Zed for some quick edits on a side task. And that was it. That was the moment I realized just how much sluggishness I'd been tolerating without even knowing it.
Not Perfect Yet - and that's fine
I want to be fair here. Zed isn't flawless, and I'm not going to pretend it is. There are a few navigational things I'd love to see polished up. Breadcrumb-style navigation showing your current folder and file path would be a nice touch for orienting yourself in larger projects. And docking panels—like moving the file tree or Git panel to the right side — is technically possible, but it doesn't feel intuitive yet. You end up doing it one panel at a time, and sometimes things open on the left when you expected them on the right. Small friction, but the kind you notice when everything else is so smooth.
I'm also not fully daily driving Zed yet. I still reach for Cursor on some tasks out of pure habit. But I keep finding myself opening Zed more and more, purely because the speed and smoothness pull me back every time. That says something.
Getting There
I want to be fair here. Zed isn't flawless, and I'm still not fully daily driving it for everything. There are a few navigational things I'd love to see polished up. Breadcrumb-style navigation showing your folder and file path would be a welcome addition for quickly orienting yourself in larger projects.
The extension ecosystem is also still young compared to VS Code's marketplace. It's growing, but if your workflow depends on a very specific niche extension, you might not find it yet. For me, that hasn't been a problem - but it's worth checking before you commit.
That said, I'm finding myself reaching for Zed more and more, purely because of how fast and smooth it feels. Once you experience that level of responsiveness, it's hard to go back.
And the rough edges?
They feel like the kind of things that get ironed out quickly by a team that clearly cares about the craft.
Not Perfect, But Getting There
To be fair... Zed isn't without its rough edges. I'd love to see better breadcrumb-style navigation for quickly seeing where I am in a folder hierarchy. And docking panels to the right side of the editor can feel a bit finicky... you can do it, but sometimes things open on the left when you expect them on the right, and rearranging panels feels like a small negotiation rather than a quick drag. Small things, but the kind of small things that add up when you're deep in a codebase.
It's just me nitpicking, really 😅 ...
Also the AI setup steps are a bit confusing and it's not always clear what's happening. For example... logging with Claude to use Claude Code integration doesn't allow you to see all models compared to using an API key for the setup. It could just be limitations of the login method, but its not super clear via the interface what's happening:
I'm als not fully daily driving Zed yet. Cursor still handles certain workflows I'm used to, and there's muscle memory that takes time to rewire. But I'm finding myself reaching for Zed more and more, purely because the speed and smoothness keep pulling me back. That says something.
Worth a Try
I'm not telling anyone to drop their current editor. If Cursor or VS Code works for you, keep at it. But if you've ever felt that friction... that half-second delay, that UI change that threw you off, that moment where you wondered if your editor was fighting you instead of helping you → give Zed a shot.
It's free. It's open-source. It's built by the team behind Tree-sitter - the parsing library that powers syntax highlighting in practically every modern editor - so they know a thing or two about building tools developers rely on.
Sometimes, the best tool isn't the one with the most features. It's the one that gets out of your way and lets you do the work. Zed does that better than anything I've used in a long time.
You might actually like it:
https://zed.dev/
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