Disclosure: this page links to Zed. Our own data shows no confirmed, active affiliate relationship with Zed — "unknown"/unconfirmed, not "none," because Zed's own affiliate status still can't be verified first-party. Nothing here is commission-motivated.
Zed's pricing is simpler than most AI-powered editors because the editor itself isn't the product being metered — the AI is. The core editor (GPU-accelerated rendering, Tree-sitter, native LSP, real-time collaboration) is free and open-source, full stop. You only pay once you want Zed's own hosted AI models instead of bringing your own API key or driving the editor with an external agent.
The three tiers
Personal — $0. The complete editor, 2,000 accepted edit predictions a month, and unlimited use with your own API key or an external agent (Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI) over the Agent Client Protocol. No Zed subscription required to run a full agentic workflow in it — you just pay your agent provider directly.
Pro — $10/month. Unlimited edit predictions, plus $5/month of hosted-AI credit if you want Zed's own models without juggling a separate provider key. Here's the part worth knowing before you subscribe: that $5 is a literal dollar amount billed at API list price + 10%, not a flat allowance. Burn through it and you're in metered overage — Zed defaults to a $10 overage cap (so $20 total possible per month) unless you set your spend limit down, including to $0, yourself.
Business — $30/seat/month. Everything in Pro plus org-wide model policies, data governance, role-based access, and unified spend visibility. No seat minimum, though SSO/SAML/SCIM are still planned, not shipped.
The correction
Our own pricing page used Zed's $10/month Pro tier as a comparison point against Windsurf, and said Pro "undercuts Cursor ($20/month) or Windsurf ($15/month)." That $15 figure is stale — Windsurf (now rebranded Devin Desktop under Cognition) raised its Pro tier to $20/month back in July. At current prices, Zed Pro doesn't undercut Windsurf's base subscription at all; the two are priced identically at the entry tier, and Zed's $10 edge only shows up because Windsurf's $20 buys a different allowance structure, not a cheaper headline number.
It's a one-line aside in a pricing breakdown about a different tool, which is exactly the kind of fact that goes stale quietly while the page's main subject stays accurate.
Who actually needs to pay
If you already run Claude Code, Codex CLI, or another agent subscription and just want a faster native editor to drive it in, Personal is a real daily driver, not a crippled trial — unlimited BYOK/ACP usage, free, forever. Pro only earns its keep if you specifically want Zed's hosted models without a separate API key, and you're comfortable with metered rather than flat-rate billing.
Full breakdown — the credit math, the overage gotchas, and when Business actually makes sense — is in the full pricing guide.
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