Aider vs Zed

In short

• Both: Agent that edits files, Reviews pull requests, Command line, Choice of models
• Only Aider states: Chat about your code, Knows the whole codebase, Runs commands, Self-hosted, API
• Only Zed states: Inline completion, Runs models for you

Aider

Aider is an open-source terminal tool for pair programming with language models and editing code in local repositories.

Plans

Not read from the maker’s page yet.

Prices checked 2026-09-25 on the maker’s page.

Capabilities

• Chat about your code — “Chat modes — Using the code, architect, ask and help chat modes.” source
• Agent that edits files — “Usage — How to use aider to pair program with AI and edit code in your local git repo.” source
• Knows the whole codebase — “Aider makes a map of your entire codebase, which helps it work well in larger projects.” source
• Runs commands — “Automatically lint and test your code every time aider makes changes.” source
• Reviews pull requests — “You can also use aider to review PR branches:” source
• Command line — “Aider is AI pair programming in your terminal.” source
• Choice of models — “In-chat commands — Control aider with in-chat commands like /add, /model, etc.” source
• Self-hosted — “To run the project locally, follow these steps:” source
• API — “Yes. You can script aider via the command line or python.” source

Zed

Zed is a code editor for writing software with AI agents, human collaboration, Git, language servers, and edit predictions.

Plans

Personal

Free

• 2,000 accepted edit predictions
• Unlimited use with your API keys or external agents like Claude Agent, Codex CLI, and more

Pro

• $10 per month

• Unlimited edit predictions
• $5 of tokens included
• Usage-based billing beyond $5

Business

• $30 per seat, per month

• Org-wide AI model policies
• Data governance controls
• Unified spend visibility
• Unlimited edit predictions
• Role-based access controls
• Order forms available at 25+ seats.

Prices checked 2026-09-25 on the maker’s page.

Capabilities

• Inline completion — “An open-source, open-data language model that predicts what you'll type next.” source
• Agent that edits files — “Delegate work to the agent, follow their progress live and review changes with ease.” source
• Reviews pull requests — “First-class support for staging, committing, pulling, pushing, viewing diffs, and many more Git operations.” source
• Command line — “Use Zed from the command line.” source
• Choice of models — “Zed doesn't lock you into one model, it gives you the fastest way to collaborate with any agent.” source
• Runs models for you — “Our Pro plan comes with Zed hosted models out of the box.” source

Latest updates

• 2026-09-23 Zed 1.21.0 (1.21.0)

  Added faster rendering, a language server command picker, an agent sleep-prevention setting, and support for SuperGrok and new models.

• 2026-09-17 Zed 1.20.2 (1.20.2)

  Fixed provider payment errors showing a Zed Pro upgrade prompt instead of the provider's original error.

• 2026-09-16 Zed 1.20.1 (1.20.1)

  Added cursor movement animation, Markdown preview opening, Emmet wrap support, and configurable window titles.