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Visual Studio Code vs Positron: catalog facts
Visual Studio Code	Positron
Free Free to download and use. GitHub Copilot and other AI features are separate paid…	Free Free to download and use.
Windows, macOS, Linux	Windows, macOS, Linux
Extensions for essentially every language and framework Remote development over SSH, in containers and in WSL	Supports both Python and R in one IDE Data Explorer for large datasets
The shipped build is not open source and collects telemetry by default Its extension marketplace is licensed for Microsoft builds only	Source-available under Elastic License 2.0, not open source Focused on data science rather than general development
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Closed source	Closed source
License: Microsoft product licence	License: Elastic-2.0
No account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.