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Zed vs Nova: catalog facts
Zed	Nova
Freemium The editor is free and open source. Zed's hosted AI plans are paid, and you can use your…	Paid Paid app with a free 30-day trial.
Windows, macOS, Linux	macOS
GPU-rendered and written in Rust, so it stays responsive under load Real-time collaborative editing and a shared terminal	Fully native Mac app with low resource use Terminal, Git, debugging and file transfer in one window
A much smaller extension ecosystem than VS Code Windows support arrived late and is still the least mature build	macOS only, requiring macOS 15.6 or later Paid after the trial
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Closed source
License: GPL-3.0-or-later	License: Proprietary
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.