AI coding assistants · #25 of 28 · ↑ Tabby · ↓ Graphite
Zed
Zed shows up quietly in the AI coding assistants conversation, named in just 5 of 70 answers overall. Claude gives it the most credit with a score of 10, while ChatGPT sits at 3, and Gemini and Perplexity don't mention it at all, landing an overall score of 4. Its best showing is on "What's the best AI code editor right now?", where it's named in 2 of 4 answers. It also gets a mention for reliable code, top 2026 tools, and React/Next.js work, but it's absent from questions about local privacy use, testing, whole-codebase agents, beginners, and value for money.
this is mine claim it, free, forever. We also check whether ChatGPT and Claude can read zed.dev.
Who's talking about you
| assistant | score | named in, this week | usual spot, this week |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 3 | 5% of answers | #7.0 |
| Claude | 10 | 20% of answers | #7.3 |
| Gemini | 0 | 0% of answers | |
| Perplexity | 0 | 0% of answers |
Questions you win
| question | named in | best spot |
|---|---|---|
| What's the best AI code editor right now? | 2 of 4 | #7 |
| What's the best AI tool for writing and fixing React and Next.js code? | 1 of 3 | #10 |
| Which AI coding tool writes the most reliable code? | 1 of 4 | #4 |
| What are the top AI coding assistants in 2026? | 1 of 4 | #7 |
Questions you lose
| question | who got named instead |
|---|---|
| What are the best AI coding assistants? | GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf |
| Which AI coding assistant is best for professional developers? | Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot |
| What are the best free AI coding assistants? | GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Cursor |
| What's the best AI coding assistant for a solo developer building a SaaS? | Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot |
| What are the best AI coding agents that can work across a whole codebase? | Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex |
| What's the best AI coding assistant for beginners learning to code? | GitHub Copilot |
| Which AI coding assistant gives the best value for the money? | GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini Code Assist |
| What's the best AI coding assistant for Python? | Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code |
| Which AI coding assistant is best for large codebases? | Sourcegraph Cody, Cursor, Claude Code |
| What's the best AI tool to review pull requests automatically? | CodeRabbit, Greptile, GitHub Copilot |
| What's the best AI coding assistant that works in the terminal? | Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Aider |
| What's the best AI coding assistant I can run locally for privacy? | Continue, Aider |
| What's the best open-source AI coding assistant? | Aider, Cline, OpenCode |
| Which AI coding tool is best for writing tests? | Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex |
| What's the best AI coding assistant for VS Code? | GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Cline |
| What's the best AI coding assistant for building mobile apps? | Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code |
In their words
- Claude“Windsurf, Zed, Aider — all reasonable alternatives with different UX philosophies.”
- ChatGPT“Zed — best if you care about speed, openness, and agent flexibility”
- Claude“Zed — fast native editor with collaborative AI features”
Closest rivals
All Zed alternatives · Full AI coding assistants leaderboard · Sources