Now here's an area where one of those newfangled large language models actually could do some good: create a spelling checker which doesn't gleefully replace somewhat misspelled or 'mis-swiped' words with correctly spelled but contextually clearly nonsensical ones.
> (“Zed,” “we,” or “us”) and our website at www.zed.dev, along with our downloadable Zed software (the “Software”) and related subscription service (the “Service”).
Very clearly draws a distinction between the editor (the "Software") and their subscription service (the "Service")
> Customer must be at least 18 years old to use the Service.
Is very clearly referencing the subscription service (the "Service") and not the editor (the "Software")
I did not quote "Customer must be at least 18 years old to use the Service" because I, like you, don't find it to be a problem. I don't know why you're saying it back to me. I quoted a different sentence, namely "By agreeing to these Terms, Customer represents and warrants to Zed that: (a) Customer is at least 18 years old", because I think that sentence is a problem. I would appreciate if you would discuss the part of the ToS which I referenced instead of an irrelevant part which I haven't brought up.
Are people really happy with zed or is this the vocal minority we see on HN?
I have tried zed multiple times and always uninstalled it after a few days because of the ugly font rendering, slow response time (!), high memory usage (!!) and being very buggy in general. And don't even get me started on their AI-first shenanigans.
This is on Linux, maybe it works better on other platforms.
I'm very happy with zed if I have to compare it to any intellij product
If you're using Windows (+ WSL) then yes, there's a hunch of memory issues currently. Apart from Windows I've never issues though, especially seeing as how intellij indexing takes >1 min and hogs my memory during that period.
The only reason I'm not switching is because Zed's vim bindings are aaalmost perfect. I did not like Vim Mode in VSC or intellij IDE's since it's another keymap I have to learn next to my nvim setup
Same experience, I heard about them in some podcasts, it all sounded good, performance, from the ground up, rust, collaboration, whatever.
Tried it, it was the worse experience I had with an editor since I started my career… then I tried it again because maybe they figured it out… it’s still bad.
I've been trying it out on MacOS for the past couple of weeks and I'm happy with it. I have a fairly vanilla use of my code editors and I find Zed snappier than VSCode. I have not experienced the issues you describe.
Same. MacOS. Tried it. Was okay-ish for several days. But eventually I realised it's worse than WebStorm in basically every aspect, subjectively speaking.
It is slow, it's missing features and it is buggy.
I initially loved Zed because it was so much snappier than VSCode/Cursor, but running several Zed instances made my Ryzen/32gb machine unusable together with Claude because Zed seems such a memory hog. Not using it currently anymore.
(Win11)
I have done the same multiple times. But for the last 3 months or so. I haven’t touched anything else (well nvim for quick code browsing, but not as editor). I think that might be around the time they fixed the font rendering on Linux.
It’s good. Launches from anywhere from cli with just ‘zed .’ (No logs and artifacts that hold up the terminal). Multiple instances without worry (unlike PyCharm I used before).
It’s good to the point I keep checking to see if there is a “pro” plan, but there isn’t. They just have AI subscriptions.
Went to Zed from Sublime and never looked back (I'm on Mac).
Never touched VSCode apart of small tests to see that the project setting (format on save, etc) will work for my colleagues. Can't stand it.
I have opened at all times at least 3-4 medium sized front-end projects and at least one large python project and never had memory issues.
I’m on a mac - I’ve been poking at zed a bit and it’s… fine? I was a die hard Textmate user, but that’s not just dead but decayed at this point, and I’ve yet to find anything as good.
I tried Zed. It's alright. Unfortunately the devs think it's ok to download and run extra software without asking me (specifically node.js but it would be bad no matter what the software was). I am not willing to use software where the developers have such a cavalier approach to the user's PC, so I went back to Sublime.
I've been using it daily for about a year now. I love it. Using most other IDEs feels like a major regression. Multi-buffers are beautifully implemented. I typically use Claude Code if I use an LLM, but their Claude integration is excellent.
Debugging is good. I'd love to see integrated test runners.
I also wish the collaboration was more relevant and fleshed out, but no one I know uses it anyway.
I've been using it as a replacement for VSCode/Cursor for the past few months and really like it.
There have been recent changes to the font rendering, it now looks good on my 1440p monitor - when I first tried, it was blurry and instantly gave me a headache. It does seem strange to me that *font rendering* of all things is what a text editor has trouble with. Precise font rendering should be table stakes here.
As for performance/memory usage, it's been top-notch for me on both Linux and macOS.
I had originally switched to try and get away from Microsoft's "only focus on AI features" trend in VSCode, but it seems like Zed has fallen into the same trap.
I haven't had this experience (on macOS, it is quite fast), but I have read this exact same complaint about rendering/slowness from other Linux users a handful of times. So I think those might be more platform-specific issues. I do see high memory usage, though. So I enjoy using Zed when I want to use AI, and prefer Sublime when I want to fly solo.
I am not sure I have the same definition of “love my editor again” (from their landing page) as the Zed team… my definition is PG. I don’t see a reason that I need to be 18 to use a code editor.
By accessing or using the Service, you (“You” or “Customer”) agree to these Terms of Service, the Data Processing Addendum (“DPA”), available upon request, and Zed’s Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Terms”).
If you are not eligible, or do not agree to the Terms, you may not access or use the Service.
pretty clearly again referring to only 'the Service' -- which does not include their website or app
If you do not agree to the Terms, you may not download or use the editor. The download page says that "by downloading and using the editor, you agree to the terms". If you aren't over 18, you can't agree to the terms.
except i'd still say that even if you "agree to the terms" most of them still apply conditionally upon using the service, and the language about 18 is also specifically about the service
>ARBITRATION NOTICE. Except for certain kinds of disputes described in Section 15.2 (Dispute Resolution and Arbitration), you agree that disputes arising under these Terms will be resolved by binding, individual arbitration, and BY ACCEPTING THESE TERMS, YOU AND ZED ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY OR TO PARTICIPATE IN ANY CLASS ACTION OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. ALTERNATIVELY, CUSTOMER MAY OPT OUT OF ARBITRATION PER SECTION 15.2(a).
They did send out a follow-up email about this earlier this week:
---
Our email yesterday was imprecise relative to our actual new Terms. To be specific:
- You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service (Zed’s AI-enabled software-as-a-service offering, including features like account creation/sign in, Zed Free and Zed Pro, and collaboration). See https://zed.dev/terms#21-eligibility. We set the threshold at 18 due to children's data privacy obligations under COPPA, equivalent international frameworks, and an increasing number of state and regional laws that extend protections to anyone under 18. Those regulations require parental consent verification, age-gated data handling, and separate retention policies for minors. Building and maintaining that infrastructure is a real cost for a small team, and getting it wrong carries regulatory risk. Setting the line at 18 lets us maintain a single privacy framework for all account holders without carve-outs.
- Zed's Software (open source code editing software) is governed by our open source licenses. In cases where the open source license can govern, it will over the Terms. See https://zed.dev/terms#24-restrictions.
If you have questions, reply to this email or reach us at legal@zed.dev.
> (“Zed,” “we,” or “us”) and our website at www.zed.dev, along with our downloadable Zed software (the “Software”) and related subscription service (the “Service”).
Very clearly draws a distinction between the editor (the "Software") and their subscription service (the "Service")
> Customer must be at least 18 years old to use the Service.
Is very clearly referencing the subscription service (the "Service") and not the editor (the "Software")
Notice how I did not quote the "Customer must be at least 18 years old to use the Service" part. That sentence is completely non-problematic. The part that's a problem is the part I actually quoted:
By agreeing to these Terms, Customer represents and warrants to Zed that: (a) Customer is at least 18 years old
The "Terms" is earlier defined to mean:
these Terms of Service, the Data Processing Addendum (“DPA”), available upon request, and Zed’s Privacy Policy
So the Terms you have to agree to in order to download the editor, clearly state that by agreeing to the Terms, you warrant that you're 18+. ("Customer" is defined to be a synonym for "You", FWIW).
You cut it off literally just before it specified what that sentence is referring to...
> Customer must be at least 18 years old to use the Service. By agreeing to these Terms, Customer represents and warrants to Zed that: (a) Customer is at least 18 years old
THE SERVICE
> (“Zed,” “we,” or “us”) and our website at www.zed.dev, along with our downloadable Zed software (the “Software”) and related subscription service (the “Service”).
Yes, and you have to agree to the terms of that service in order to use the editor.
Those terms could've just been, "you must be 18+ years old to use the service", and everything would be just fine. But they're not.
"The Terms" is defined to include the ToS document found at https://zed.dev/terms, which are the very terms you need to agree to if you want to comply with https://zed.dev/download. If you cannot accept "the Terms", you cannot download and use Zed. And you cannot agree to "the Terms" if you're under 18 years old. This is not complicated, it should not be difficult to understand.
Tried Zed, never could get into Zed, I found it too slow and cludgy. These days I use Tabby, Neovim, with Lazyvim, and the Victor Mono Nerd Font. It works well enough for me. I have yet to explore connecting it to Claude, that might be an interesting thing. I don't think I'm ever going to be ok with age restrictions within an IDE.
koolala | 15 hours ago
bigyabai | 15 hours ago
[OP] keyle | 15 hours ago
senectus1 | 14 hours ago
detaro | 14 hours ago
hagbard_c | 14 hours ago
Now here's an area where one of those newfangled large language models actually could do some good: create a spelling checker which doesn't gleefully replace somewhat misspelled or 'mis-swiped' words with correctly spelled but contextually clearly nonsensical ones.
mort96 | 14 hours ago
TranquilMarmot | 13 hours ago
> (“Zed,” “we,” or “us”) and our website at www.zed.dev, along with our downloadable Zed software (the “Software”) and related subscription service (the “Service”).
Very clearly draws a distinction between the editor (the "Software") and their subscription service (the "Service")
> Customer must be at least 18 years old to use the Service.
Is very clearly referencing the subscription service (the "Service") and not the editor (the "Software")
mort96 | 13 hours ago
I did not quote "Customer must be at least 18 years old to use the Service" because I, like you, don't find it to be a problem. I don't know why you're saying it back to me. I quoted a different sentence, namely "By agreeing to these Terms, Customer represents and warrants to Zed that: (a) Customer is at least 18 years old", because I think that sentence is a problem. I would appreciate if you would discuss the part of the ToS which I referenced instead of an irrelevant part which I haven't brought up.
postepowanieadm | 15 hours ago
throwa356262 | 15 hours ago
Hamuko | 15 hours ago
TranquilMarmot | 13 hours ago
throwa356262 | 15 hours ago
I have tried zed multiple times and always uninstalled it after a few days because of the ugly font rendering, slow response time (!), high memory usage (!!) and being very buggy in general. And don't even get me started on their AI-first shenanigans.
This is on Linux, maybe it works better on other platforms.
[OP] keyle | 15 hours ago
Hamuko | 15 hours ago
ramon156 | 15 hours ago
If you're using Windows (+ WSL) then yes, there's a hunch of memory issues currently. Apart from Windows I've never issues though, especially seeing as how intellij indexing takes >1 min and hogs my memory during that period.
The only reason I'm not switching is because Zed's vim bindings are aaalmost perfect. I did not like Vim Mode in VSC or intellij IDE's since it's another keymap I have to learn next to my nvim setup
throwa356262 | 14 hours ago
Maybe this is a vim thing? What do emacs and vscode users feel about zed?
feverzsj | 15 hours ago
himata4113 | 14 hours ago
criticalfault | 15 hours ago
I can't believe the latency of browser based editor is acceptable to people
criticalfault | 15 hours ago
serial_dev | 15 hours ago
Tried it, it was the worse experience I had with an editor since I started my career… then I tried it again because maybe they figured it out… it’s still bad.
dutchCourage | 15 hours ago
bestest | 14 hours ago
It is slow, it's missing features and it is buggy.
KingOfCoders | 14 hours ago
thoughtfulchris | 14 hours ago
tecoholic | 14 hours ago
It’s good. Launches from anywhere from cli with just ‘zed .’ (No logs and artifacts that hold up the terminal). Multiple instances without worry (unlike PyCharm I used before).
It’s good to the point I keep checking to see if there is a “pro” plan, but there isn’t. They just have AI subscriptions.
tuzemec | 14 hours ago
I have opened at all times at least 3-4 medium sized front-end projects and at least one large python project and never had memory issues.
pyr0hu | 14 hours ago
roughly | 14 hours ago
bigstrat2003 | 14 hours ago
steve_adams_86 | 14 hours ago
Debugging is good. I'd love to see integrated test runners.
I also wish the collaboration was more relevant and fleshed out, but no one I know uses it anyway.
TranquilMarmot | 14 hours ago
There have been recent changes to the font rendering, it now looks good on my 1440p monitor - when I first tried, it was blurry and instantly gave me a headache. It does seem strange to me that *font rendering* of all things is what a text editor has trouble with. Precise font rendering should be table stakes here.
As for performance/memory usage, it's been top-notch for me on both Linux and macOS.
I had originally switched to try and get away from Microsoft's "only focus on AI features" trend in VSCode, but it seems like Zed has fallen into the same trap.
bpev | an hour ago
serial_dev | 15 hours ago
charcircuit | 15 hours ago
mastermage | 15 hours ago
feverzsj | 14 hours ago
notenlish | 14 hours ago
kalterdev | 14 hours ago
mastermedo | 14 hours ago
blitzar | 14 hours ago
throawayonthe | 14 hours ago
"Customer must be at least 18 years old to use the Service"
this pretty clearly refers to the subscription service and not to the 'downloadable software' or source code
mort96 | 14 hours ago
> By agreeing to these Terms, Customer represents and warrants to Zed that: (a) Customer is at least 18 years old
"these Terms" are the terms you need to agree to in order to download the editor. You can't agree to them if you're under 18.
FireInsight | 14 hours ago
throawayonthe | 8 hours ago
By accessing or using the Service, you (“You” or “Customer”) agree to these Terms of Service, the Data Processing Addendum (“DPA”), available upon request, and Zed’s Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Terms”).
If you are not eligible, or do not agree to the Terms, you may not access or use the Service.
pretty clearly again referring to only 'the Service' -- which does not include their website or app
mort96 | 7 hours ago
throawayonthe | 2 hours ago
except i'd still say that even if you "agree to the terms" most of them still apply conditionally upon using the service, and the language about 18 is also specifically about the service
TranquilMarmot | 14 hours ago
Really should have called the AI offerings "Zed AI" so as to differentiate it more and avoid confusion like this.
rvz | 14 hours ago
mrsssnake | 14 hours ago
ThePowerOfFuet | 14 hours ago
That's gonna be a no from me, dawg.
deafpolygon | 14 hours ago
janalsncm | 14 hours ago
AnonHP | 13 hours ago
[1]: https://codeberg.org/GramEditor/gram
az09mugen | 11 hours ago
janalsncm | 4 hours ago
This is hilarious. But technically an LLM will read the whole README simultaneously.
TranquilMarmot | 14 hours ago
---
Our email yesterday was imprecise relative to our actual new Terms. To be specific:
- You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service (Zed’s AI-enabled software-as-a-service offering, including features like account creation/sign in, Zed Free and Zed Pro, and collaboration). See https://zed.dev/terms#21-eligibility. We set the threshold at 18 due to children's data privacy obligations under COPPA, equivalent international frameworks, and an increasing number of state and regional laws that extend protections to anyone under 18. Those regulations require parental consent verification, age-gated data handling, and separate retention policies for minors. Building and maintaining that infrastructure is a real cost for a small team, and getting it wrong carries regulatory risk. Setting the line at 18 lets us maintain a single privacy framework for all account holders without carve-outs.
- Zed's Software (open source code editing software) is governed by our open source licenses. In cases where the open source license can govern, it will over the Terms. See https://zed.dev/terms#24-restrictions.
If you have questions, reply to this email or reach us at legal@zed.dev.
---
mort96 | 13 hours ago
> By agreeing to these Terms, Customer represents and warrants to Zed that: (a) Customer is at least 18 years old
TranquilMarmot | 13 hours ago
> By downloading and using Zed, you agree to its terms and conditions.
That links to: https://zed.dev/terms
> (“Zed,” “we,” or “us”) and our website at www.zed.dev, along with our downloadable Zed software (the “Software”) and related subscription service (the “Service”).
Very clearly draws a distinction between the editor (the "Software") and their subscription service (the "Service")
> Customer must be at least 18 years old to use the Service.
Is very clearly referencing the subscription service (the "Service") and not the editor (the "Software")
mort96 | 13 hours ago
TranquilMarmot | 4 hours ago
> Customer must be at least 18 years old to use the Service. By agreeing to these Terms, Customer represents and warrants to Zed that: (a) Customer is at least 18 years old
THE SERVICE
> (“Zed,” “we,” or “us”) and our website at www.zed.dev, along with our downloadable Zed software (the “Software”) and related subscription service (the “Service”).
The service == subscription service.
mort96 | 4 hours ago
Those terms could've just been, "you must be 18+ years old to use the service", and everything would be just fine. But they're not.
"The Terms" is defined to include the ToS document found at https://zed.dev/terms, which are the very terms you need to agree to if you want to comply with https://zed.dev/download. If you cannot accept "the Terms", you cannot download and use Zed. And you cannot agree to "the Terms" if you're under 18 years old. This is not complicated, it should not be difficult to understand.
AnonHP | 13 hours ago
PonyoSunshine | 13 hours ago