Pulsar vs Zed

Pulsar is a free, open-source desktop text editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is a community-led fork of the discontinued Atom editor, with a stated aim of continuing and improving an open, hackable editor. Its package manager supports finding and installing packages or creating them. Language server integration provides autocompletion, smart navigation, and other IDE features. A filesystem browser can open an individual file, one project, or multiple projects in the same window. Editing features include multiple cursors, snippets, semantic selections, code folding, and syntax highlighting. Configuration files let users adjust keybindings, language-specific settings, styles, and other aspects of appearance or behavior. Git tools can switch branches, stage code, resolve merge conflicts, and show open GitHub pull requests. A bundled updater detects when a newer version is available. The current release page lists Windows 10 or later, macOS 10.15 or later, and Linux with glibc 2.31 or later. Pulsar says its editor collects no user information and sends nothing to remote servers; backend troubleshooting logs include IP and user-agent details and are deleted after 30 days.

Zed is a code editor for macOS, Windows, and Linux, with Personal, Pro, and Business plans. Personal is free forever and includes 2,000 accepted edit predictions; it also allows unlimited use with API keys or external agents. Pro costs $10.00 per month, includes unlimited edit predictions and $5 of tokens, and bills usage beyond that allowance at API list price plus 10%. The Pro trial lasts 14 days or until its $5 balance is used, with no credit card required. Editing tools include extensions, multi-cursor and column editing, and macro recording; the editor also supports a built-in debugger, remote development, and language servers. Native Git operations include staging, commits, pulls, pushes, and viewing diffs. Users can chat with teammates, code together, and share screens and projects. Supported model providers include Amazon Bedrock, Anthropic, GitHub Copilot, Google AI, and OpenAI; the extension ecosystem has hundreds of extensions. Business costs $30.00 per month and has no minimum seat count. SSO, SAML, and SCIM are planned but not currently available.