What is the main difference between Athas and Zed?

Athas and Zed are both general purpose editors but differ in their approach, features, and target audience. Compare their GitHub stats, technology stack, and community adoption to make the best choice.

Which is better: Athas or Zed?

The choice between Athas and Zed depends on your specific needs, technical requirements, and team preferences. Both are quality open source solutions with active communities.

Can I migrate from Athas to Zed?

Migration between Athas and Zed is possible but requires careful planning. Consider data export/import capabilities, feature parity, and potential workflow changes.

Bright Data – Web data for AI agents and apps. Built-in unblocking, proxies, and ready-made APIs.

Learn More

Athas vs Zed

Learn how Athas and Zed differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these general purpose editors is best for you.

Athas

Open-source code editor for macOS, Windows, and Linux that puts coding agents, terminal, Git, and GitHub in a single window.

Visit Athas Read more

3,115stars+41(+1.3%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
3 days ago
Repository age
1 year
Version
v0.17.0
License
AGPL-3.0
Repository
athasdev/athas

Zed

A Rust-built code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter, combining native performance with multiplayer collaboration and deep AI integration.

Visit Zed Read more

91,910stars+1,342(+1.5%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
7 hours ago
Repository age
6 years
Version
v1.24.2
License
GPL-3.0
Repository
zed-industries/zed

Detailed Comparison

Zed appears to have several advantages over Athas, particularly in popularity and maturity. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.

Zed wins

Community & Popularity

Zed significantly outpaces Athas in community adoption with 91,910 stars compared to 3,115 stars on GitHub. This 29.5x difference suggests Zed has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, Zed has 11,115 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

Comparable

Growth Momentum

Athas and Zed are moving at much the same rate, adding 41 stars and adding 1,342 stars respectively over the last 30 days (+1.3% vs +1.5%). Neither is pulling away from the other on momentum alone.

Comparable

Development Activity

Both projects show recent activity, with Athas last updated 3 days ago and Zed 7 hours ago.

Comparable

Technology Stack

Both tools share common technology foundations, being built with JavaScript, CSS, Bash, Typescript, Rust. However, they differ in their additional technology choices: Athas uses JSX, Tauri while Zed leverages Python, C, Objective-C.

Zed wins

Project Maturity

Zed has been in development longer, starting 6 years ago, compared to Athas which began 1 year ago. This 4.4-year head start suggests Zed may have more mature features and established processes.

Comparable

Licensing

The projects use different licenses: Athas is licensed under AGPL-3.0 while Zed uses GPL-3.0. Consider the licensing requirements when choosing for your project.

Comparable

Use Cases & Features

Both tools serve similar use cases in General Purpose Editors, AI-Powered Editors.

Other tool comparisons to consider