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Indie alternatives to VS Code

5 products made by independent developers and small teams that do what VS Code does, 3 of them with a free plan. Free and open-source options come first.

At a glance

Product	Price	Open source	Self-host	Platforms
Neovim	Free	Yes	–	Mac, Windows, Linux
VSCodium	Free	Yes	–	Mac, Windows, Linux
Zed	Free plan	Yes	–	Mac, Linux, Windows
Nova	Paid	–	–	Mac
Sublime Text	Paid	–	–	Mac, Windows, Linux

The alternatives

1. Neovim

Hyperextensible Vim-based text editor

Neovim is a refactored Vim with Lua configuration, built-in LSP client and a large plugin ecosystem.

Free · Mac, Windows, Linux · Website ↗

2. VSCodium

Telemetry-free builds of VS Code

VSCodium distributes community-built, MIT-licensed binaries of the VS Code editor without Microsoft telemetry and branding.

Free · Mac, Windows, Linux · Website ↗

3. Zed

High-performance collaborative code editor with AI

Zed is a fast open-source code editor written in Rust with multiplayer editing and built-in AI assistance.

Free plan · Mac, Linux, Windows · Website ↗

4. Nova

Native Mac code editor from Panic

Nova is a macOS-native code editor with extensions, built-in terminal, Git and remote server support.

Paid · Mac · Website ↗

5. Sublime Text

Fast, sophisticated text editor for code

Sublime Text is a cross-platform code editor known for speed, multiple cursors and a Python plugin API.

Paid · Mac, Windows, Linux · Website ↗

Questions

Is there a free alternative to VS Code?

Yes. 3 of the 5 indie alternatives listed here have a free plan or are free: Neovim, VSCodium and Zed.

Is there an open-source alternative to VS Code?

Neovim, VSCodium and Zed are open source.

Which VS Code alternatives work on Mac, Windows, iPhone or Android?

On Windows: Neovim, VSCodium, Zed and 1 more. On Linux: Neovim, VSCodium, Zed and 1 more.

What makes these alternatives to VS Code “indie”?

They are built by independent developers or small teams rather than large companies. Each one is listed because it does the same core job as VS Code.

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