It's close: Zed edges it 9.1 to 9.0, so the right pick depends on what you need. Zed wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Linear on 1, with 1 tied.
Developers who want a quick, modern editor with AI and pair programming built in
Software teams who want fast, low-friction issue tracking and planning
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Zed | Linear |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Developer Tools | Developer Tools |
| Category rank | #3 of 10 | #5 of 10 |
| Developer | Zed Industries | Linear Orbit, Inc. |
| Pricing | Free + paid plans | Free + paid plans |
| Usable for free | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | — | ✓ |
| Android | — | ✓ |
| Mac | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | ✓ | ✓ |
| Linux | ✓ | — |
| Web | — | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Zed better than Linear?
It's close: Zed edges it 9.1 to 9.0, so the right pick depends on what you need. Zed wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Linear on 1, with 1 tied.
Which is cheaper, Zed or Linear?
Zed: Free with your own API keys; Pro is $10 a month with $5 of AI tokens included. Linear: Free for up to 2 teams and 250 issues; Basic $10/user/month, billed yearly. On value for money, Zed scores higher.
Do Zed and Linear work on the same devices?
Only Zed runs on Linux. Only Linear runs on iPhone & iPad, Android, Web.
Which is more private, Zed or Linear?
Zed scores higher on privacy (8.6/10). Telemetry can be turned off in Settings, source code never goes into server telemetry, and Zed doesn't train on your data unless you opt in. AI providers are on zero-retention terms.
Strengths and weaknesses
Zed
- Native, GPU-rendered and quick to open
- Free and open source, with bring-your-own AI keys
- Collaboration and AI agents built in
- Hosted AI use is billed beyond the $5 included
- Still missing requests like smooth scrolling
- No built-in test runner integration yet
Zed is a code editor written in Rust with its own GPU-rendered interface instead of Electron, built to feel instant. You get real-time multiplayer editing, a debugger, Git, SSH remoting, edit predictions and parallel AI agents that can run Claude, Codex and others. It reached 1.0 in April 2026 and runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. Bring your own API keys for free, or pay for hosted AI. Some long-requested features, like smooth scrolling, are still missing.
Full Zed review
Linear
- Extremely fast and keyboard-friendly
- Sensible defaults with little setup
- Automatic status updates from pull requests
- Less customizable than enterprise trackers
- Built for software teams, awkward for other work
- Agent coding sessions use paid AI credits
Linear is the issue tracker developers actually enjoy using. It is very fast, fully keyboard-driven and opinionated in a good way, with cycles, projects and triage that keep work moving without endless setup. It now reaches further, with Linear Agent, agent coding sessions and code review in Linear Diffs. The trade-off is flexibility: if you need deeply custom workflows, fields and reports, it can feel limiting.
Full Linear review
