VS Code

VS Code won. It's the most popular code editor in the world and it's not close. Electron-based, TypeScript-powered, with an extension marketplace that has something for literally everything. Microsoft ships updates monthly with genuine improvements. Free and open source (MIT for the code, though the binary has telemetry).

Zed is the speed-focused challenger from the Atom creators. Neovim is the customization extreme. Cursor and Windsurf are AI-first VS Code forks. JetBrains IDEs offer deeper language-specific intelligence for paying customers.

If you're starting out or want a single editor that handles every language and framework, VS Code is the default for good reason. The extension ecosystem, debugger integration, and remote development features are unmatched.

The catch: it's Electron, so it eats RAM like every other Electron app — 500MB+ for a medium project. Microsoft's telemetry is in the official binary (use VSCodium for a clean build). And the AI features are increasingly tied to GitHub Copilot, Microsoft's paid service. The "open source" branding obscures a commercial strategy.