VS Code

VS Code is the default code editor: editing, debugging, Git integration, and extensions for any language. About three quarters of developers use it, per Stack Overflow's 2025 survey. It's the editor you don't have to justify choosing. The source is MIT licensed, while the official download is a Microsoft build with its own license and telemetry. Built-in terminal, built-in Git, built-in debugging for most languages, and a marketplace with tens of thousands of extensions.

The editor is free for private and commercial use, and so is the web version at vscode.dev. Most extensions are free, though publishers can charge, and the built-in AI features run on your GitHub Copilot plan or your own model key. Copilot Chat itself is now open source inside the main repo, and one setting turns all the AI features off.

Solo through enterprise: free at every scale. Settings Sync keeps your setup consistent across machines. Remote development extensions let you code on a server or inside a container from your local machine. Live Share does real-time collaboration.

The catch: it's an Electron app, a web browser pretending to be a desktop app, and it gets heavy with many extensions loaded. The Microsoft telemetry in the official binary bothers some people, and you can opt out of much of it but not all. VSCodium is a community build without it. For a lighter, keyboard-driven workflow, neovim/neovim or zed-industries/zed will feel faster.