Staxly

Zed vs Cloudways

High-performance code editor, built in Rust, with AI + collaboration
vs. Managed cloud hosting across DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Google Cloud

Zed editorTry Cloudways (free trial)

Pricing tiers

Zed

Free
$0. Full editor, extensions, collaboration. AI assistant with BYO API key or limited free tier.
Free
Zed Pro (trial)
$0 limited trial. Zed-hosted AI with Claude/GPT, 150 interactions/mo on Sonnet-tier models.
$0 base (usage-based)
BYO API Key
$0 for Zed. Full AI assistant with your own Claude / GPT / Gemini / Ollama keys — passthrough cost only.
$0 base (usage-based)
Zed Pro
$10/user/mo. 500 Claude Sonnet interactions + unlimited edit-predictions, priority routing.
$10/mo
Zed Business
$20/user/mo. 1,000+ Claude Sonnet interactions, org-level billing, priority support.
$20/mo
Zed editor

Cloudways

Autonomous — Free Trial
3-day free trial. 1 server, 20 GB disk, 150 GB bandwidth.
Free
Flexible — DO Micro
DigitalOcean-backed. 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB storage, 2 TB bandwidth. Starting tier.
$11/mo
Flexible — DO Medium
4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 160 GB, 5 TB bandwidth.
$88/mo
Autonomous — Growth
WordPress-optimized autoscaling. 1 baseline server, 20 GB disk, 150 GB bandwidth.
$100/mo
Autonomous — Scale
2 baseline servers, 50 GB disk, 250 GB bandwidth.
$200/mo
Flexible — DO 8XL
24 vCPU, 128 GB RAM, 2.56 TB storage, 11 TB bandwidth.
$342/mo
Autonomous — Plus
3 baseline servers, 100 GB disk, 1 TB bandwidth.
$400/mo
Enterprise
Custom autoscale, volume pricing.
Custom
Try Cloudways (free trial)

Free-tier quotas head-to-head

Comparing free on Zed vs auto-free-trial on Cloudways.

MetricZedCloudways
No overlapping quota metrics for these tiers.

Features

Zed · 20 features

  • Agent PanelMulti-step AI tasks with tool use.
  • AI AssistantInline edits + agent panel.
  • Channels (Multiplayer)Real-time shared editing.
  • EditorCore Rust-based editor.
  • Edit Prediction (Zeta)Next-edit prediction model.
  • Extensions (WASM)WASM-based extension system.
  • GitHub Copilot SupportWorks alongside Copilot subscription.
  • Git IntegrationDiff view, branches, blame.
  • Integrated TerminalBuilt-in shell.
  • LSP SupportWorks with all LSP language servers.
  • MCP SupportConnect to any MCP server.
  • MultibufferEdit multiple files in one view.
  • Remote Dev (SSH)Edit remote filesystems natively.
  • Screen ShareShare editor view live.
  • Sub-16ms LatencyGPU-accelerated rendering.
  • TasksConfigurable build/test/run tasks.
  • ThemesBuilt-in + community themes.
  • Tree-sitter SyntaxIncremental parsing for instant highlighting.
  • Vim ModeFirst-class Vim/Helix bindings.
  • Voice ChannelsTalk while pair programming.

Cloudways · 17 features

  • Autonomous (WordPress)Fully managed WordPress with autoscaling.
  • BackupsAutomated daily + on-demand. Retention configurable.
  • Bot ProtectionCloudflare Enterprise bot filtering add-on.
  • Bot ScalerAutonomous: auto-scale based on traffic patterns.
  • Breeze (WP cache plugin)In-house WordPress caching plugin.
  • CloudwaysCDNBuilt-in CDN add-on (StackPath-backed).
  • Flexible PlansBYO-sized servers on any of 5 providers. Full control over stack.
  • Free Let's Encrypt SSL1-click cert install + auto-renewal.
  • Free Migration1 free app migration per plan. Cloudways team moves your site.
  • Horizontal ScalingAuto-scale app servers (Autonomous plans).
  • Malware ProtectionAdd-on ($4/app/month). Scan + clean.
  • Object Cache ProIncluded on certain plans. Redis-backed object cache for WP.
  • SafeUpdatesAutomated WordPress plugin/theme updates with rollback.
  • Staging Environments1-click staging clones with push-to-live.
  • Team CollaborationInvite team members with granular role permissions.
  • Thunderstack (Optimized)Apache + Nginx + Varnish + Redis + Memcached preconfigured for speed.
  • Vertical ScalingResize server specs without migration.

Developer interfaces

KindZedCloudways
CLIzed CLI (shell integration)
RESTCloudways API
OTHERCommand Palette (cmd+shift+p), Multiplayer / Channels, Remote Development (SSH), Zed AI Assistant, Zed Editor, Zed ExtensionsCloudways Platform (web UI), Server SSH Access, SFTP
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Some links to Zed and Cloudways may be affiliate links — Staxly may earn a commission if you sign up through them, at no extra cost to you. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.

Want this comparison in your AI agent's context? Install the free Staxly MCP server.