What is the best alternative to Visual Studio Code on Mac?

Raycast is our top pick. It shares Developer tools with Visual Studio Code and has 140 upvotes from the community. Zed and Postico 2 are close behind.

What is the best free alternative to Visual Studio Code on Mac?

Xcode is the best-ranked free alternative to Visual Studio Code. 4 of the alternatives listed here are completely free.

Is there an open-source alternative to Visual Studio Code?

Yes. 5 alternatives are open source, including Zed, iTerm2 and Cyberduck.

How many alternatives to Visual Studio Code are there for Mac?

Mac App Index lists 16 apps that share a category with Visual Studio Code: 4 completely free, 7 free to start and 5 open source.

Best Visual Studio Code alternatives for Mac

Visual Studio Code is a free app in Developer tools. We found 16 Mac apps that cover the same ground. Of those, 4 are completely free, 7 are free to start and 5 are open source. Raycast leads on overlap and community votes, followed by Zed and Postico 2.

The app you want to replace

Visual Studio Code

Free code editor from Microsoft

Free · Developer tools

View Visual Studio Code

16 alternatives to Visual Studio Code

How we picked: every app here shares at least one category with Visual Studio Code. Apps that also share features rank higher, and community upvotes break ties. Price and licence never buy a better spot. How we rank apps

1
Hot
Raycast
A faster launcher with superpowers
140Free + in-appDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
- AI
2
Zed
Code editor built for speed and collaboration
83Free + in-appDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
- AI
- Open source
3
Postico 2
PostgreSQL client for Mac
85$69.99Developer tools
- Also in Developer tools
- One-time purchase
4
Transmit 5
File transfer for servers and cloud storage
84SubscriptionDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
5
Proxyman
Inspect and debug HTTP traffic
82Free + in-appDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
6
Sublime Text
Fast text editor for code and prose
54$99Developer tools
- Also in Developer tools
- One-time purchase
7
Xcode
Apple's IDE for every Apple platform
43FreeDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
8
Tailscale
Private network across your devices
38Free + in-appDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
9
iTerm2
Terminal replacement for macOS
38FreeDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
- Open source
10
Cyberduck
Open-source browser for servers and cloud storage
28$23.99Developer tools
- Also in Developer tools
- Open source
- One-time purchase
11
Ghostty
Fast, native terminal emulator
26FreeDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
- Open source
12
BBEdit
Professional text and code editor
25Free + in-appDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
13
TablePlus
Native client for many databases
20Free + in-appDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
14
OrbStack
Fast Docker containers and Linux machines
16Free + in-appDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
15
CotEditor
Plain-text editor built for macOS
14FreeDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
- Open source
16
Fork
Fast and friendly Git client
6$59.99Developer tools
- Also in Developer tools
- One-time purchase

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to Visual Studio Code on Mac?: Raycast is our top pick. It shares Developer tools with Visual Studio Code and has 140 upvotes from the community. Zed and Postico 2 are close behind.
What is the best free alternative to Visual Studio Code on Mac?: Xcode is the best-ranked free alternative to Visual Studio Code. 4 of the alternatives listed here are completely free.
Is there an open-source alternative to Visual Studio Code?: Yes. 5 alternatives are open source, including Zed, iTerm2 and Cyberduck.
How many alternatives to Visual Studio Code are there for Mac?: Mac App Index lists 16 apps that share a category with Visual Studio Code: 4 completely free, 7 free to start and 5 open source.