OpenHands vs Aider vs Zed

Side by side, as alternatives to Cursor. Rows that differ are highlighted; the strongest value in a row is marked. Unknown means no source yet.

OpenHandsOpenHands/OpenHands

AiderAider-AI/aider

Zedzed-industries/zed

Cursorpaid product

Cost and coverage

Price

$0 software; you run it

Free plan with limited AI use; Plus $8/month, Premium $30/month, Super $100/month, Ultra $200/month; third-party models billed separately by usage source ↗

Code in an AI-first editor

Partly

Yes

Multi-line tab completion and next-edit prediction

Partly

Yes

Let an agent plan and edit across many files

Partly

Yes

Run terminal commands and tests from the agent

Partly

Yes

Ask questions about your whole codebase

Partly

Yes

Connect tools and data through MCP

Partly

Yes

Run agents in the cloud in the background

Partly

Yes

Jobs covered

4 of 7 jobs

3 of 7 jobs

6 of 7 jobs

All 7

Popularity and activity (from GitHub)

Stars

91,499

49,688

92,013Top

—

Gain this week

Unknown

—

Signal

Building history

—

Commits / 4 wk

345

453Top

—

Latest release

v1.30.0 · 2026-10-22Top

v0.86.0 · 2025-08-09

v1.25.2 · 2026-10-21

—

Commits / 12 wk

740

1,417

—

People committing / 12 mo

54+

12+

312+

—

Issues opened / closed, 30 days

464 / 367

107 / 75

413 / 484

—

Facts, with sources on each project page

Runs on my machine?Differs

Yes; Agent Canvas and the agent server run on your machine by default, or on your own Docker host, VM or Kubernetes cluster

Yes, a command-line tool that runs in your project folder on your computer

Yes, a desktop editor installed on your computer

Hosted by the vendor

Code licenceDiffers

MIT

Apache-2.0

GPL-3.0-or-later for most code, with some Apache-2.0 components (LICENSE-GPL and LICENSE-APACHE)

—

Model weights licence

No separate model weights

—

Commercial useDiffers

Yes, MIT allows commercial use

Allowed under Apache-2.0

Allowed; GPL-3.0 is copyleft, so changes you distribute must stay GPL

—

Paid services needed?Differs

Not required with local models (LM Studio, Ollama, vLLM, SGLang); cloud model APIs and OpenHands Cloud are optional

Not required with local models (Ollama, LM Studio); cloud model APIs (Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek and others) are optional

Editor is free; AI works with your own API keys or local models (Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp); Zed Pro is optional for hosted models and Zed edit prediction

Subscription

HardwareDiffers

No requirements given for Agent Canvas itself; the recommended local model needs a 24GB GPU or an Apple Silicon Mac with 64GB memory

No GPU or RAM figures documented; aider connects to cloud LLM APIs or local models, so hardware needs depend on the model you use

64-bit OS; Windows needs a DirectX 11 GPU, Linux a Vulkan 1.3 driver, Macs from about 2015 on; local models need more

—

Operating systemsDiffers

macOS, Linux and Windows (PowerShell or WSL2); the CLI and per-conversation Docker sandboxes need WSL on Windows

Windows, macOS and Linux, with one-line installers for each

macOS (10.15+, Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows 10 1903+ and 11, Linux x86_64 and Arm64; no web version

—

Setup effortDiffers

Medium; install Node.js 24 and uv then the npm package, or run the Docker image, then add a model

Easy; one-line installer (or pip/uv/pipx), then add an API key or point it at a local model

Easy; download installer, Homebrew, winget or a one-line Linux script, then add an API key or local model

—

Stars over time

Switch to Growth % to compare projects of different sizes fairly.

The chart appears after a few nightly checks.

Notes for a video or post

A plain summary with today's date and a link to the sources. Check each project page before you publish.

OpenHands vs Aider vs Zed (as alternatives to Cursor)
Figures from RepoQuarry, 22 Oct 2026. Sources: https://repoquarry.dev/compare?ids=openhands,aider,zed&product=cursor

Cursor: Free plan with limited AI use; Plus $8/month, Premium $30/month, Super $100/month, Ultra $200/month; third-party models billed separately by usage
OpenHands: free software; does 4 of 7 Cursor jobs
Aider: free software; does 3 of 7 Cursor jobs
Zed: free software; does 6 of 7 Cursor jobs

- OpenHands: 91,499 GitHub stars, 740 commits in 12 weeks, licence MIT
- Aider: 49,688 GitHub stars, 0 commits in 12 weeks, licence Apache-2.0
- Zed: 92,013 GitHub stars, 1,417 commits in 12 weeks, licence GPL-3.0-or-later for most code, with some Apache-2.0 components (LICENSE-GPL and LICENSE-APACHE)

Where they differ:
- Runs on my machine?: OpenHands Yes; Agent Canvas and the agent server run on your machine by default, or on your own Docker host, VM or Kubernetes cluster; Aider Yes, a command-line tool that runs in your project folder on your computer; Zed Yes, a desktop editor installed on your computer
- Code licence: OpenHands MIT; Aider Apache-2.0; Zed GPL-3.0-or-later for most code, with some Apache-2.0 components (LICENSE-GPL and LICENSE-APACHE)
- Commercial use: OpenHands Yes, MIT allows commercial use; Aider Allowed under Apache-2.0; Zed Allowed; GPL-3.0 is copyleft, so changes you distribute must stay GPL
- Paid services needed?: OpenHands Not required with local models (LM Studio, Ollama, vLLM, SGLang); cloud model APIs and OpenHands Cloud are optional; Aider Not required with local models (Ollama, LM Studio); cloud model APIs (Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek and others) are optional; Zed Editor is free; AI works with your own API keys or local models (Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp); Zed Pro is optional for hosted models and Zed edit prediction
- Hardware: OpenHands No requirements given for Agent Canvas itself; the recommended local model needs a 24GB GPU or an Apple Silicon Mac with 64GB memory; Aider No GPU or RAM figures documented; aider connects to cloud LLM APIs or local models, so hardware needs depend on the model you use; Zed 64-bit OS; Windows needs a DirectX 11 GPU, Linux a Vulkan 1.3 driver, Macs from about 2015 on; local models need more
- Operating systems: OpenHands macOS, Linux and Windows (PowerShell or WSL2); the CLI and per-conversation Docker sandboxes need WSL on Windows; Aider Windows, macOS and Linux, with one-line installers for each; Zed macOS (10.15+, Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows 10 1903+ and 11, Linux x86_64 and Arm64; no web version
- Setup effort: OpenHands Medium; install Node.js 24 and uv then the npm package, or run the Docker image, then add a model; Aider Easy; one-line installer (or pip/uv/pipx), then add an API key or point it at a local model; Zed Easy; download installer, Homebrew, winget or a one-line Linux script, then add an API key or local model

Stars show popularity, not quality. Check each project page before publishing.

Want share images and a ready video description? Open a project's creator kit.

Numbers: GitHub, fetched nightly. Facts: read from each project's own documentation, with the source on its page. How we check. OpenHands/OpenHands ↗Aider-AI/aider ↗zed-industries/zed ↗

OpenHands vs Aider vs Zed

Stars over time

Notes for a video or post

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