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Side-by-side comparison · Coding & Dev Tools

Factory vs Google Antigravity vs Zed

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Factory

3.8

From $20/mo

Google Antigravity

3.9

From $19.99/mo

Best overall

Zed

4.3

From $10/mo

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Pick it if: Software teams that want AI agents to take tickets off the backlog and come back with finished pull requests.

Pick it if: Google AI Pro subscribers, and anyone who wants to try handing coding work to AI agents for free.

Zed4.3
Best overallBest value

Pick it if: Developers who want a fast editor and already pay for Claude or another AI provider.

Overview

AttributeFactoryGoogle AntigravityZed
In one lineAI coding agents called Droids that take on whole engineering tasks from your backlog.Google's free coding app. You hand tasks to AI agents and review what they produce.A fast, free, open-source code editor that runs Claude Code and other AI agents inside it.
Pricing modelPaidFreemiumOpen source
Starting price$20/mo$19.99/mo$10/mo
Free plan No Yes Yes
Works with Claude Code Yes No Yes

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeFactoryGoogle AntigravityZed
Overall rating3.83.94.3Winner
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
3.0
3.5
3.5
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.5
4.0
4.0
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
4.0
4.0
4.0
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
3.5
4.5
5.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.0
3.5
5.0

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeFactoryGoogle AntigravityZed
Access & platform
Free plan No Yes Yes
Mobile app– No No
Desktop app Yes Yes Yes
Browser extension– Yes No
API access Yes Yes–
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes Yes Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes Yes No
Connects to other apps Yes Yes Yes
Open source or self-hosted No No Yes
AI abilities
Works with your files Yes Yes Yes
Understands images– Yes Yes
Makes images No Yes No
Makes video No No No
Writes code Yes Yes Yes
Runs agents or automations Yes Yes Yes
Learns your brand or style– Yes Yes
Works in many languages– Yes Yes
Capabilities score8/ 1714/ 1711/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeFactoryGoogle AntigravityZed
Plans

Pro

$20/mo

A developer trying agents day to day.

IndividualOur pick

Free

Trying agent-based coding without paying.

PersonalOur pick

Free

Almost everyone.

PlusOur pick

$100/mo

Developers who lean on agents all day.

Google AI Pro

$19.99/mo

People who already have or want the Google AI Pro bundle.

Pro

$10/mo

People who want Zed's hosted AI without managing keys.

Max

$200/mo

Heavy individual users.

Google AI Ultra

From $99.99/mo

Developers who want Antigravity as a daily driver.

Business

$30/seat/mo

Teams that need spending and access controls.

Teams

$60/mo per team plus $40/seat

Small teams up to 10 people.

Business (via Google Cloud)

From $30/seat/mo

Companies already on Google Cloud.

Business / Enterprise

Custom

Larger companies with security requirements.

Which plan to pickTry Pro for a month to see if the agents suit your codebase. If you want Droids working in the background while you do other things, you need Plus.Start on the free Individual tier; it is the whole point. If you hit the weekly limits and you also use Gemini for other things, Google AI Pro at $19.99 is a sensible step. Ultra only makes sense for full-time developers.Personal. If you have Claude Pro, run Claude Code inside Zed and you are done. Pro only makes sense if you want Zed's built-in assistant and edit predictions without setting up API keys.

Key features

AttributeFactoryGoogle AntigravityZed
Standout features
  • Droids
  • Start work from anywhere
  • Droid Computers
  • Missions and automations
  • Choice of models
  • Public API and SDK
  • Agent manager
  • Artifacts you can check
  • Full editor and CLI
  • Browser agent
  • Gemini models
  • Agent kit
  • Built for speed
  • External agents inside the editor
  • Bring your own keys
  • Edit predictions
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Open source

Pros and cons

AttributeFactoryGoogle AntigravityZed
Pros
  • Start agent work from tickets and chat, not only the terminal
  • Use models from several AI companies in one tool
  • Can fall back to free open models when you hit your limit
  • Strong enterprise options: SSO, zero retention, on-premise
  • Free tier is good enough for real projects
  • Agent manager and verification artifacts make reviewing AI work easier
  • Browser agent tests your app, not just the code
  • Included with Google AI Pro, which many people already pay for
  • Noticeably faster than VS Code and Cursor
  • Free, open source, and no charge for running your own agents
  • Clean agent panel that shows exactly what changed
  • Built-in real-time collaboration
Cons
  • Rolling usage limits make monthly cost hard to predict, and premium models eat them fast
  • Background cloud agents need the $100 plan
  • Less transparent about what context it's using than Claude Code
  • Only useful if you have developers to review its work
  • Free limits have been cut before and could change again
  • Capacity errors at busy times on the free tier
  • Tied to Gemini models, so you cannot bring Claude or OpenAI
  • The product has been renamed and reorganised more than once this year
  • Smaller extension library than VS Code or Cursor
  • Less hand-holding for beginners; it assumes you know your way around an editor
  • Business plan has no SSO yet, which rules it out for some companies
  • Its own hosted AI is basic compared with the agents you can bring

Who each one is for

AttributeFactoryGoogle AntigravityZed
Best for
  • Working through backlog tickets in the background
  • Bug fixes and small features from Jira or Linear
  • Automated pull request reviews
  • Teams that want to mix AI models
  • Recurring engineering chores like docs and tests
  • Trying AI coding agents for free
  • Running several agents at once
  • Building with Gemini
  • Google AI Pro subscribers
  • Running Claude Code inside an editor
  • Speed on big projects
  • Using your own AI subscription
  • Pairing with teammates in real time
You'll find it used by
  • Software teams
  • Engineering managers
  • Developers
  • Platform and DevOps teams
  • Google AI Pro subscribers
  • Developers
  • Students
  • Startups on Google Cloud
  • Developers
  • Claude Code users
  • Open source fans
  • Small teams

Questions people ask

Which is better, Factory, Google Antigravity or Zed?

Zed scores highest overall in our ratings (Factory 3.8/5, Google Antigravity 3.9/5 and Zed 4.3/5). Factory is best for working through backlog tickets in the background and bug fixes and small features from Jira or Linear. Google Antigravity is best for Trying AI coding agents for free and running several agents at once. Zed is best for Running Claude Code inside an editor and speed on big projects.

Which is cheaper, Factory, Google Antigravity or Zed?

Factory: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $20/mo. Google Antigravity: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $19.99/mo. Zed: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $10/mo.

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.

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