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Zed Models and Billing: Hosted Plan, Own Keys, or Agent Subscriptions

What each path to a model costs in Zed, which features each one keeps, and how to keep spend visible.

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12 cited
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Who pays for the model when engineers use AI in Zed? The editor is free; cost depends on whether a team buys Zed's hosted tokens, uses its own keys or a gateway, or runs an agent on its own subscription. This guide compares the paths and what each one keeps.

When you need this

  • Finance asks what Zed costs per engineer once AI is on.
  • Engineers want to sign in to Zed with a Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot account they use elsewhere.
  • Model traffic has to stay on one approved provider.
  • Engineers want edit predictions and nothing else.

Evaluation criteria

  1. Zed's hosted plan

    Is Pro worth it for your engineers?

    Look forPro at US$10 per month includes unlimited Zeta edit predictions and US$5 of hosted tokens, then bills at API list price plus 10% with an optional spending cap. It suits engineers who want predictions and light agent use on one bill.

  2. Your own keys or a gateway

    Should traffic go straight to your provider?

    Look forProvider keys, OpenRouter, Bedrock, or Vercel avoid Zed's markup and keep spend in the provider account. One developer moved a US$100 per month Claude budget to Zed Pro plus OpenRouter credits for this reason.

  3. Agent subscriptions

    Will Claude Code or Codex bill through its own plan?

    Look forExternal agents authenticate and bill with their own provider, and Zed charges nothing for them. Check the provider's current terms for third-party clients before relying on a subscription.

  4. Edit predictions

    Which provider serves completion?

    Look forZeta comes with Pro, the trial, Student, and Business plans. On Free, use Copilot, Codestral, Mercury Coder, or a local model. Pilot completion on your own code, since several developers report returning to Cursor for Cursor Tab.

  5. Business seats

    What does a team plan add?

    Look forUS$30 per seat per month buys admin controls and spend tracking per member, with no model credits included, so hosted usage still bills per token.

Questions to ask vendors

  1. Which models count as hosted, and what is each one's list price today?
  2. Can admins cap spend per member on Business?
  3. Does Zeta stay included if a member uses their own keys for the agent?
  4. How do provider terms treat a Claude or ChatGPT subscription used through Zed?

Red flags

  • Engineers expense personal hosted usage with no spending cap set.
  • A team pays for Pro seats while every engineer runs an external agent on another subscription.
  • Spend is tracked only as a monthly total and is not broken down by member.
  • Edit predictions are switched on org-wide without a pilot.

Products in this piece

Sources

Official documentation
9
Public source
3
  1. Zed pricingOfficial documentationzed.dev
  2. Zed for BusinessOfficial documentationzed.dev
  3. Zed docs: Plans and UsageOfficial documentationzed.dev
  4. Zed docs: BillingOfficial documentationzed.dev
  5. Zed docs: ModelsOfficial documentationzed.dev
  6. Zed docs: LLM ProvidersOfficial documentationzed.dev
  7. Zed docs: External AgentsOfficial documentationzed.dev
  8. Zed docs: Edit PredictionOfficial documentationzed.dev
  9. Zed blog: LLM usage is now token-basedOfficial documentationzed.dev
  10. Braw.dev: Reallocating a US$100 per month Claude Code budget to Zed and OpenRouter (Apr 6, 2026)Public sourcebraw.dev
  11. Hacker News, sethhochberg: own keys for a corporate buyer (Sep 24, 2025)Public sourcenews.ycombinator.com
  12. Hacker News, zephod: back to Cursor for Cursor Tab (Apr 30, 2026)Public sourcenews.ycombinator.com

Keep reading

  1. Buyer guideZed AI Rollout PlaybookHow a team picks its agents and models in Zed, sets tool permissions, and reviews agent edits before merge.
  2. ResearchZed's AI Features in Practice: What 86 Public Accounts ReportA coded read of public developer accounts of the Zed Agent, edit predictions, ACP agents, and AI pricing from May 2025 to October 2026.
  3. ReviewZed Review: A Native Editor That Hosts Your AgentsWho Zed fits as an AI editor, where it trails Cursor, and which agent, model, and billing choices to settle before a team moves.
Read the research