VS Code

VS Code is the default code editor: editing, debugging, Git integration, extensions for any language. Over 70% of developers use it. It's the editor you don't have to justify choosing. MIT licensed source code (the binary distribution has Microsoft's telemetry and license), TypeScript. The extension marketplace has over 40,000 extensions: language support, themes, debuggers, AI assistants, database clients, container tools. Built-in terminal, built-in Git, built-in debugging for most languages.

Completely free. The editor, every extension in the marketplace, the web version at vscode.dev, all free. Microsoft makes money from Azure and GitHub integrations, not from VS Code itself.

Solo through enterprise: free at every scale. Settings Sync keeps your setup consistent across machines. Remote development extensions let you code on a server or inside a container from your local machine. Live Share does real-time collaboration.

The catch: it's an Electron app, a web browser pretending to be a desktop app. On older machines, it uses noticeable RAM (500MB-1GB+). With many extensions loaded, it gets sluggish. The Microsoft telemetry in the official binary bothers some people. VSCodium is a community build without it. And if you want a terminal-native, keyboard-driven workflow, Neovim or Zed will feel faster and lighter.