Which API should you use with Zed?

Zed's agent panel costs nothing with your own API key, so the simplest route to one predictable bill is Standard Compute, from $19 a month, added as an OpenAI-compatible provider at https://api.stdcmpt.com/v1. The alternative is Zed Pro, which bundles a small token allowance and then bills hosted models per token. With your own key, spend goes straight to that provider and Zed itself stays free.

Light or occasional use

For a few prompts a day, Zed Pro's included tokens or a pay-as-you-go key will likely cost the least. Pro also brings edit predictions, which are separate from the agent panel.

One fixed monthly bill

For long agent-panel sessions, a Standard Compute key keeps the model bill flat while routing sends routine turns to efficient models. Requests stop when the monthly budget is spent, so size the plan to a real week of use.

API and subscription options for Zed

Prices and allowances can change. Zed plan prices were read from zed.dev/pricing on October 13, 2026. The settings structure and key variable naming come from Zed's API access documentation. Zed pricing · Zed: OpenAI-compatible endpoints. Spot an error? Tell us.

Add Standard Compute to Zed's settings.json

{
  "language_models": {
    "openai_compatible": {
      "standardcompute": {
        "api_url": "https://api.stdcmpt.com/v1",
        "available_models": [
          {
            "name": "standardcompute",
            "display_name": "Standard Compute",
            "max_tokens": 200000
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

# key: paste it in Agent Settings, or
export STANDARDCOMPUTE_API_KEY=sc_live_…

Zed names the key variable after the provider id. Keep the key out of settings.json.