VS Code, native and quiet

Every ask, newest first

Each line is an AI paraphrase of what the writer wanted. The link goes to their own words on Hacker News.

Reader’s note. Speed and telemetry complaints split about evenly.

1. Dec 2025Wants a faster VS Code alternative that keeps familiar ctrl copy-paste and ctrl-shift-arrow selection shortcuts. Read it: a comment in “You Need to Ditch VS Code”
2. Oct 2025Wants a modular, VS Code-like editor written natively. Read it: a comment in “Zed is now available on Windows”
3. Aug 2025Left PyCharm over ads and wants a paid, ad-free Python IDE with step debugging and Claude Code integration. Read it: a post: “Ask HN: I just abandoned my PyCharm subscription, what should I use now?”
4. Jul 2025Wants a code editor with VS Code features but no telemetry or spyware. Read it: a comment in “Performance and telemetry analysis of Trae IDE, ByteDance's VSCode fork”
5. Jul 2025Wants a VS Code fork with telemetry and Copilot removed and full extension compatibility. Read it: a comment in “Switching to Claude Code and VSCode Inside Docker”
6. Sep 2024Wants a natively compiled, VS Code-like editor with plugin support, suggesting someone fork the abandoned Onivim2. Read it: a comment in “Show HN: Void, an open-source Cursor/GitHub Copilot alternative”
7. Sep 2023Would consider paying for a modular, Microsoft-free editor with strong language-server support and an extension marketplace. Read it: a comment in “Ads in the OS”
8. Sep 2023Wants a viable VS Code alternative, since VSCodium and Sublime fall short in small ways. Read it: a comment in “I paid for Sublime Text”
9. Jun 2022Wants a VS Code like editor that launches almost instantly. Read it: a comment in “I’m switching from VS Code to VS Codium”
10. Jun 2022Would pay for a faster editor with good language support and extensions, since Sublime and JetBrains disappoint. Read it: a comment in “Sunsetting Atom”
11. Mar 2022Would pay for a text editor compatible with the extension interface of VS Code. Read it: a comment in “Zee: A modern text editor for the terminal written in Rust”
12. Sep 2021Wants a lightweight GUI editor with language-server support and a few IDE functions. Read it: a comment in “Lite XL: A lightweight text editor written in Lua”
13. Sep 2020Wants a low-latency editor with smart search, fast folder opening and quick built-in version control. Read it: a comment in “The Era of Visual Studio Code”
14. Aug 2017Wants a fast, free, user-friendly VS Code style editor made with a low-level language. Read it: a comment in “Text Editor Performance Comparison (2016)”
15. Feb 2013Would pay for a lightweight Sublime-style editor with jump-to-definition, Vim keys and a command-recipe terminal, no subscription. Read it: a comment in “John Carmack: Latency Mitigation Strategies”