# Real-time collaborative coding in 2026: what still works

The tools that let two people type in one file are fading. What still works, what has shut down, and what replaced it.

Published 2026-10-06 by Richard Kaminsky and Mitchell Lipyansky, the co-founders of Poly. Canonical: https://usepoly.co/real-time-collaborative-coding
Poly is a multiplayer AI coding workspace: a shared room where your team works with one AI agent, together. Free to start: https://usepoly.co/

**For real-time collaborative coding in October 2026, the free options are Zed, an open-source editor with collaboration built into every plan, and VS Code Live Share, which still works but which Microsoft has put in maintenance mode with no new features planned. JetBrains is ending Code With Me, and its servers go dark in the first quarter of 2027. In the browser, Replit and CodeSandbox let several people work in one project, and interview tools such as CoderPad share a live editor. A newer kind of tool shares the coding agent instead of the cursor: Poly, AQ, Superconductor and Zed's Delta let several people steer one AI as it writes the code.**

## Key takeaways

- VS Code Live Share is free and still supported, but Microsoft plans no new features.
- JetBrains Code With Me is shutting down: IDE 2026.1 is the last version that supports it, and its relay servers turn off in Q1 2027.
- Zed is the actively developed free option, with shared projects and voice in every plan.
- Teletype for Atom and Floobits are gone, and CodeTogether no longer offers pair programming.
- As agents write more of the code, teams increasingly share the agent's session rather than the file.

*Real-time collaborative coding tools, from each vendor's site, October 6, 2026.*

| Tool | What it shares | Status | Price |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| VS Code and Visual Studio Live Share | The editor, debugger and terminal | Supported; maintenance mode | Free |
| JetBrains Code With Me | The IDE session | Shutting down; servers off in Q1 2027 | No new sales |
| Zed | Projects, voice and notes in channels | Active | Free; Pro $10 a month |
| Replit | A project and a shared task board | Active | Core $20, Pro $100 a month |
| CodeSandbox | A cloud sandbox | Active | Free tier |
| GitHub Codespaces | A running app; code through Live Share | Active | Free monthly quota on personal accounts |
| Tuple | Your screen, with remote control | Active | $30 a user a month |
| Poly | One coding agent's session | Active | Free to start |

## What happened to VS Code Live Share?

Microsoft's documentation now says Live Share is "in maintenance mode, with no additional features planned." Existing features remain available and supported ([Microsoft](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/liveshare/maintenance-mode)). The page with the notice is dated May 2026, and the extension's last releases came in April.

It still does what it did: co-editing, shared debugging and terminals, forwarding a local server, and joining from a browser, in VS Code and Visual Studio. It also remains the way to co-edit in GitHub Codespaces. If Live Share isn't working, support now goes through Microsoft Support rather than the GitHub issue tracker, which is closed.

## What happened to JetBrains Code With Me?

JetBrains announced on March 16, 2026 that it is ending Code With Me ([JetBrains](https://blog.jetbrains.com/platform/2026/03/sunsetting-code-with-me/)):

- **IDE 2026.1** is the last version that supports it, as a separate plugin.
- **New sales and renewals** have stopped; existing subscriptions run to the end of their term.
- **Security updates** continue until the public relay servers shut down in the first quarter of 2027.

JetBrains named no replacement and said demand had peaked during the pandemic. Its Remote Development features aren't affected.

## What is the best free alternative to Live Share?

**Zed.** Its collaboration is free on every plan. Channels are persistent rooms with shared projects, voice chat and shared notes, and members edit the host's project live, each with their own cursor ([Zed](https://zed.dev/docs/collaboration/overview)). Everyone needs a Zed account, and sharing a project gives collaborators access to your local files, so share with people you trust. Paid plans are $10 a month (Pro) and $30 a seat (Business) ([pricing](https://zed.dev/pricing)).

Zed's [Delta](/poly-vs-zed-delta), in public beta since September 16, 2026, is a separate product for working with agents.

## Can you code together in the browser?

- **Replit.** Teammates join by invite or link. Since its 2026 redesign, each person starts their own Agent tasks, which run in separate copies of the project and appear on a shared board (Draft, Active, Ready, Done); anyone can apply a finished task ([Replit](https://docs.replit.com/build/invite-teammates)). Core is $20 a month with 5 collaborators; Pro is $100 with 15. More in [Poly vs Replit](/poly-vs-replit).
- **CodeSandbox**, owned by Together AI since 2024, runs live sessions where invited people join a sandbox as viewers or editors.
- **GitHub Codespaces** shares a running app through port forwarding; co-editing the code needs Live Share ([GitHub](https://docs.github.com/en/codespaces/developing-in-a-codespace/working-collaboratively-in-a-codespace)).
- **Notebooks:** JupyterLab's jupyter-collaboration extension adds real-time co-editing. Google Colab shares notebooks through Drive, though not the machine running them.
- **Interviews:** CoderPad, CodeSignal and HackerRank all have live shared editors. CoderPad's Team and Enterprise plans include Claude Code and Codex in the pad ([CoderPad](https://coderpad.io/pricing/)).

## What about pair-programming apps?

**Tuple** is screen sharing built for pairing, with remote control, on macOS and Windows (Linux in alpha), at $30 a user a month ([Tuple](https://tuple.app/pricing)). **Pop** is a multiplayer screen share where everyone can click and type. Both share a screen rather than an editor, so they work with any tool.

## Which tools no longer work?

- **Teletype for Atom** stopped working on December 15, 2022, when GitHub retired Atom ([GitHub](https://github.blog/news-insights/product-news/sunsetting-atom/)).
- **Floobits'** domain now redirects to an unrelated site.
- **CodeTogether** has become an analytics product for AI-assisted development and no longer offers pair programming.
- **Duckly's** VS Code extension hasn't been updated since July 2024.

To build your own collaborative editor, Yjs and Automerge are the open-source CRDT libraries most of them use; both shipped releases in September 2026.

## From sharing a cursor to sharing an agent

When an AI agent writes most of the code, two people typing in the same file matters less than who tells the agent what to do, and who checks its work. That is what the new tools share:

- **Poly** (usepoly.co): a browser room where a team works with one coding agent. Everyone sees each step live, the agent asks before it acts, any member can approve or undo a change, and the app runs in a live preview beside the chat. Free to start. [What is Poly?](/what-is-poly)
- **AQ**, **Superconductor** and **HumanLayer**: shared agent sessions for teams, each with a different workflow.
- **Zed's Delta** and **Slack Code**: agent threads in the editor and code channels in Slack.

Compared in detail: [Multiplayer AI tools](/multiplayer-ai-tools) and [Collaborative Claude Code tools](/collaborative-claude-code-tools). For a team building one app together with AI, see [How to vibe code together](/collaborative-vibe-coding).

## Common questions

**Is VS Code Live Share still supported?**

Yes, but Microsoft has put it in maintenance mode with no new features planned. Existing features remain available and supported, and support goes through Microsoft Support.

**What is the best free alternative to Live Share?**

Zed. Its real-time collaboration, with shared projects, voice and shared notes, is free on every plan. In the browser, Replit and CodeSandbox also let several people work in one project.

**Is JetBrains Code With Me being discontinued?**

Yes. JetBrains announced on March 16, 2026 that IDE 2026.1 is the last version that supports it and that its relay servers shut down in the first quarter of 2027. It named no replacement.

**What can I use for a collaborative coding interview?**

CoderPad, CodeSignal and HackerRank all have live shared editors built for interviews, and CoderPad's Team and Enterprise plans include Claude Code and Codex in the pad.

**How do teams collaborate when an AI writes the code?**

They share the agent's session instead of the file. Poly, AQ, Superconductor and HumanLayer let several people watch and steer one coding agent, and Poly lets any member approve a change before it happens.

More guides: https://usepoly.co/guides · Security: https://usepoly.co/security · Pricing: https://usepoly.co/pricing