Download VSCodium (Mac) – Download & Review Free

While Visual Studio Code is open-source, Microsoft’s released builds contain telemetry and branding, and are licensed under a proprietary license. You can build the app directly from the VS Code repository, but it’s a hassle, and not everyone may be up for it.

VSCodium is a repository that automatically builds the latest VS Code releases from the official repo and provides direct downloads of the compiled binaries. These use the MIT license and are free of any Microsoft telemetry and branding.

Why use this instead of the official Visual Studio Code release?

For most users, the official binaries will likely be suitable. However, Microsoft embeds telemetry and its own branding when building these, and they don’t use the MIT license, which is replaced by a proprietary one.

If you download the releases provided by VSCodium, you get the same application, minus Microsoft’s tracking and branding, and using the MIT license. They are synchronized with VS Code official releases and are otherwise identical.

This is Visual Studio Code as built from Microsoft’s repository

To be perfectly clear, VSCodium is essentially the same application as Visual Studio Code. You don’t get any additional or altered features, save for the fact that it lacks the tech giant’s branding and telemetry.

Microsoft itself is very transparent when it comes to how the official builds are packaged and what is included, so if you’re concerned about your privacy or the proprietary license, this alternative is a good way to avoid building the code editor yourself.

Everything good about Visual Studio Code, with MIT licensing and lacking telemetry

Since there is almost no difference between VSCodium and VS Code, there is little point in talking about the app’s actual features. It’s one of the most popular code editors for a reason, with its intuitive design and versatility making it many developers’ first choice.

If you’re already a fan and are looking for an easy way to get freely-licensed, tracking-free builds, you can grab them from here and avoid compiling them yourself.