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Reviewed by The Empire Reviews Editorial Team — Product testing & research.
We are a small in-house team that buys, uses and stress-tests every product before it is ranked. We have no sponsored placements: brands cannot pay for a higher position. When a cheaper or unaffiliated product is genuinely better, we say so and rank it first. How we test →
Updated June 2026
VSCodium: VS Code Without the Telemetry
VSCodium is a free, open-source build of VS Code with Microsoft telemetry and branding removed. Honest review.
What it is
VSCodium is a community build of the open-source VS Code codebase, compiled without Microsoft's telemetry and proprietary branding, giving you the same editor experience under a clean MIT licence.
It uses the open-vsx extension marketplace rather than Microsoft's, which covers most but not every extension.
What you get for free
100% free and open-source, no telemetry.
Who it is for
Developers who want VS Code's features without Microsoft tracking.
Our take
Same great editor, fewer strings attached. Recommended on merit.
Check current priceWe do not currently hold an affiliate link for this product. It is reviewed and ranked purely on merit.
Reviewed by The Empire Reviews Editorial Team — Product testing & research.
We are a small in-house team that buys, uses and stress-tests every product before it is ranked. We have no sponsored placements: brands cannot pay for a higher position. When a cheaper or unaffiliated product is genuinely better, we say so and rank it first. How we test →