VSCodium

VSCodium is literally VS Code’s open source built without Microsoft’s proprietary layer: no telemetry, no Microsoft branding, same editor, same extension format. For most development work it’s indistinguishable, and it pulls extensions from the Open VSX registry by default.

The catch is exactly that registry: some popular extensions (notably Microsoft’s own — Pylance, the official C/C++ tools, Remote Development, Copilot) are licensed only for official VS Code builds and either aren’t on Open VSX or violate terms to sideload. If your workflow depends on those, use official VS Code and disable telemetry in settings instead. Everyone else loses nothing.