VSCodium vs VS Code: Telemetry, Build Process, and When to Switch

After noticing that Visual Studio Code silently sends telemetry data despite being advertised as open source, the author discovered VSCodium – a community‑built fork that strips Microsoft’s tracking and branding while keeping the same UI and extensions.

Just as Chrome is built on the open‑source Chromium project, VSCodium is built on the same VS Code source code but without the proprietary additions.

Chromium / VS Code (source) : the open‑source engine released under the MIT license.

Chrome / VS Code (official package) : Microsoft adds proprietary assets, a logo, and telemetry before publishing.

VSCodium : the community rebuilds the source, removes the telemetry and Microsoft branding, and republishes a clean binary.

In practice, VSCodium is the original VS Code codebase compiled without the product.json entries that enable telemetry, the Microsoft Marketplace, and proprietary licensing.

How VSCodium is built

Pull source : the build script clones the official vscode repository from GitHub.

Modify configuration : it edits product.json to disable or remove all telemetry‑related fields.

Re‑compile : the code is compiled in a clean environment, producing binaries that never contain the tracking module.

Publish : the resulting binaries are signed with the VSCodium logo and released to users.

This process guarantees that, even if you change settings, the binary cannot send data to Microsoft because the telemetry code is absent at compile time.

Trade‑offs

While VSCodium offers a privacy‑focused experience, it also introduces several practical limitations:

Pylance : the high‑performance Python language server is closed‑source and only works in the official VS Code build.

Remote‑SSH / WSL / Containers : key remote‑development extensions are proprietary; VSCodium cannot use them without unofficial work‑arounds.

C# Debugger : some .NET Core debugging features are restricted to the official product.

Additionally, VSCodium connects to the open‑source Open VSX Registry instead of Microsoft’s Marketplace, which means many extensions are available but some niche or rapidly updated plugins may lag or be missing.

Feature comparison (core points)

Core code : MIT‑licensed for both VS Code and VSCodium.

Final product license : Proprietary for VS Code, MIT for VSCodium.

Telemetry : Enabled by default in VS Code, completely removed in VSCodium.

Extension marketplace : Full Microsoft Marketplace in VS Code; Open VSX (mostly complete) in VSCodium.

Proprietary extension support : Available in VS Code (e.g., Pylance, Remote‑SSH); not supported in VSCodium without extra effort.

Target audience : General developers who value convenience vs privacy‑focused users or secure environments.

Choosing the right editor

If you require strict privacy or work in regulated environments (e.g., military, finance), VSCodium is the safer choice because it eliminates the hidden telemetry channel.

If you rely on proprietary extensions like Remote‑SSH or Pylance, or prefer a hassle‑free setup, stick with VS Code and optionally disable most telemetry by setting telemetry.level to off in the settings.

Both editors coexist as a demonstration of open‑source principles: Microsoft contributes the code under an open license, while the community reclaims control through VSCodium.

The key takeaway is that you can decide whether to be tracked or not without being forced into a single side.