Crowdsourced software recommendations

Atom Alternatives and Similar Software

Alternatives to Atom for Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD, Web and more. Filter by license to discover only free or Open Source alternatives. This list contains a total of 25+ apps similar to Atom.

A hackable text editor for the 21st Century. If your looking for more info about Atom like screenshots, reviews and comments you should visit our info page about it. Below you find the best alternatives.

The list of alternatives was last updated: 10/18/2018 9:22:00 AM

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Alternatives to Atom for all platforms with any license

Notepad++

Notepad++ is a free source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Based on the powerful editing component Scintilla, Notepad++ is written in C++ and uses pure Win32 API and STL which ensures a higher execution speed and smaller program size. By optimizing as many routines as possible without losing user friendliness, Notepad++ is trying to reduce the world carbon dioxide emissions.
- All needed features included, light weight and to the point. Good support for RtL scripts and customization. The only possible problem found is that the official builds are compiled for MS-Windows only, but it is open source, so that's no big deal breaker! vazirified • May 2017 • 9 agrees and 1 disagrees
- Notepad++ has built-in support for many languages and a great plugin system for more. crlamke • Jul 2017 • 8 agrees and 1 disagrees
- notepad++ has very les plugins and isn't very customizable Guest • Nov 2017 • 6 agrees and 7 disagrees
- Notepad++ is not cross platform and not as performant as Atom MorganGeek • Jun 2017 • 8 agrees and 12 disagrees
Free Open Source Windows PortableApps.com
Lightweight Custom Language Definitions Auto-saving Autocompletion ... Block edit Code formatting Color coding Column edit mode Configurable Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Support for FTP Live Preview Multiple languages Plugin manager Portable Support for regular expressions Side-by-Side comparison Tabbed interface Add a feature

4205 Like
Sublime Text

Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, html and prose - any kind of text file. You'll love the slick user interface and extraordinary features. Sublime Text may be downloaded and evaluated for free without an expiration time limit, however a license must be purchased for continued use.
- SublimeText is by far my most favorite editor in my 32 years of computing as it has multitude of features found no where else and is extendable with packages. Vertical Selection and Multi-caret editing is two of my most used features. Guest • Apr 2017 • 3 agrees and 1 disagrees
- Sublime text is powerful such as adding "anaconda" package makes it a full functional IDE, also it supports lots of important languages like java, javascript, C#, ruby, perl to name a few. The only draw back about it is it's not free but work to buy. Guest • Dec 2017
- It is very similar and easy to understand and use, this program is probably one of the best alternatives to Atom if you are using it for simple text editing and you are not very interested in modifying the program itself, even though both programs are really great, I prefer to use Atom when I'm on linux and Sublime Text when I'm on Windows. Ivann • Jun 2018
- Because Sublime it's almost the same but paid. It only have minor differences on the packages you can install (some are better in Sublime, some are better in Atom). Guest • Nov 2017 • 0 agrees and 1 disagrees
Freemium $ $ $ Mac Windows Linux
Lightweight Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Multiple cursors Package Control ... Customizable Syntax Highlighting Auto-saving Autocompletion Automatic packaging Code completion Directory structure Memory footprint Minimap Distraction-free UI Plugin API Portable Scriptwriting Assistant Syntax Highlighting Text editing Add a feature

1715 Like
Visual Studio Code

Code combines the streamlined UI of a modern editor with rich code assistance and navigation, and an integrated debugging experience – without the need for a full IDE.
- Seems faster than Atom, less resource-hungry. Also using it as the default text editor on macOS. Guest • Jun 2017 • 8 agrees and 6 disagrees
- Much much faster, much better IntelliSense/context-aware suggestions. Even supports debugging. dantex47 • Sep 2017 • 6 agrees and 4 disagrees
- Much faster, highly active development phase, more and more add-ons are added to the marketplace, open source, and cross-platform. Guest • Dec 2017 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees
- Faster, still customizable, more basic things such as terminal built in hum4n01d • Jun 2017 • 4 agrees and 6 disagrees
- It has a great user interface and it is also built with Electron. archmaster • Apr 2017 • 3 agrees and 5 disagrees
- Telementry, key bindings, resources usage. Guest • Dec 2016 • 6 agrees and 13 disagrees
Free Open Source Windows Linux Electron / Atom Shell Mac
Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Lightweight Built-in Terminal Syntax Highlighting ... Customizable Intellisense Autocompletion Code completion GIT support Support for Javascript Multiple cursors Night mode/Dark Theme Bugs C# Scripting Code formatting Code navigation Color coding of code Embedded debugger Git integration MarkDown support Mercurial support Minimap PHP IDE Plugin support Run Android Apps on Desktop Support for NodeJS Version and Source control Add a feature

483 Like
Vim

Vim ("Vi IMproved") is an advanced text editor that allows syntax highlighting, word completion and has a huge amount of contributed content. Vim offers several “modes” for editing with efficiency. This makes vim a non-user-friendly application but it is also a strength. The normal mode binds alphanumeric keys to task-oriented commands. The visual mode highlights text. The command-line mode offers more tools (for search&replace, defining functions, etc.
- Vim offers unlimited customization and consumes very less memory, it supports execution of commands from vim itself and with the right plugins works almost like an ide Guest • May 2017 • 9 agrees and 1 disagrees
- While Vim is powerful, it’s not an easy replacement for a GUI-based text editor. Guest • Jul 2018 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees
- Vim is a command-line tool, which differs a lot from a GUI app like Atom, Notepad++ or Sublime Text. Guest • Mar 2017 • 9 agrees and 25 disagrees
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD Haiku ... OpenSolaris
Customizable Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Syntax Highlighting Batch Editing ... Configurable Dedication to home row Keyboard focused Lightweight Mnemonic key bindings Modal editor Plugin manager Regex substitution Spell checking Terminal-based Visual Mode Word completion Add a feature

1050 Like
Microsoft Visual Studio

Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs for Microsoft Windows, as well as web sites, web applications and web services. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platforms such as Windows API, Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Store and Microsoft Silverlight. It can produce both native code and managed code.
- MS Visual Studio is an IDE, Atom is a programmer's editor. Guest • Dec 2017 • 5 agrees and 2 disagrees
Free Personal Mac Windows Web .NET Framework
Code completion Embedded debugger Intellisense Autocompletion ... Automatic content formatting Azure integration C# Scripting Color coding Development API Exe Compiler Functions Support for Multiple programming languages Nuget Refactoring Add a feature

764 Like
Brackets

Brackets is an open-source editor for web design and development built on top of web technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The project was created and is maintained by Adobe, and is released under an MIT License. With focused visual tools and preprocessor support, Brackets is a modern text editor that makes it easy to design in the browser. It's crafted from the ground up for web designers and front-end developers. Brackets is a lightweight, yet powerful, modern text editor.
- It's fine for a dedicated code editor, but it's not very functional as a text editor. Guest • Nov 2016 • 10 agrees and 7 disagrees
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Electron / Atom Shell
Autocompletion Live Preview Built-in Level Editor Easy to switch encoding ... Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Multiple languages Streamlined interface Syntax Highlighting Add a feature

378 Like
gedit

Official text editor of the GNOME desktop environment. Has syntax highlighting and is suitable for programming, with support for several languages. It is extensible with plugins.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD GNOME ... OpenSolaris
Lightweight Autocompletion Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Spell checking ... Syntax Highlighting Add a feature

626 Like
Geany

Geany is a small and lightweight Integrated Development Environment. It was developed to provide a small and fast IDE, which has only a few dependencies from other packages. Another goal was to be as independent as possible from a special Desktop Environment like KDE or GNOME - Geany only requires the GTK2 runtime libraries.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD PortableApps.com ... Xfce
Lightweight Code navigation Customizable Support for Large File ... Minimalistic Portable Spell checking Syntax Highlighting Add a feature

461 Like
GNU nano

GNU nano is a small and friendly text editor. Besides basic text editing, nano offers many extra features like an interactive search and replace, go to line and column number, auto-indentation, feature toggles, internationalization support, and filename tab completion.
- nano is a great editor when you are in CLI, however, of course, it does not use GUI or has GUI. Guest • May 2017
- Easiest CLI-based text editor for newbies sondrak • Mar 2018
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD Haiku
Command line interface Automatic Indentation Search and replace Terminal-based Add a feature

200 Like
GNU Emacs

GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor—and more. At its core is an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp programming language with extensions to support text editing. The features of GNU Emacs include: * Content-sensitive editing modes, including syntax coloring, for a variety of file types including plain text, source code, and HTML. * Complete built-in documentation, including a tutorial for new users.
- Its more than just a text editor, its an list interpreter and an shell. Good for computer setups without mouse cycroenerugi • May 2017 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD
Customizable Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Package Control Scripting ... Self-documenting Syntax Highlighting Terminal-based Add a feature

289 Like
PyCharm

Python and Django IDE with refactorings, code completion, on-the-fly code analysis and other features, including version control integration, deployment, integration with issue trackers, and remote debugging. There is also an open source version, PyCharm Community Edition, which has some limitations: it does not support database/SQL, UML diagrams, code coverage, CSS and JavaScript.

Freemium Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD
Code completion Code formatting Refactoring Embedded debugger ... Git integration GitHub integration Compare Source Code Add a feature

177 Like
Kate

Text editor for the KDE desktop environment with support for multiple languages and syntax highlighting. It is extensible with plugins. Features a MDI interface. Kate is a multi document editor, based on a rewritten version of the kwrite editing widget of KDE, offering all the features of that plus a bunch of its own. Kate has been been moved to the kdesdk package in KDE4, and is a built-in part of your favorite desktop since release 2.2.

Free Open Source Windows Linux BSD KDE
Code formatting Support for regular expressions Syntax Highlighting Tabbed interface Add a feature

181 Like
Komodo Edit

Komodo Edit is a fast, smart, free and open-source code editor. Switching your trusty code editor is hard, but give Komodo Edit (or its big brother Komodo IDE) a try: it'll be worth your while. Windows, Mac, Linux? Yes. PHP, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Perl, Tcl, XML, HTML5, CSS 3? Yes, with (customizable) syntax coloring, folding, background syntax checking, and excellent auto-complete and calltips (we call it "code intelligence").

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux
No features added Add a feature

211 Like
Qt Creator

Qt Creator is a cross-platform C++, JavaScript and QML integrated development environment which is part of the SDK for the Qt Framework. It includes a visual debugger and an integrated GUI layout and forms designer. The editor's features include syntax highlighting and autocompletion, but purposely not tabs (although plug-ins are available). Qt Creator uses the C++ compiler from the GNU Compiler Collection on Linux and FreeBSD.

Commercial $ $ $ Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD
Autocompletion Code formatting QT Based Refactoring ... Syntax Highlighting Add a feature

68 Like
Notepad2

Notepad2 is a fast and light-weight Notepad-like text editor with syntax highlighting. Simple as possible, but yet powerful. Has full Unicode support. Can be run out of the box without installation, and does not touch your system's registry.

Free Open Source Windows PortableApps.com
Lightweight Portable Syntax Highlighting Add a feature

281 Like
- Discontinued The program is no longer updated. Last version, 4.2.25, released on October 28, 2012, can be still downloaded from the official website.
Aptana Studio

Aptana Studio is a complete web development environment that combines powerful authoring tools with a collection of online hosting and collaboration services that help you and your team do more. Includes support for PHP, CSS, FTP, and more...

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux
Support for FTP Real time collaboration Add a feature

325 Like
- Discontinued Aptana is still in development on GitHub but latest version, 3.6.1, was released in October 2014. It lacks Java 8/9 features, as well as newer Javascript and HTML 5 features.
WebStorm

JetBrains WebStorm is a commercial IDE for JavaScript, CSS & HTML built on JetBrains' IntelliJ IDEA platform. WebStorm provides automatic code completion, on-the-fly code analysis, refactoring support and VCS integration.

Commercial Mac Windows Linux
Support for Javascript Syntax Highlighting Add a feature

94 Like
Neovim

Neovim is a project that seeks to aggressively refactor Vim in order to: Simplify maintenance and encourage contributions. Split the work between multiple developers. Enable the implementation of new/modern user interfaces without any modifications to the core source. Improve extensibility with a new plugin architecture.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Android BSD
Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Add a feature

44 Like
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TextMate

TextMate brings Apple's approach to operating systems into the world of text editors. By bridging UNIX underpinnings and GUI, TextMate cherry-picks the best of both worlds to the benefit of expert scripters and novice users alike. Whether you are a programmer or a designer, the production of code and markup is hard work. Without an editor dedicated to the task, it is also often cumbersome, overwhelming, and repetitive.

Commercial $ $ $ Open Source Mac
Automatic Indentation Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Search and replace Syntax Highlighting ... Support for Themes Add a feature

248 Like
Bluefish Editor

Bluefish is a powerful editor targeted towards programmers and webdesigners, with many options to write websites, scripts and programming code. Bluefish supports many programming and markup languages, and it focuses on editing dynamic and interactive websites.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux
PHP IDE Support for SFTP Add a feature

137 Like
UltraEdit

UltraEdit is the ideal text, HTML and HEX editor, and an advanced PHP, Perl, Java and JavaScript editor for programmers. An industry-award winner, UltraEdit supports disk-based 64-bit file handling (standard) on 32-bit Windows platforms (Windows 2000 and later).

Commercial Mac Windows Linux
No features added Add a feature

147 Like
Coda

Coda is a fast, clean, and powerful text editor with pixel-perfect preview and a built-in way to open and manage your local and remote files. And a dash of SSH too. It’s got everything you expect: syntax highlighting for tons of languages. Code folding. Project-wide autocomplete. Fast find and replace. Indentation guides. Automatic tag closing. Fast commenting and shifting of code. Coda has battle-tested, deeply integrated file management.

Commercial Mac iPhone iPad
Built-in File Manager Live css editing Real time collaboration Support for FTP ... Syntax Highlighting Team Collaboration Add a feature

275 Like
PSPad

PSPad is a freeware programmers editor in 8 languages for Microsoft Windows operating systems. Some features are highlighted syntax, ftp, projects and so on. Code explorer for Pascal, C/C++, INI, HTML, XML, PHP and more in development, internal web browser with APACHE support. Installation contains templates for HTML, PHP, Pascal, JScript, VBScript, MySQL, MS-Dos, Perl.

Free Windows
Syntax Highlighting ASCII to Hex Edit files without creating a project Lightweight ... Portable Add a feature

192 Like
Light Table

Light Table is a new interactive IDE that lets you modify running programs and embed anything from websites to games. It provides the real time feedback we need to not only answer questions about our code, but to understand how our programs really work.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Electron / Atom Shell
Clean design Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Lightweight Add a feature

51 Like
- Discontinued Appears to be abandoned. Last release was Jan 2016
ghostwriter

ghostwriter is a Windows and Linux text editor for Markdown, which is a plain text markup format created by John Gruber. ghostwriter provides a relaxing, distraction-free writing environment, whether your masterpiece be that next blog post, your school paper, or your NaNoWriMo novel.

Free Open Source Windows Linux
Distraction free writing Fullscreen support Support for Large File Lightweight ... Live Preview MarkDown support Night mode/Dark Theme Portable Spell checking Stay Focused Syntax Highlighting Writing statistics Add a feature

39 Like