GNU Emacs AlternativesTop Text & Code Editors like GNU Emacs
GNU Emacs is described as 'Extensible, customizable text editor—and more. At its core n interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp programming language with extensions to support text editing. The features of GNU Emacs include:' and is a very popular Text Editor in the development category. There are more than 100 alternatives to GNU Emacs for a variety of platforms, including Mac, Linux, Windows, BSD and Flathub apps. The best GNU Emacs alternative is Obsidian, which is free. Other great apps like GNU Emacs are Notepad++, Visual Studio Code, VSCodium and Sublime Text.
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GNU Emacs alternatives are mainly Text Editors, but if you're looking for Code Editors or IDEs you can filter on that. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to GNU Emacs.- Text Editor
- Free • Open Source
- 108 Obsidian alternatives
Privacy-oriented note-taking app for non-linear thinking, blending knowledge graph creation with wiki-style linking. Supports Markdown, end-to-end encryption, and plugins for customization. Offers distraction-free mode, tags, themes, syntax highlighting, and operates offline without tracking.
License model
- Freemium • Proprietary
Application types
Country of Origin
Canada
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Snapcraft
- Microsoft Edge
- Google Chrome
- Flathub
- Safari
- Mozilla Firefox
Top Obsidian Features
Comments about Obsidian as an Alternative to GNU Emacs
- 228 Notepad++ alternatives
Notepad++ is a free, open-source code editor supporting several languages, offering features like syntax highlighting, plugin support, dark mode, portability, privacy, and efficient resource usage, making it highly customizable and suitable for various programming needs.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Country of Origin
France
EU
Platforms
- Windows
- PortableApps.com
Comments about Notepad++ as an Alternative to GNU Emacs
Many possibilities for all languages and the plugins are great.
- 201 Visual Studio Code alternatives
Free and extensible code editor with built-in Git support, smart IntelliSense, integrated debugger, 30,000+ extensions, works offline, supports markdown and syntax highlighting for numerous languages.
License model
- Free • Proprietary
Application types
Country of Origin
United States
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Chrome OS
- 192 VSCodium alternatives
This repository contains a build file to generate FLOSS release binaries of Microsoft's Visual Studio Code - Open Source ("Code - OSS") project, the open source core of the proprietary Visual Studio Code.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Country of Origin
United States
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Flathub
- Electron
Comments about VSCodium as an Alternative to GNU Emacs
ThomasSankaraIt is also a FOSS development program; however, emacs is far lighter, so depending on what you are looking for, VSCodium might not be the best alternative.
- 192 Sublime Text alternatives
Powerful editor blending code, markup, and prose editing with enhanced features like multi-tab selection, side-by-side definition viewing, and multiple selection tools for swift code navigation.
License model
- Freemium • Proprietary
Application types
Country of Origin
Australia
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- 206 Vim alternatives
Vim ("Vi IMproved") is an advanced text editor that allows syntax highlighting, word completion and has a huge amount of contributed content. It also has a GUI version called GVim.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Country of Origin
Netherlands
EU
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- Haiku
- AmigaOS
- OpenSolaris
- MorphOS
- Flathub
- Flatpak
- Snapcraft
Comments about Vim as an Alternative to GNU Emacs
Most Recent CommentTheBlueRubyMore lightweight, preinstalled on most Linux distros and follows the Unix philosophy
Vim is nowhere near as extensible as Emacs. Vim is designed to do 1 thing and do 1 thing well. In comparison, Emacs is supposed to do everything.
ThomasSankaraVim is the best overall alternative to emacs in my opinion because they share a lightweight and keyboard-focused development experience. However, it is not nearly as extensible as VSCodium, for example.
- 147 Eclipse alternatives
Eclipse is an extensible development platform with runtimes and application frameworks for building, deploying and managing software across the entire software lifecycle. Many people know Eclipse as a Java IDE, but it is much more than that- Eclipse actually consists of over 60...
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Country of Origin
United States
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
Top Eclipse Features
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Country of Origin
United States
Platforms
- Mac
- Linux
- Flathub
- Flatpak
- 96 Neovim alternatives
Refactored version of Vim, simplifying maintenance, improving developer contributions, and enabling new user interfaces. Features extensible plugin architecture, lightweight resource usage, syntax highlighting, no registration, ad-free, and distraction-free mode.
- 146 Geany alternatives
Geany is a powerful, stable and lightweight programmer's text editor that provides tons of useful features without bogging down your workflow.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Country of Origin
Germany
EU
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- Snapcraft
- Flathub
- PortableApps.com
- Flatpak
Not even close to Emacs. Also Electron-based and proprietary