GNU Emacs Alternatives

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.

GNU Emacs iconGNU Emacs
  379
  • ...

GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor—and more. At its core is an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of...

More about GNU Emacs
More about GNU Emacs
GNU Emacs alternatives page was last updated Mar 20, 2025
Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
  1. ecode icon

    ecode

     5 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    ecode is a lightweight multi-platform code editor designed for modern hardware with a focus on responsiveness and performance. It has been developed with the hardware-accelerated eepp GUI, which provides the core technology for the editor.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    ecode screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Support for Themes
    3.  Minimalistic

    Features

    1.  Works Offline
    2.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    3.  Dark Mode
    4.  Portable
    5.  Syntax Highlighting
    6.  Ad-free
    7.  No registration required
    8.  Full-Text Search
    9.  Autocompletion
    10.  No Tracking
    11.  Color Palette
    12.  Tree view

    ecode VS GNU Emacs

     
  2. Orwell Dev-C++ icon

    Orwell Dev-C++

     43 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Orwell Dev-C++ is a Portable (IDE) Integrated Development Environment and Compiler for the C++ programming language.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • International

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Orwell Dev-C++ 5.1.1.0 default layout
    Discontinued

    The latest version is from April 2015. Project inactive for a while, see https://sourceforge.net/p/orwelldevcpp/forums/general/thread/ce51da27/

    Orwell Dev-C++ Features

    1.  Portable
    2.  C++

    Orwell Dev-C++ VS GNU Emacs

     

  4. acme

     4 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Acme is a powerful text editor, development environment and textual-user-interface platform developed by Rob Pike originally for Plan 9 from Bell Labs research operating system, and now has ports available for all major platforms.

    License model

    • Free • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD

    acme VS GNU Emacs

     
  5. Fastedit icon

    Fastedit

     2 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Introducing Fastedit, designed to make editing and organizing your documents effortless. With the ability to open multiple tabs, you can easily edit or view multiple documents at once. The app also features line numbering and custom designs to personalize your experience.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Fastedit text editor Black Theme

    Fastedit Features

    1.  Syntax Highlighting
    2.  Theme Customization
    3.  Vertical Tabs
    4.  Built-in themes
    5.  Automatic Indentation
    6.  Recycle Bin
    7.  Tabbed interface
    8.  Windows UWP

    Fastedit VS GNU Emacs

     
  6. TextPad icon

    TextPad

     58 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    TextPad is designed to provide the power and functionality to satisfy the most demanding text editing requirements. It can edit files up to the limits of virtual memory, and it will work with the 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2000, Server 2003 and 2008.

    125 TextPad alternatives

    License model

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • GB flagUnited Kingdom

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Running in Vista

    TextPad Features

    1.  Search and Replace

    TextPad VS GNU Emacs

     
  7. Ox editor icon

    Ox editor

     2 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Ox is a code editor. It was written in Rust using ANSI escape sequences. It assists developers with programming by providing several tools to speed up and make programming easier and a refreshing alternative to heavily bloated and resource hungry editors such as VS Code and...

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    Ox editor screenshot 1
    Ox editor screenshot 2

    Ox editor Features

    1.  Terminal-based

    Ox editor VS GNU Emacs

     

  9. VOoM

     3 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Vim Outliner of Markups Turns Vim into a two-pane outliner.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    VOoM screenshot 1
    Discontinued

    Last update is from 2017.

    VOoM Features

    1.  Support for MarkDown
    2.  Text editing
    3.  Outliner

    VOoM VS GNU Emacs

     
  10. Caret-T icon

    Caret-T

     Like
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Fork of Caret Editor that has full Tern integration (Intellisense for Javascript)

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Chrome OS
    • Google Chrome
    Caret-T screenshot 1

    Caret-T VS GNU Emacs

     
  11. Editor icon

    Editor

     4 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Simple Android text editor.

    73 Editor alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Android
    • Android Tablet
    • F-Droid
    Editor screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Distraction-free
    2.  Support for Themes
    3.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Works Offline
    2.  No registration required
    3.  Dark Mode
    4.  Ad-free

    Editor VS GNU Emacs

     
  12. Editor.do icon

    Editor.do

     Like
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Editor.do is an all-in-one online IDE and hosting solution for creating, coding, and deploying static websites quickly. With over 1000 templates and libraries, it's ideal for developers of all levels.

    License model

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    editor.do IDE

    Properties

    1.  Support for Themes

    Features

    1.  Dark Mode
    2.  Support for Bootstrap
    3.  Autocompletion
    4.  Code Formatting
    5.  Live Preview
    6.  No Tracking

    Editor.do VS GNU Emacs

     
You are at page 8 of GNU Emacs alternatives