Mousepad AlternativesOnly apps categorised as IDEs for Windows

Mousepad is not available for Windows but there are plenty of alternatives that runs on Windows with similar functionality. The best Windows IDE alternative is Visual Studio Code, which is free. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Mousepad and 17 are IDEs available for Windows so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Windows IDE alternatives to Mousepad are VSCodium, Sublime Text, Vim and Geany.

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Mousepad alternatives are mainly Text Editors but may also be Code Editors or IDEs.  Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Mousepad.
Mousepad iconMousepad
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  • ...

A simple text editor for the Xfce desktop environment. Mousepad aims to be an easy-to-use and fast editor for quickly editing text files, not a development environment or an editor with a huge bunch of plugins.

More about Mousepad
More about Mousepad
Mousepad alternatives page was last updated Jan 2, 2025
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  1. Visual Studio Code icon
    Visual Studio Code icon

    Visual Studio Code

     1289 likes
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    Visual Studio Code is a free and extensible code editor for building web, desktop, and mobile applications, using any programming language and framework.

    212 Visual Studio Code alternatives
    Visual Studio Code screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Chrome OS
    Visual Studio Code screenshot 1
    Visual Studio Code screenshot 2
    +2
    Visual Studio Code screenshot 3

    Properties

    1.  Customizable
    2.  Support for Themes

    Features

    1.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    2.  Autocompletion
    3.  Built-in terminal emulation
    4.  Syntax Highlighting
    5.  Code Completion
    6.  Multiple languages
    7. Git icon  Git Support
    8. GitHub icon  GitHub Integration
    9.  Dark Mode
    10.  Supports Python
    11.  C++
    12.  Source code debugging
    Visual Studio Code iconMousepad Icon

    Visual Studio Code VS Mousepad

    Is Visual Studio Code a good alternative to Mousepad?
     
    Comments about Visual Studio Code as an Alternative to Mousepad
     
    AdinanCenci

    Visual Studio Code is a professional tool for programmers and developers, Mousepad is a bare bones text editor.

    Negative comment •Aug 14, 2021
    1
    Guest

    It's heavy-weight while Mousepad is as lightweight as it can possibly get

    Negative comment •Sep 1, 2019
    0
    Mousepad Icon
    Visual Studio Code icon

    • Visual Studio Code is the most popular Web-based, Mac & Linux alternative to Mousepad.

    • Visual Studio Code is Free and ProprietaryMousepad is Free and Open Source
    • Visual Studio Code is CustomizableMousepad is not according to our users
  2. VSCodium icon
    VSCodium icon

    VSCodium

     323 likes
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    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.

    201 VSCodium alternatives
    VSCodium screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Electron

    Properties

    1.  Customizable
    2.  Privacy focused
    3.  Support for Themes

    Features

    1.  No Tracking
    2.  Prevent telemetry
    3.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    4.  Works Offline
    5.  No registration required
    6.  MIT License
    7.  Autocompletion
    8. Git icon  Git integration
    9.  Dark Mode
    10.  Syntax Highlighting
    11.  Ad-free
    12.  Minimap
    VSCodium iconMousepad Icon

    VSCodium VS Mousepad

    Is VSCodium a good alternative to Mousepad?
     
    Comments about VSCodium as an Alternative to Mousepad
     
    AdinanCenci

    VSCodium is a professional tool for programmers and developers, Mousepad is a bare bones text editor.

    Negative comment •Aug 14, 2021
    1
    Mousepad Icon
    VSCodium icon
    • VSCodium is Free and Open SourceMousepad is also Free and Open Source
    • VSCodium is Customizable and Privacy focusedMousepad is not according to our users
  4. Sublime Text icon
    Sublime Text icon

    Sublime Text

     2003 likes
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    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.

    200 Sublime Text alternatives
    Sublime Text screenshot 1

    License model

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Sublime Text screenshot 1
    Sublime Text screenshot 2
    +1
    Sublime Text screenshot 3

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Customizable
    3.  Clean design
    4.  Distraction-free

    Features

    1.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    2.  Package Control
    3.  Syntax Highlighting
    4.  Multiple Cursors
    5.  Text editing
    6.  No Tracking
    7.  Dark Mode
    8.  Simple text editor
    9.  Tabbed interface
    10.  Support for MarkDown
    11.  Works Offline
    12. Git icon  Git Support
    Sublime Text iconMousepad Icon

    Sublime Text VS Mousepad

    Is Sublime Text a good alternative to Mousepad?
     

    • Sublime Text is the most popular commercial alternative to Mousepad.

    • Sublime Text is Paid and ProprietaryMousepad is Free and Open Source
    • Sublime Text is Lightweight and CustomizableMousepad is not according to our users
  5. Vim icon
    Vim icon

    Vim

     1308 likes
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    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.

    212 Vim alternatives
    Vim screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Haiku
    • AmigaOS
    • OpenSolaris
    • MorphOS
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Snapcraft
    GVim with netrw+airlines+ctrlspace+xkb-switch+monokai theme+Source Pro font
    Plugin Gitgutter shows added lines as '+' and altere as '~'.

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Keyboard focused
    3.  Customizable

    Features

    1.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    2.  Syntax Highlighting
    3.  Hackable
    4.  Well documented
    5.  Modal editor
    6.  Command line interface
    7.  Works Offline
    8.  Support for MarkDown
    9.  No registration required
    10.  Portable
    11.  Batch Editing
    12.  Terminal-based
    Vim iconMousepad Icon

    Vim VS Mousepad

    Is Vim a good alternative to Mousepad?
     
    Comments about Vim as an Alternative to Mousepad
     
    Guest

    Mousepad is a GUI text editor; Vim is a command line based editor. Both are great in their own ways but they are used in completely different contexts.

    Negative comment •Nov 11, 2020
    4
    AdinanCenci

    Vim is a professional tool for programmers and developers, Mousepad is a bare bones text editor.

    Negative comment •Aug 14, 2021
    0
    Guest

    An absolutely beautiful-yet-minimalist hotkey-based editing setup, legendary extensibility, and outstanding community support & extensions.

    ...In other words: it's freakin' awesome!!

    Positive comment •Mar 20, 2018
    1
    Mousepad Icon
    Vim icon
    • Vim is Free and Open SourceMousepad is also Free and Open Source
    • Vim is Lightweight and CustomizableMousepad is not according to our users
  6. Geany icon
    Geany icon

    Geany

     559 likes
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    Geany is a powerful, stable and lightweight programmer's text editor that provides tons of useful features without bogging down your workflow.

    150 Geany alternatives
    Geany screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • PortableApps.com
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Snapcraft
    Geany screenshot 1
    Geany screenshot 2
    +5
    Geany screenshot 3

    Properties

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

    Features

    1.  Multiplatform
    2.  Syntax Highlighting
    3.  Code navigation
    4.  Automatic Indentation
    5.  Shell integration
    6.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    7. LaTeX icon  Support for LaTeX
    8.  Ad-free
    9.  Autocompletion
    10.  Code Formatting
    11.  Batch Editing
    12.  Debian package compatible
    Geany iconMousepad Icon

    Geany VS Mousepad

    Is Geany a good alternative to Mousepad?
     
    Comments about Geany as an Alternative to Mousepad
     
    Guest

    Notepad is a text editor; Geany is an IDE. Recommending it to someone looking for a text editor is like, you ask me for a butter knife and I hand you a chainsaw.

    Negative comment •Nov 11, 2020
    -1
    Mousepad Icon
    Geany icon

    • Most users think Geany is a great Mousepad alternative.

    • Geany is Free and Open SourceMousepad is also Free and Open Source
    • Geany is Lightweight and MinimalisticMousepad is not according to our users
  7. Notepad3 icon
    Notepad3 icon

    Notepad3

     53 likes
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    Notepad3 is a fast and light-weight text editor with syntax highlighting for programming jobs. Auto-completion, Multi-language, Dark mode more.

    209 Notepad3 alternatives
    Supports RTL languages out of the box.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Notepad3 screenshot 1
    Notepad3 screenshot 2
    +1
    Select Syntax Scheme

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Support for Unicode
    2.  Small-footprint
    3.  Multiple languages
    4.  Syntax Highlighting
    5.  Search and Replace
    6.  Portable
    7.  Support for regular expressions
    8.  No registration required
    9.  Ad-free
    10.  Works Offline
    11.  Dark Mode
    12.  No Tracking
    Notepad3 iconMousepad Icon

    Notepad3 VS Mousepad

    Is Notepad3 a good alternative to Mousepad?
     
  9. Aide IDE icon
    Aide IDE icon

    Aide IDE

     12 likes
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    Open-source code editor, enhancing VS Code with AI tools for chat-edit flow, proactive linter suggestions, AI completions, and AST navigation. Integrates with swebench-lite, empowering intelligent development with an inline AI widget and smart agents.

    55 Aide IDE alternatives
    Aide IDE screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Aide IDE screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  No registration required
    2.  No Tracking
    3.  Works Offline
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  Autocompletion
    6.  Syntax Highlighting
    7.  Code Completion
    8.  VSCode
    9.  Linting
    10.  AI-Powered
    Aide IDE iconMousepad Icon

    Aide IDE VS Mousepad

    Is Aide IDE a good alternative to Mousepad?
     
  10. Lapce icon
    Lapce icon

    Lapce

     25 likes
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    Lightning-fast and Powerful Code Editor written in Rust.

    196 Lapce alternatives
    Lapce screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Support for Themes

    Features

    1.  Rust
    2.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    3.  Built-in terminal emulation
    4.  Syntax Highlighting
    5. Git icon  Git Support
    6.  No registration required
    7.  Full-Text Search
    8.  Ad-free
    9.  Works Offline
    10.  Dark Mode
    11.  Modal editor
    Lapce iconMousepad Icon

    Lapce VS Mousepad

    Is Lapce a good alternative to Mousepad?
     
  11. Bluefish Editor icon
    Bluefish Editor icon

    Bluefish Editor

     160 likes
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    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.

    219 Bluefish Editor alternatives
    Bluefish Editor screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub

    Bluefish Editor Features

    1.  Arduino
    2.  PHP IDE
    3.  Support for SFTP
    Bluefish Editor screenshot 1
    Bluefish Editor screenshot 2
    Bluefish Editor iconMousepad Icon

    Bluefish Editor VS Mousepad

    Is Bluefish Editor a good alternative to Mousepad?
     
    Comments about Bluefish Editor as an Alternative to Mousepad
     
    tuva-hayabi

    Mousepad is a text editor, nothing more, and Bluefish is actually an editor for HTML, CSS and web programming languages like PHP, JavaScript and such. But Bluefish can be used as a plain text editor as well, in my opinion, as it is lightweight enough.

    Positive comment •Feb 18, 2022
    0
    Mousepad Icon
    Bluefish Editor icon
    • Bluefish Editor is Free and Open SourceMousepad is also Free and Open Source
  12. Zasper icon
    Zasper icon

    Zasper

     6 likes
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    A powerful IDE for data science, Zasper excels with massive concurrency support, enabling numerous simultaneous connections, minimal memory usage, and speedy performance. Suited for REPL-style data apps like Jupyter notebooks, fully supported on Mac with limited Linux support.

    64 Zasper alternatives
    Zasper screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Zasper screenshot 1
    Zasper screenshot 2
    +5
    Zasper screenshot 3

    Properties

    1.  Support for Themes
    2.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  No Tracking
    2.  Works Offline
    3.  Syntax Highlighting
    4.  No registration required
    5.  Dark Mode
    6.  Ad-free
    7.  Built-in terminal emulation
    8.  Data science
    9.  Version Control Integration
    10.  Electron based
    Zasper iconMousepad Icon

    Zasper VS Mousepad

    Is Zasper a good alternative to Mousepad?
     
10 of 17 Mousepad alternatives