GNU nano Alternatives

One of the most popular alternatives to GNU nano is Notepad++, which is free and open source. Other popular alternatives are Sublime Text, VSCodium, Vim and Zed Editor. Text Editors like GNU nano are a crowded field, with more than 100 alternatives for Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and the web.

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Alternatives
GNU nano alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  2. Gram icon

    Gram

     14 likes

    Gram is a powerful and modern source code editor. It features solid performance and is highly configurable, yet comes with batteries included out of the box. Gram supports many popular programming languages and file formats, and can use Zed extensions to support additional...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • Gentoo
    • Homebrew
    • Windows
    • SE flagSweden
    • European Union flagEU
    Gram screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  4. Edit icon

    Edit

     21 likes

    Open-source command-line text editor for Windows with a modern interface inspired by MS-DOS Editor, featuring key bindings, lightweight build under 250KB, multi-file handling with ctrl + P, keyboard-optimized navigation, and direct file editing for developers.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Mac
    • US flagUnited States
    Edit screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  5. Ad
    Screenshot
    EmEditor icon
    EmEditor

    Versatile Windows editor offering lightweight, ultra-fast performance with robust support for text, code, and CSV files, AI-assisted writing, macros, Unicode, plugins, syntax highlighting, advanced search, column editing, split v...

    https://www.emeditor.com
    Learn More
  6. Lite XL icon

    Lite XL

     59 likes

    Lite XL is a lightweight text editor written mostly in Lua — it aims to provide something practical, pretty, small and fast, implemented as simply as possible; easy to modify and extend, or to use without doing either.

    76 Lite XL alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Lite XL screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  7. Athas icon

    Athas

     21 likes

    Lightweight, open-source code editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux featuring Vim keybindings, built-in Git support, agentic AI editing with multiple models, syntax highlighting, LSP for intelligent completion, fast performance, and efficient workflows.

    82 Athas alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • TR flagTürkiye
    Athas screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  9. Notepad3 icon

    Notepad3

     66 likes

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

    229 Notepad3 alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • ZA flagSouth Africa
    Supports RTL languages out of the box.
    Good alternative?
     
  10. CotEditor icon

    CotEditor

     48 likes

    Syntax Highlighting: Colorize more than 50 pre-installed major languages like HTML, PHP, Python, Ruby or Markdown. You can also create your own settings.

    182 CotEditor alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • JP flagJapan
    version 4 released 2020-11-14
    Good alternative?
     
  12. Windows Notepad icon

    Windows Notepad

     182 likes

    Fast, streamlined editor with extensive features, bundled with Windows since 1985. Supports plain text, UTF-8, and over 100 languages with enhanced functionality since 2018, including dark mode, Bing search, and large file handling.

    147 Windows Notepad alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • US flagUnited States
    Windows Notepad screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  13. Nextpad++ icon

    Nextpad++

     17 likes

    Fully native code editor for macOS with syntax highlighting for 80+ languages, plugin system, advanced search, split view, macro recording, and a Scintilla-powered engine. Free, open source, universal binary for Apple Silicon and Intel, with native integration.

    68 Nextpad++ alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • US flagUnited States
    Nextpad++ screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  14. Bluefish Editor icon

    Bluefish Editor

     164 likes

    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.

    232 Bluefish Editor alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Haiku
    • Global
    Bluefish Editor screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  15. UltraEdit icon

    UltraEdit

     163 likes

    UltraEdit is a commercially maintained editor built for critical work where performance, reliability, and security matter most.

    233 UltraEdit alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • US flagUnited States
    UltraEdit features an integrated FTP browser and supports syntax highlighting for hundreds of languages, with more always in the works. And with an integrated SSH/telnet client, scripting, custom tools, macros and Smart Templates, UltraEdit's ready for any coding session.
    Good alternative?
     
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