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

  1. Thunderpad icon
     10 likes

    Thunderpad (formerly Textpad) is a simple, general-purpose and cross-platform text editor written in C++ using the Qt libraries. Thunderpad aims to be faster and more lightweight than most text editors, but as useful as them.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
  2. HippoEDIT icon
     10 likes

    HippoEDIT is a powerful, fast and easy to use Windows text editor, primarily targeted at power users and programmers. It has modern and lightweight user interface, which supports different interface schemes, Multi Tab environment, seamless web and help browser, File Explorer and...

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Good alternative?
     
  3.  20 likes

    Less is a free, open-source file pager. It can be found on most versions of Linux, Unix and Mac OS, as well as on many other operating systems.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • US flagUnited States
    less screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
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  4. TED Notepad icon
     17 likes

    Replace notepad with free Unicode notepad replacement, rich in innovative features, text-processing functions, tools and hot-keys.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Good alternative?
     
  5.  1 like

    ad (pronounced A.D.) is an attempt at combining a modal editing interface of likes of vi and kakoune with the approach to extensibility of Plan9's Acme. Inside of ad text is something you can execute as well as edit.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    Good alternative?
     
  6. 4coder icon
     1 like

    4coder is a minimalist, cross platform, programmable, code editing environment, catering to the needs of low level programmers. It allows you to use one work flow across Windows, Linux, and Mac (with the exception of your debugger... for now.).

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
  7. Left icon
     12 likes

    Left is a distractionless writing tool with auto-complete, a synonyms dictionary, writing statistics, markup-based navigation and a speed-reader.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
  8. MadEdit icon
     13 likes

    MadEdit is an Open-Source and Cross-Platform Text/Hex Editor written in C++ and wxWidgets.

    133 MadEdit alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Xfce
    Good alternative?
     
  9. KillerShell icon
     1 like

    KillerShell puts a file browser, a terminal and a text editor in one window, on one tab strip and one set of keys, so you stop alt-tabbing.

    89 KillerShell alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Good alternative?
     
  10.  4 likes

    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.

    96 Acme alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    Good alternative?
     
  11. Simple distraction-free text editor without any rich text nonsense. The simplicity is a feature.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Good alternative?
     
  12. ash is a simple and clean terminal-based text editor, that aims to be easy to use with modern key-bindings. It is capable of handling multiple files simultaneously and has a wide array of modern features.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
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