Notepad 4 AlternativesText & Code Editors like Notepad 4

Notepad 4 is described as 'A lightweight Scintilla based text editor with syntax highlighting, code folding, auto-completion and API list for many programming languages and documents, bundled with file browser plugin matepath' and is a Text Editor in the development category. There are more than 25 alternatives to Notepad 4 for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD and Flathub apps. The best Notepad 4 alternative is Notepad++, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Notepad 4 are Vim, Geany, gedit and GNU nano.

Notepad 4 iconNotepad 4
  4
  • ...

A lightweight Scintilla based text editor with syntax highlighting, code folding, auto-completion and API list for many...

More about Notepad 4
More about Notepad 4
Notepad 4 alternatives page was last updated Jul 8, 2025
Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
  1. Notepad++ icon

    Notepad++

     4878 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    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.

    239 Notepad++ alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • FR flagFrance
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
    Notepad++ screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Configurable
    3.  Distraction-free

    Features

    1.  Code Formatting
    2.  Portable
    3.  Tabbed interface
    4.  Search and Replace
    5.  Text formatting
    6.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    7.  Multiple Open Tabs
    8.  Multiple languages
    9.  Color coding
    10.  Support for Javascript
    11.  Built-in themes
    12.  Auto-saving

    Notepad++ VS Notepad 4

     

    • Notepad++ is the most popular Windows alternative to Notepad 4.

    • Notepad++ is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Notepad 4.

    • Notepad++ is Free and Open SourceNotepad 4 is also Free and Open Source
    • Notepad++ is LightweightNotepad 4 is not according to our users
  2. Vim icon

    Vim

     1325 likes
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    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.

    205 Vim alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • NL flagNetherlands
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Haiku
    • AmigaOS
    • OpenSolaris
    • MorphOS
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Snapcraft
    Vim screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Keyboard focused
    3.  Customizable
    4.  Configurable

    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 VS Notepad 4

     

    • Vim is the most popular Mac & Linux alternative to Notepad 4.

    • Vim is Free and Open SourceNotepad 4 is also Free and Open Source
    • Vim is Lightweight and CustomizableNotepad 4 is not according to our users
  4. Geany icon

    Geany

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

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

    146 Geany alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
    • Flatpak
    Geany screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Support for Themes
    3.  Minimalistic
    4.  Customizable
    5.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Multiplatform
    2.  Syntax Highlighting
    3.  Code navigation
    4.  Automatic Indentation
    5.  Shell integration
    6.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    7.  Ad-free
    8. LaTeX icon  Support for LaTeX
    9.  Hierarchical Structure
    10.  Live Preview
    11.  Debian package compatible
    12.  Shortcut keys

    Geany VS Notepad 4

     
  5. Ad
    Screenshot
    EmEditor icon
    EmEditor

    EmEditor is a versatile text, code, and CSV editor designed for Windows. It offers lightweight, user-friendly, and extendable platform, with both 32-bit and 64-bit builds. The software also features AI-assisted writing.

    https://www.emeditor.com
    Learn More
  6. gedit icon

    gedit

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

    Official text editor of the GNOME desktop environment. Has syntax highlighting and is suitable for programming, with support for several languages. It is extensible with plugins.

    182 gedit alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Chrome OS
    • BSD
    • GNOME
    • OpenSolaris
    • Flathub
    The Default look under GNOME with Adwaita

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused
    3.  Customizable

    Features

    1.  Syntax Highlighting
    2.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    3.  No Tracking
    4.  Autocompletion
    5.  Works Offline
    6.  Spell Checking
    7.  Ad-free
    8.  Support for Unicode

    gedit VS Notepad 4

     
  7. GNU nano icon

    GNU nano

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

    GNU nano is a small and friendly text editor. Besides basic text editing, nano offers many extra features like an interactive search and replace, go to line and column number, auto-indentation, feature toggles, internationalization support, and filename tab completion.

    147 GNU nano alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Haiku
    GNU nano screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Command line interface
    2.  Terminal-based
    3.  Search and Replace
    4.  No Tracking
    5.  Automatic Indentation

    GNU nano VS Notepad 4

     
  8. Notepad3 icon

    Notepad3

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

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

    203 Notepad3 alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • ZA flagSouth Africa

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Supports RTL languages out of the box.

    Properties

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

    Features

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

    Notepad3 VS Notepad 4

     
  10. CudaText icon

    CudaText

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

    CudaText is a cross-platform text editor, written in Lazarus / Free Pascal.

    188 CudaText alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • RU flagRussia

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Flathub
    Multi-selections, Replace dialog at bottom

    Properties

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

    Features

    1.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    2.  Native application
    3.  Minimap
    4.  Syntax Highlighting
    5.  Command palette
    6.  Autocompletion
    7.  Ad-free
    8.  Portable
    9.  Works Offline
    10.  No registration required
    11.  Dark Mode

    CudaText VS Notepad 4

     
  11. Windows Notepad icon

    Windows Notepad

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

    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.

    139 Windows Notepad alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Proprietary

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Windows Notepad screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Minimalistic

    Features

    1.  Simple text editor
    2.  Support for Unicode
    3.  Save as txt
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  No Tracking
    6.  Works Offline
    7.  Dark Mode
    8.  Bundled with Windows

    Windows Notepad VS Notepad 4

     
  12. Notepad2 icon

    Notepad2

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

    Notepad2 is a fast and light-weight Windows Notepad like text editor with syntax highlighting. Simple as possible, but yet powerful. Has full Unicode support. Can be run out of the box without installation, and does not touch your system's...

    118 Notepad2 alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
    Notepad2 screenshot 1
    Discontinued

    The program is no longer updated. Last version, 4.2.25, released on October 28, 2012, can be still downloaded from the official website. You can also take a look at this active fork: https://github.com/zufuliu/notepad2

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Distraction-free

    Features

    1.  Works Offline
    2.  Ad-free
    3.  No Tracking
    4.  Portable
    5.  Syntax Highlighting
    6.  No registration required

    Notepad2 VS Notepad 4

     
  13. PSPad icon

    PSPad

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

    PSPad is a freeware programmers editor in 8 languages for Microsoft Windows operating systems. Some features are highlighted syntax, ftp, projects and so on. Code explorer for Pascal, C/C++, INI, HTML, XML, PHP and more in development, internal web browser with APACHE support.

    166 PSPad alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Proprietary

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • CZ flagCzechia
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Main Window - Project Settings

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Syntax Highlighting
    2.  Support for MarkDown
    3.  Support for scripting
    4.  No registration required
    5.  Portable
    6.  WYSIWYG Support
    7.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    8.  Code Formatting
    9.  Ad-free
    10.  Works Offline
    11.  Hex Editor
    12.  ASCII to Hex

    PSPad VS Notepad 4

     
  14. UltraEdit icon

    UltraEdit

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

    UltraEdit is the ideal text, HTML and HEX editor, and an advanced PHP, Perl, Java and JavaScript editor for programmers. An industry-award winner, UltraEdit supports disk-based 64-bit file handling (standard) on 32-bit Windows platforms (Windows 2000 and later).

    204 UltraEdit alternatives

    License model

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    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.

    UltraEdit Features

    1.  Column based text editing
    2.  Support for large files
    3.  Hex Editor

    UltraEdit VS Notepad 4

     

    • UltraEdit is the most popular commercial alternative to Notepad 4.

    • UltraEdit is Paid and ProprietaryNotepad 4 is Free and Open Source
  15. SciTE icon

    SciTE

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

    SciTE is a SCIntilla based Text Editor. Originally built to demonstrate Scintilla, it has grown to be a generally useful editor with facilities for building and running programs. It is best used for jobs with simple configurations - I use it for building test and demonstration...

    150 SciTE alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • AU flagAustralia

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Xfce
    SciTE screenshot 1

    SciTE VS Notepad 4

     
12 of 47 Notepad 4 alternatives