Notepad++ AlternativesOnly apps categorised as IDEs

The best IDE alternative to Notepad++ is Sublime Text, which is free. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Notepad++ and loads of them are IDEs so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting IDE alternatives to Notepad++ are Visual Studio Code, Geany, Kate and Vim.

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Notepad++ alternatives are mainly IDEs, but if you're looking for Code Editors or Text Editors you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Android, Linux, Mac, iPad, Open Source, iPhone and Chrome OS. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Notepad++.
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Alternatives list

  1. Sublime Text icon

    Sublime Text

     2037 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.

    189 Sublime Text alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Pay once)
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Sublime Text screenshot 1
     
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    19
    468
    Comments about Sublime Text as an Alternative to Notepad++
    Comment summary: Opinions on Sublime Text and Notepad++ vary. Sublime Text is praised for its UI, speed, and usability, with many users appreciating its coding features and availability across platforms. However, some criticize its memory usage and costs. Notepad++ is favored for its ease of use, particularly with FTP and search functionalities. Both are efficient, but users note different strengths: Sublime’s interface versus Notepad++’s utility features.
    Top Positive Comment
    914ian914
    3

    It has all the features I need without having to install more than a few extensions.

    Top Negative Comment
    Nuncio Bitis
    -1

    Sublime Text is too slow, big, and heavy, and a memory hog.

    Hexaae
    Positive
    2

    Crazy pricing. June 2022: 99$/3yrs

    Show more comments
    3 of 19 comments
    Notepad++ Icon
    Sublime Text icon

    • Most users think Sublime Text is a great Notepad++ alternative.

    • Sublime Text is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Notepad++.

    • Sublime Text is the most popular free alternative to Notepad++.

    • Sublime Text is Freemium and ProprietaryNotepad++ is Free and Open Source
    • Sublime Text is CustomizableNotepad++ is not according to our users
  2. Visual Studio Code icon

    Visual Studio Code

     1367 likes
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    Free and extensible code editor with built-in Git support, smart IntelliSense, integrated debugger, 30,000+ extensions, works offline, supports markdown and syntax highlighting for numerous languages.

    199 Visual Studio Code alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Chrome OS
    • Snapcraft
    Visual Studio Code screenshot 1
     
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    19
    267
    Comments about Visual Studio Code as an Alternative to Notepad++
    Comment summary: Visual Studio Code is praised for being feature-rich, extensible, and cross-platform, with strong plugins and themes, suitable for comprehensive coding tasks. However, it is criticized for being heavy and complex, lacking in simplicity for quick edits, where Notepad++ excels. While it offers great developer tools and a powerful development environment, its size and reliance on the Electron framework are seen as drawbacks for simpler tasks.
    Top Positive Comment
    CeesT
    1

    Cross-platform, superior highlighting and plugins.

    Top Negative Comment
    redtrillix
    14

    Its quite a big application, and if you wanna just edit a config file or text document, you dont want a big, slower application running.

    Its a good coding app for projects and stuff, but not if you want to make a simple edit.

    Alka (Arthur Beau)
    Negative
    1

    VS Code is wayyy too heavy and slow to be a good alternative to Notpad++. It's a very good and popular editor for everyone, but it's specialy developers. You don't want to use it if you just want something lightweight and quick for editing files.

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    3 of 19 comments
    Notepad++ Icon
    Visual Studio Code icon

    • Most users think Visual Studio Code is a great Notepad++ alternative.

    • Visual Studio Code is the most popular Web-based alternative to Notepad++.

    • Visual Studio Code is Free and ProprietaryNotepad++ is Free and Open Source
    • Visual Studio Code is CustomizableNotepad++ is not according to our users
  4. Geany icon

    Geany

     575 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.

    149 Geany alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
    • Flatpak
    • Haiku
    Geany screenshot 1
     
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    13
    106
    Comments about Geany as an Alternative to Notepad++
    Comment summary: Geany is praised as a worthy cross-platform alternative to Notepad++, often highlighted for its lightweight, fast performance, and customization options. It offers IDE-like features beneficial to programmers, and its open-source nature with GPL licensing is seen as an advantage. While many users enjoy its sleek UI and find it similar to Notepad++, some express concerns about missing functionalities, like file drag-and-drop and shortcut limitations compared to Notepad++.
    Top Positive Comment
    victorkam26
    1

    Simple, light and good replacement.

    Top Negative Comment
    Stefan Monov
    0

    Breaks some of my basic workflows. E.g. can't drop files onto the Geany window (to open them), can't use F3 for "find next"... OTOH the UI is nice and sleek.

    AntumDeluge
    Positive
    1

    So far Geany is the best cross-platform alternative to Notepad++ I have tried. Its UI isn't hard to figure out & has a similar feel.

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    3 of 13 comments
    Notepad++ Icon
    Geany icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Geany is a great Notepad++ alternative.

    • Geany is the most popular Open Source alternative to Notepad++.

    • Geany is Free and Open SourceNotepad++ is also Free and Open Source
    • Geany is Minimalistic and CustomizableNotepad++ is not according to our users
  5. Kate icon

    Kate

     310 likes
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    The Kate project develops two main products: KatePart, the advanced editor component which is used in numerous KDE applications requiring a text editing component, and Kate, a MDI text editor application.

    141 Kate alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • KDE Plasma
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Snapcraft
    Kate screenshot 1
     
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    5
    74
    Comments about Kate as an Alternative to Notepad++
    Top Positive Comment
    RR JJ
    9

    Great syntax highlighting, and good plugin support. Fast and easy to use.

    Top Negative Comment
    Max Fisher
    1

    Kate doesn't have as robustness as Notepad++ has. And feature wise it hasn't got "cache" thing when you want to close a tab and the editor shouldn't be asking whether save it or not.

    avg-gaymer
    Positive
    0

    although it certainly isnt a 1:1 replacement, kate has provided the closest "notepad++ for linux" experience for me - a text editor that can be just a text editor, but with some nice extra features if you want them.

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    3 of 5 comments
    Notepad++ Icon
    Kate icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Kate is a great Notepad++ alternative.

    • Kate is Free and Open SourceNotepad++ is also Free and Open Source
  6. Vim icon

    Vim

     1340 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.

    211 Vim alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Haiku
    • AmigaOS
    • OpenSolaris
    • MorphOS
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Snapcraft
    Vim screenshot 1
     
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    9
    143
    Comments about Vim as an Alternative to Notepad++
    Top Positive Comment
    Marcin
    6

    Serves same purpose, similar features, different approach, multiplatform, ubiquitous.

    Top Negative Comment
    Xandros Darkstorm
    2

    Notepad++ is a gui application, while vim is strictly for terminals.

    RemovedUser
    Negative
    0

    Although it runs as a GUI, you still need to know the vi commands. Unless you don't mind using the menu bar to do everything.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
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    3 of 9 comments
    Notepad++ Icon
    Vim icon

    • Most users think Vim is a great Notepad++ alternative.

    • Vim is Free and Open SourceNotepad++ is also Free and Open Source
    • Vim is CustomizableNotepad++ is not according to our users
  7. VSCodium icon

    VSCodium

     390 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.

    193 VSCodium alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Electron
    • Snapcraft
    • Homebrew
    • Chocolatey
    VSCodium screenshot 1
     
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    3
    18
    Comments about VSCodium as an Alternative to Notepad++
    aaronfranke
    Positive
    4

    VS Codium does everything Notepad++ can do but better. It has more features, is more extensible/customizable, is fairly lightweight, and is cross-platform.

    Guest
    Positive
    5

    The power of Visual Studio without all the tracking of Microsoft in a simple and intuitive layout

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    gregoryem
    Positive
    0

    "VS Codium does everything Notepad++ can", but unlike Notepad++, VSC is extremely heavy and bloated wannabe IDE instead od text editor.

    Notepad++ Icon
    VSCodium icon

    • Almost everyone thinks VSCodium is a great Notepad++ alternative.

    • VSCodium is Free and Open SourceNotepad++ is also Free and Open Source
    • VSCodium is CustomizableNotepad++ is not according to our users
  9. GNU Emacs icon

    GNU Emacs

     387 likes
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    GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor—and more. At its core is an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp programming language with extensions to support text editing. The features of GNU Emacs include:

    177 GNU Emacs alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • F-Droid
    • Haiku
    • Debian
    • MacPorts
    • Homebrew
    The GNU Emacs Manual calls Emacs the extensible, customizable, self-documenting real-time display editor
     
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    3
    33
    Comments about GNU Emacs as an Alternative to Notepad++
    Guest
    Positive
    4

    Emacs is the be-all-end-all text editor. It takes a while to learn, but its code and text editing commands are extremely powerful. There's also a package manager for things like auto completion, automatic running, and more language support.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Negative
    2

    I don't want a fake psychologist nor to play tetris, I really just want a powerful IDE.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Negative
    -1

    Emacs is a security hazard and its usage implies a certain political opinion.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Notepad++ Icon
    GNU Emacs icon

    • Most users think GNU Emacs is a great Notepad++ alternative.

    • GNU Emacs is the most popular Android alternative to Notepad++.

    • GNU Emacs is Free and Open SourceNotepad++ is also Free and Open Source
    • GNU Emacs is CustomizableNotepad++ is not according to our users
  10. Neovim icon

    Neovim

     186 likes
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    Refactored version of Vim, simplifying maintenance, improving developer contributions, and enabling new user interfaces. Features extensible plugin architecture, lightweight resource usage, syntax highlighting, no registration, ad-free, and distraction-free mode.

    103 Neovim alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Chocolatey
    • Flathub
    • Snapcraft
    Neovim screenshot 1
     
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    23
  11. Zed Editor icon

    Zed Editor

     100 likes
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    Blazing fast code editor offering real-time multi-user collaboration, language-aware syntax highlighting, integrated terminal, multi-buffers for tab-free editing, built-in Vim mode, searchable outline, AI coding assistance, advanced keyboard commands, and cross-platform support.

    84 Zed Editor alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Subscription)
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    Zed Editor screenshot 1
     
  13. Lite XL icon

    Lite XL

     52 likes
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    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.

    57 Lite XL alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Lite XL screenshot 1
     
  14. TextMate icon

    TextMate

     269 likes
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    TextMate brings Apple's approach to operating systems into the world of text editors. By bridging UNIX underpinnings and GUI, TextMate cherry-picks the best of both worlds to the benefit of expert scripters and novice users alike.

    160 TextMate alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    TextMate screenshot 1
     
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    11
12 of 53 Notepad++ alternatives