Open Source Notepad++ Alternatives

Alternatives to Notepad++ for all platforms with Open Source License

Visual Studio Code

Code combines the streamlined UI of a modern editor with rich code assistance and navigation, and an integrated debugging experience – without the need for a full IDE.
- Yet another simple tool reimplemented in the extremely bloated Electron framework. No thanks. Guest • Feb 2018 • 63 agrees and 44 disagrees
- Very nice and fresh software for source code editing with a lot of features swood544 • Mar 2018 • 9 agrees and 2 disagrees
- Incredibly performant and versatile editor. With the feeling of an editor and the power of an IDE avitalbennatan • Mar 2017 • 13 agrees and 7 disagrees
- It has everything that a developer needs! Good extensions for any language, good themes made by users, built in Git, and much more! Guest • Jul 2017 • 2 agrees and 1 disagrees
- Has all same features of Notepad++! also smarter!!!!! Guest • Apr 2018 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees
- Open source and a very versatile editor Guest • Oct 2017
- Loads of features and extensions. Microsoft really knows how to make good development tools. Guest • Oct 2018
- Cross-platform, superior highlighting and plugins. CeesT • Jan 2019
- Open source, handles many different languages, extensible. What's not to love? Guest • May 2017 • 2 agrees and 3 disagrees
- Powerful, fast, free, fully customize-able, and looks nice. Guest • Jul 2018 • 0 agrees and 1 disagrees
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Chrome OS Electron / Atom Shell
Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Built-in Terminal Lightweight Syntax Highlighting ... Autocompletion Customizable GIT support Intellisense Code completion Support for Javascript Multiple cursors Night mode/Dark Theme Bugs C# Scripting Code formatting Code navigation Color coding of code Electron based Embedded debugger Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Git integration MarkDown support Mercurial support Minimap PHP IDE Run Android Apps on Desktop Support for NodeJS Version and Source control Add a feature

568 Like
Atom

A hackable text editor for the 21st Century. At GitHub, we're building the text editor we've always wanted. A tool you can customize to do anything, but also use productively on the first day without ever touching a config file. Atom is modern, approachable, and hackable to the core. We can't wait to see what you build with it.
- What should be a simple application is implemented in the extremely bloated Electron framework. No thanks, I'll take something native. Guest • Feb 2018 • 89 agrees and 31 disagrees
- Atom isn't lightweight as Notepad++ Guest • Aug 2017 • 10 agrees and 0 disagrees
- Despite sometimes high demanding (for an text editor), good as an Editor/IDE. Guest • May 2016 • 10 agrees and 8 disagrees
- Amazing UI, large variety of useful plugins, nice features like multiple cursors, open source and free to use Ruebz999 • Dec 2016 • 5 agrees and 6 disagrees
- Great UI. Great Packages (extensions). Support for several programming languages. Great developers and community. Free and Open Source. Guest • Dec 2016 • 2 agrees and 3 disagrees
- More beautiful and has much more tools donoai • Apr 2018 • 0 agrees and 1 disagrees
- Cross-platform, modern, fast, great UI, great UX, extensible, fast community-driven development, stable... cblock • Apr 2017 • 2 agrees and 4 disagrees
- Atom can split windows and allow users to work on multiple files simultaneously, while also integrating plugins. I would say it's better than Notepad++ for many programming tasks. Guest • Sep 2015 • 0 agrees and 2 disagrees
- Atom is a text editor that provides an all in one solution to all the absolute basic needs today's modern world expects in a notepad replacement. Sleek UI, extensible, cross-platform, and, actively developed, Atom is the defacto choice for the vast majority when wanting to replace notepad/NotePad++ with an editor that packs a real punch in default capabilities and usefulness. Guest • Jun 2017 • 1 agrees and 3 disagrees
- Open-source. Community-driven. A lot of high quality extensions available. Very simple and quick. A lot of customisation if you want. Guest • Apr 2017 • 1 agrees and 4 disagrees
- It's easy to use, predictable, and very extensible. Smarter than VS Code, easier than Notepad++. VenHayz • Jul 2017 • 0 agrees and 4 disagrees
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD Electron / Atom Shell
Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Customizable Support for Themes Package Control ... Community based GIT support Teletype Autocompletion Clean design Code completion Collaborative writing Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Folder Hierarchy Fuzzy Finder GitHub integration Gitlab integration Hackable Integrated Development Environment Interior Design Live collaboration Minimap Modular System Multiple languages Multiple cursors Support for Multiple programming languages Distraction-free UI Package Manager Plugin API Plugin manager Real time collaboration Separated workspaces Support for NodeJS Syntax Highlighting Tabbed interface Unit Testing Add a feature

927 Like
Vim

Vim ("Vi IMproved") is an advanced text editor that allows syntax highlighting, word completion and has a huge amount of contributed content. Vim offers several “modes” for editing with efficiency. This makes vim a non-user-friendly application but it is also a strength. The normal mode binds alphanumeric keys to task-oriented commands. The visual mode highlights text. The command-line mode offers more tools (for search&replace, defining functions, etc.
- Vim is a console app and require to know its commands to use it, while Notepad++ is UI driven, anyone can use it. Guest • Mar 2015 • 48 agrees and 29 disagrees
- Serves same purpose, similar features, different approach, multiplatform, ubiquitous. marcinkowalski • Mar 2018 • 3 agrees and 0 disagrees
- I like to use the vim command line version on windows it feels pretty minimalistic and its appearance gives the impression it goes right to the job of editing text Guest • Mar 2018 • 2 agrees and 1 disagrees
- vim is a console app and relies on a special keyboard command syntax which users need to learn and know. It is already a joke that people do not manage to remember how to quit vi(m) not to mention all the other things people might not remember about the commands. superluminar • Jul 2018
- Fastest in use. You can improve your productivity and performance when writing. Guest • Jan 2017 • 4 agrees and 4 disagrees
- Lightweight, configurable, and fast. Has a lot of options, but all of them are very intuitive. Guest • Oct 2017 • 2 agrees and 3 disagrees
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD Haiku ... OpenSolaris
Customizable Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Keyboard focused Lightweight ... Syntax Highlighting Batch Editing Configurable Dedication to home row Support for Large File Lightweight Mnemonic key bindings Modal editor Plugin manager Regex substitution Spell checking Terminal-based Visual Mode Word completion Add a feature

1089 Like
Geany

Geany is a small and lightweight Integrated Development Environment. It was developed to provide a small and fast IDE, which has only a few dependencies from other packages. Another goal was to be as independent as possible from a special Desktop Environment like KDE or GNOME - Geany only requires the GTK2 runtime libraries.
- Geany in functionality and interface is very similar to Notepad++ Guest • Feb 2016 • 10 agrees and 1 disagrees
- Simple, lightweight. But there're syntax highlighting and code completion. jovin • Feb 2017 • 6 agrees and 1 disagrees
- Free, lightweight, multi platform, open source, customizable. What more do you want? Resdek • Aug 2017 • 7 agrees and 2 disagrees
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD PortableApps.com ... Xfce
Lightweight Code navigation Customizable Support for Large File ... Minimalistic Portable Spell checking Syntax Highlighting Add a feature

479 Like
Brackets

Brackets is an open-source editor for web design and development built on top of web technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The project was created and is maintained by Adobe, and is released under an MIT License. With focused visual tools and preprocessor support, Brackets is a modern text editor that makes it easy to design in the browser. It's crafted from the ground up for web designers and front-end developers. Brackets is a lightweight, yet powerful, modern text editor.
- Stop making text editors in Electron. It's gross. Guest • Feb 2018 • 66 agrees and 29 disagrees
- lacking many features of notepad++ Guest • Jan 2017 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees
- No FTP that works like the NpFTP Guest • Nov 2017
- because i like the UI more than notepad++ Guest • Dec 2017 • 2 agrees and 2 disagrees
- it's easy to use and is open source so a definite runner-up to notpad++ Guest • Dec 2017 • 1 agrees and 1 disagrees
- It has an auto complete feature which makes it better than Notepad++ techcrank • May 2017 • 3 agrees and 4 disagrees
- Free, easy to use, full of features Guest • Oct 2017 • 0 agrees and 1 disagrees
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Electron / Atom Shell
Live Preview Autocompletion Syntax Highlighting Built-in Level Editor ... Extensible by Plugins/Extensions File-sync Multiple languages Streamlined interface Add a feature

386 Like
gedit

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.
- Gedit can't fold code, can't make ident lines, and the ident is strange! Guest • Jul 2016 • 13 agrees and 3 disagrees
- no sorting and don't reconize regular expression when 'replace' or search rmpbklyn • Sep 2015 • 9 agrees and 3 disagrees
- Some essential plugins missing especially around code formatting tools Guest • Mar 2017 • 5 agrees and 1 disagrees
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD GNOME ... OpenSolaris
Lightweight Autocompletion Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Spell checking ... Syntax Highlighting Add a feature

636 Like
Kate

Text editor for the KDE desktop environment with support for multiple languages and syntax highlighting. It is extensible with plugins. Features a MDI interface. Kate is a multi document editor, based on a rewritten version of the kwrite editing widget of KDE, offering all the features of that plus a bunch of its own. Kate has been been moved to the kdesdk package in KDE4, and is a built-in part of your favorite desktop since release 2.2.
- Great syntax highlighting, and good plugin support. Fast and easy to use. ricjac • May 2017 • 5 agrees and 0 disagrees
- Kate is a fast, lightweight, open source alternative to Notepad++ with slick, simple, and modern UI. Compared to Notepad++ it is also available on Linux, not just on Windows. Guest • Oct 2017 • 4 agrees and 1 disagrees
Free Open Source Windows Linux BSD KDE
Code formatting Support for regular expressions Syntax Highlighting Tabbed interface Add a feature

188 Like
GNU nano

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.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD Haiku
Command line interface Automatic Indentation Search and replace Terminal-based Add a feature

208 Like
GNU Emacs

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: * Content-sensitive editing modes, including syntax coloring, for a variety of file types including plain text, source code, and HTML. * Complete built-in documentation, including a tutorial for new users.
- 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. Guest • Jan 2017 • 2 agrees and 1 disagrees
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD
Customizable Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Package Control Scripting ... Self-documenting Syntax Highlighting Terminal-based Add a feature

301 Like
Komodo Edit

Komodo Edit is a fast, smart, free and open-source code editor. Switching your trusty code editor is hard, but give Komodo Edit (or its big brother Komodo IDE) a try: it'll be worth your while. Windows, Mac, Linux? Yes. PHP, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Perl, Tcl, XML, HTML5, CSS 3? Yes, with (customizable) syntax coloring, folding, background syntax checking, and excellent auto-complete and calltips (we call it "code intelligence").

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux
No features added Add a feature

215 Like
Notepadqq

Notepadqq is a linux clone (identical application) of Notepad++
- For those looking to replace Notepad++'s UI and functionality with a similar editor but on Linux, this is by far the most similar to Notepad++. The other alternatives are similar in the sense that they are code/text editors but not that they look abnd work the same. Guest • Mar 2018 • 4 agrees and 0 disagrees
- Excellent editor. Pretty much the same UI as Notepad++ Guest • Sep 2016 • 3 agrees and 0 disagrees
Free Open Source Linux
No features added Add a feature

35 Like
Notepad2

Notepad2 is a fast and light-weight 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 registry.
- 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.
- Small and easy to use, supports syntax highlighting Hexaae • Feb 2018 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees
- It's a good alternative, but they should make tabs! Guest • Sep 2018 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees
- Faster startup, full replacement of notepad.exe for windows Guest • Feb 2017 • 1 agrees and 1 disagrees
Free Open Source Windows PortableApps.com
Lightweight Portable Syntax Highlighting Add a feature

285 Like
Bluefish Editor

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.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux
PHP IDE Support for SFTP Add a feature

139 Like
Neovim

Neovim is a project that seeks to aggressively refactor Vim in order to: Simplify maintenance and encourage contributions. Split the work between multiple developers. Enable the implementation of new/modern user interfaces without any modifications to the core source. Improve extensibility with a new plugin architecture.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Android BSD
Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Add a feature

52 Like
Notepad2-mod

Changes compared to the official Notepad2 Code folding Support for bookmarks Option to mark all occurrences of a word Word auto-completion Syntax highlighting support for AutoHotkey, AutoIt3, AviSynth, Bash, CMake, Inno Setup, LaTeX, Lua, Markdown, NSIS, Ruby, Tcl and YAML scripts Improved support for NFO ANSI art Support for replacing Windows Notepad using a clean, unintrusive registry-based method Other various minor changes and tweaks
- Notepad2-mod is built with the same Scintilla engine as Notepad++ but with a lighter feature set. It's very good if you want a very fast lightweight viewer/editor with some nice extras (syntax highlighting, word completion, line sorting etc.), but not a full on programming editor. joe_meg • Jan 2018 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees
Free Open Source Windows PortableApps.com
Portable Syntax Highlighting Support for Unicode Add a feature

48 Like
SciTE

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 programs as well as SciTE and Scintilla, themselves. SciTE is currently available for Intel Win32 and Linux compatible operating systems with GTK+. It has been run on Windows XP and on Fedora 8 and Ubuntu 7.
- A simpler version of Notepad++. Supports all the jazz you'll need: syntax higlighting, it's clever with Tabs, mass renaminc, etc. No macros though. xxavx • Sep 2016
Free Open Source Windows Linux BSD Xfce
No features added Add a feature

137 Like
AkelPad

A simple notepad-like text editor with many features. It is designed to be a small and fast. User interface in 20 languages.
- Portable, light weight, flexible, simple, fast. Guest • Sep 2017
Free Open Source Windows PortableApps.com
Code format coloring Portable Add a feature

84 Like
TextMate

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. Whether you are a programmer or a designer, the production of code and markup is hard work. Without an editor dedicated to the task, it is also often cumbersome, overwhelming, and repetitive.

Commercial $ $ $ Open Source Mac
Automatic Indentation Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Search and replace Syntax Highlighting ... Support for Themes Add a feature

248 Like
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Light Table

Light Table is a new interactive IDE that lets you modify running programs and embed anything from websites to games. It provides the real time feedback we need to not only answer questions about our code, but to understand how our programs really work.
- Discontinued Appears to be abandoned. Last release was Jan 2016
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Electron / Atom Shell
Clean design Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Lightweight Add a feature

52 Like
QOwnNotes

QOwnNotes is the open source plain-text notepad with markdown support and todo-list manager for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows, that works together with the notes application of ownCloud. So you are able to write down your thoughts with QOwnNotes and edit or search for them later from your mobile device (like with CloudNotes) or the ownCloud web-service. The notes are stored as plain text files and are synced with ownCloud's file sync functionality.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Qt
Configurable Hostable iCal integration MarkDown support ... Nextcloud integration Owncloud integration Tag based Add a feature

41 Like
Lime Text

Experimental Sublime Text clone. The Backend is written in Go (Programming Language). If you are fluent in go, go ahead fork the projekt. This project is at an early stage. It is a chance and a challenge. We hope you are up to it. The Frontend is written in what ever you want. At the moment there are termbox,qt and HTML/javascript implementations. Dart and skia are in discussion. If one of those Languages is your strong suit feel free to push the task forward.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Go (Programming Language)
Distraction-free UI Syntax Highlighting Add a feature

31 Like
Micro

Micro is a terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive, while also taking advantage of the full capabilities of modern terminals. It comes as one single, batteries-included, static binary with no dependencies, and you can download and use it right now. Features Easy to use Common keybindings (ctrl-s, ctrl-c, ctrl-v, ctrl-z...

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux
Beginner friendly Sync with Simplenote Add a feature

23 Like
jEdit

jEdit is a mature programmer's text editor with hundreds (counting the time developing plugins) of person-years of development behind it. While jEdit beats many expensive development tools for features and ease of use, it is released as free software with full source code, provided under the terms of the GPL 2.0.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux
No features added Add a feature

108 Like
Leafpad

Leafpad is a lightweight text editor that emphasizes simplicity. As development focuses on keeping weight down to a minimum, only the most essential features are implemented in the editor. Features: Codeset option (Some OpenI18N registered) Auto codeset detection (UTF-8 and some codesets) Unlimitted Undo/Redo Auto/Multi-line Indent Display line numbers Drag and Drop Printing

Free Open Source Mac Linux BSD Cygwin MacPorts
Drag n drop Lightweight Add a feature

61 Like
ReText

ReText is a simple text editor for Markdown and reStructuredText documents with syntax highlighting and optional live preview. It is written in Python using Qt libraries, able to run on any platforms (Linux and BSD are officially supported).

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD
No features added Add a feature

37 Like