The Best Windows Notepad AlternativesTop Text Editors and other similar apps like Windows Notepad

Windows Notepad is described as 'Fast, lightweight editor bundled with Windows since 1985. Supports plain text, UTF-8, Linux newline, over 100 languages, with improved features' and is a very popular Text Editor in the os & utilities category. There are more than 100 alternatives to Windows Notepad for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD and Web-based apps. The best Windows Notepad alternative is Notepad++, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Windows Notepad are Sublime Text, Vim, Kate and gedit.

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Windows Notepad alternatives are mainly Text Editors, but if you're looking for Code Editors or IDEs you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Open Source, Text Editors, Linux, Windows + Free, Windows and Windows + Lightweight. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Windows Notepad.
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Windows Notepad alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. Notepad++ icon
     4962 likes

    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.

    254 Notepad++ alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
     
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    6
  2. Sublime Text icon
     2057 likes

    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.

    199 Sublime Text alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
     
  3. Vim icon
     1355 likes

    Advanced text editor with syntax highlighting, word completion, multiple editing modes for efficiency, plugin and script extensibility, GUI and command-line operation, a thorough help system, and cross-platform support across various operating systems.

    218 Vim alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • Haiku
    • Flatpak
    • AmigaOS
    • OpenSolaris
    • MorphOS
     
  4. Kate icon
     321 likes

    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.

    149 Kate alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • KDE Plasma
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Snapcraft
     
  5. gedit icon
     698 likes

    Extensible text editor with UTF-8 support, syntax highlighting for several programming and markup languages, remote editing, file reverting, print preview, clipboard operations, powerful search, customizable fonts and colors, line numbering, and plugin support.

    194 gedit alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Chrome OS
    • BSD
    • Flathub
    • GNOME
    • OpenSolaris
     
  6. Notepad3 icon
     65 likes

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

    212 Notepad3 alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
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    3
  7. GNU Emacs icon
     388 likes

    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:

    185 GNU Emacs alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • F-Droid
    • Haiku
    • Debian
    • MacPorts
    • Homebrew
     
  8. GNU nano icon
     294 likes

    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.

    152 GNU nano alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Haiku
     
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    1
  9. Notepads icon
     48 likes

    Considering that most text editors are eather too heavy or look too old, the author came up with Notepads, designed to be a modern-looking UWP app.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
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    4
  10. Notepad2 icon
     291 likes

    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...

    117 Notepad2 alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
     
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    2
  11. TextMate icon
     270 likes

    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.

    163 TextMate alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
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