Open Source Windows Notepad Alternatives for Windows

There are many alternatives to Windows Notepad for Windows if you are looking for a replacement. The best open source Windows alternative is Notepad++. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Windows Notepad and many of them are open source and available for Windows so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source Windows alternatives to Windows Notepad are Vim, Kate, gedit and Notepad3.

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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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Alternatives list

  1. Notepad++ icon
     4966 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.

    255 Notepad++ alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
     
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    6
  2. Vim icon
     1360 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.

    220 Vim alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • Haiku
    • Flatpak
    • AmigaOS
    • OpenSolaris
    • MorphOS
     
  3. Kate icon
     323 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.

    151 Kate alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • KDE Plasma
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Snapcraft
     
  4. gedit icon
     697 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.

    196 gedit alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Chrome OS
    • BSD
    • Flathub
    • GNOME
    • OpenSolaris
     
  5. 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.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
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    3
  6. GNU nano icon
     295 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.

    153 GNU nano alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Haiku
     
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    1
  7. GNU Emacs icon
     389 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:

    187 GNU Emacs alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • F-Droid
    • Haiku
    • Debian
    • MacPorts
    • Homebrew
     
  8. 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.

    25 Notepads alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
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    4
  9. 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
  10. SciTE icon
     150 likes

    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...

    157 SciTE alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Xfce
     
  11. Notepad 4 icon
     4 likes

    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.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
12 of 44 Windows Notepad alternatives