Windows Notepad Alternatives

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 Flathub 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.

filter to find the best alternatives

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 Windows + Free. 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.
Windows Notepad iconWindows Notepad
  182
  • ...

Fast, lightweight editor bundled with Windows since 1985. Supports plain text, UTF-8, Linux newline, over 100 languages, with improved features.

More about Windows Notepad
More about Windows Notepad
Windows Notepad alternatives page was last updated May 16, 2025
Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
  1. Mousepad icon

    Mousepad

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

    A simple text editor for the Xfce desktop environment. Mousepad aims to be an easy-to-use and fast editor for quickly editing text files, not a development environment or an editor with a huge bunch of plugins.

    76 Mousepad alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Flathub
    • Xfce
    Mousepad screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Dark Mode
    2.  No Tracking
    3.  Works Offline
    4.  Simple text editor
    5.  Gtk
    6.  Tabbed interface
    7.  Drag and Drop

    Mousepad VS Windows Notepad

     
    Comments about Mousepad as an Alternative to Windows Notepad
    danielmichel
    Positive Jan 6, 2025
    0

    It really is Notepad for Linux.

    Mahdy Abdelmotaleb
    Positive May 3, 2020
    0

    It's simple, minimalistic and stable.

    Windows Notepad Icon
    Mousepad icon
    • Mousepad is Free and Open SourceWindows Notepad is Free and Proprietary
    • Mousepad is LightweightWindows Notepad is not according to our users
  2. Notepad.js icon

    Notepad.js

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

    An offline capable notepad powered by ServiceWorker. It's quick, distraction-free, dark mode enabled, mobile compatible (Android, iOS) and minimalist in nature.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • IN flagIndia

    Platforms

    • Online
    Notepad.js screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Distraction-free
    2.  Privacy focused
    3.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Kanban Board
    2.  No registration required
    3.  Pomodoro Timer
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  No Tracking
    6.  Support for MarkDown
    7.  Works Offline
    8.  Dark Mode
    9.  Local Storage
    10.  Progressive Web App
    11.  Voice Notes
    12.  Export to PDF

    Notepad.js VS Windows Notepad

     

    • Notepad.js is the most popular Web-based alternative to Windows Notepad.

    • Notepad.js is Free and Open SourceWindows Notepad is Free and Proprietary
    • Notepad.js is Privacy focused and LightweightWindows Notepad is not according to our users
  4. Antinote icon

    Antinote

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

    Antinote provides beautiful temporary notes, calculations, and custom calculators with lifetime updates. Features swipe navigation, plain text support, instant conversions including crypto, and one-click export functionality. Includes screenshot-to-text conversion, global hotkey access, and more.

    33 Antinote alternatives

    License model

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Antinote screenshot 1

    Properties

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

    Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  Pomodoro Timer
    3.  Dark Mode
    4.  No Tracking
    5.  Currency Conversion
    6.  No registration required
    7.  Stopwatch
    8.  Screenshot to text
    9.  Global hotkey
    10.  Drag and Drop
    11.  Variables
    12.  Built-in URL shortening

    Antinote VS Windows Notepad

     
  5. wxMEdit icon

    wxMEdit

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

    wxMEdit is a cross-platform text and hex editor, derived from MadEdit . It adds automatic updates, bookmarks, selecting lines with a tripple click, a FreeBASIC syntax file, more supported encodings (L1, CP850, CP437 etc, KOI8, UTF-x), better...

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • CN flagChina

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    wxMEdit screenshot 1

    wxMEdit Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  Full-Text Search
    3.  Works Offline
    4.  Portable
    5.  No registration required
    6.  Hex Editor

    wxMEdit VS Windows Notepad

     
  6. BBEdit icon

    BBEdit

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

    BBEdit is a professional HTML and text editor for the Macintosh. Specifically crafted in response to the needs of Web authors and software developers, this award-winning product provides an abundance of high-performance features for editing, searching, and manipulation of text.

    113 BBEdit alternatives

    License model

    • Freemium • Proprietary

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    BBEdit screenshot 1

    BBEdit Features

    1.  Syntax Highlighting
    2.  Works Offline
    3.  Live Preview
    4.  Code Completion
    5.  Multiple languages

    BBEdit VS Windows Notepad

     
  7. Pluma icon

    Pluma

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

    Pluma, fork of gedit , is a text editor part of MATE Desktop Environment. It supports most standard editor features, extending this basic functionality with other features not usually found in simple text...

    155 Pluma alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • International

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Pluma screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Syntax Highlighting
    2.  Tabbed interface
    3.  Support for Unicode
    4.  Automatic Indentation

    Pluma VS Windows Notepad

     
  9. ReText icon

    ReText

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

    ReText is a simple text editor for Markdown and reStructuredText documents with syntax highlighting and optional live preview.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    ReText screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Distraction-free

    Features

    1.  Support for MarkDown
    2.  Live Preview
    3.  WYSIWYG Support
    4.  ReStructuredText

    ReText VS Windows Notepad

     
  10. Xed icon

    Xed

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

    A text editor forked from Pluma and Gedit. Xed is the default text editor of Linux Mint. It can be customized and is available in multiple languages.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • IE flagIreland
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Xed screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Customizable

    Features

    1.  Syntax Highlighting
    2.  No registration required
    3.  X server
    4.  Support for Unicode
    5.  Automatic Indentation

    Xed VS Windows Notepad

     
  11. metapad icon

    metapad

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

    Metapad is a small, fast (and completely free) text editor for Windows 9x/NT/XP/Vista with similar features to Microsoft Notepad but with many extra (and rather useful) features. It was designed to completely replace Notepad since it includes all of Notepads features and much...

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Main Window and Settings
    Discontinued

    The last update was in 2012.

    metapad Features

    1.  Portable
    2.  Simple text editor

    metapad VS Windows Notepad

     
You are at page 3 of Windows Notepad alternatives