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
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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
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  1. Basic Notepad icon

    Basic Notepad

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    Basic Notepad is a plain and simple text editor. You can use this wonderful too to process your plain text documents easy without any text formatting.

    License model

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • HU flagHungary
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Basic Notepad screenshot 1

    Basic Notepad Features

    1.  Text editing

    Basic Notepad VS Windows Notepad

     
  2. WriterClassic icon

    WriterClassic

     2 likes
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    Powerful yet simple plain text editor that comes with all the basic features and more advanced ones.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    The File Menu of the executable version.

    Properties

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

    Features

    1.  No registration required
    2.  No Tracking
    3.  Ad-free
    4.  Dark Mode
    5.  Works Offline
    6.  Portable
    7.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    8.  Full-Text Search
    9.  Support for scripting
    10.  Support for MarkDown

    WriterClassic VS Windows Notepad

     
  4. Thunderpad icon

    Thunderpad

     10 likes
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    Thunderpad (formerly Textpad) is a simple, general-purpose and cross-platform text editor written in C++ using the Qt libraries. Thunderpad aims to be faster and more lightweight than most text editors, but as useful as them.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • MX flagMexico

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Thunderpad screenshot 1
    Discontinued

    The project is no longer developed since 2015. Latest versions can be still downloaded from SourceForge and GitHub

    Properties

    1.  Distraction-free
    2.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Syntax Highlighting

    Thunderpad VS Windows Notepad

     
  5. Notepad2e icon

    Notepad2e

     1 like
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    Notepad 2e is a fork of Notepad2 by Florian Balmer, And its Successor Notepad2-mod.

    3 Notepad2e alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • RU flagRussia

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Notepad2e screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  No registration required
    2.  Ad-free
    3.  Syntax Highlighting
    4.  Portable
    5.  Support for MarkDown

    Notepad2e VS Windows Notepad

     
  6. FoldingText icon

    FoldingText

     8 likes
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    FoldingText makes you productive in easily formatted plain text. Turn your ideas into plans. Your to-dos into results. Your writing into clear, focused documents.

    License model

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    FoldingText screenshot 1

    FoldingText Features

    1.  No Subscription
    2.  Outline folding
    3.  Timer
    4.  Tagging
    5.  Coding

    FoldingText VS Windows Notepad

     
  7. Devpad icon

    Devpad

     7 likes
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    Notepad-like VB.Net multi-tab source code editor for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 that supports ASM, ASP.Net, Boo, C#, C++, CSS, HTML, INI, Java, JavaScript, Lua, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, SQL, VB.Net, XML and plain text files.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Devpad screenshot 1

    Devpad Features

    1.  Syntax Highlighting

    Devpad VS Windows Notepad

     
  9. RJ TextEd icon

    RJ TextEd

     29 likes
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    RJ TextEd is a full featured text and source editor with Unicode support, syntax highlighting and code folding. The functionality extends beyond text files and includes support for HTML editing with integrated preview, spell checking, auto completion, HTML validation, templates...

    License model

    • Free • Proprietary

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • SE flagSweden
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Windows
    RJ TextEd screenshot 1

    RJ TextEd Features

    1.  Portable
    2.  Syntax Highlighting

    RJ TextEd VS Windows Notepad

     
  10. Jane icon

    Jane

     8 likes
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    Jane is Just Another Nasty Editor, designed to view and edit all kind of ASCII files. There are millions of similar editors already available, but the choice is yours: those who try this might discover nice features they'll soon don't want to miss anymore.

    License model

    • Free • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Main Window
    Jane screenshot 2

    Jane Features

    1.  Portable
    2.  Drag and Drop
    3.  Shell integration

    Jane VS Windows Notepad

     
  11. Zeus IDE icon

    Zeus IDE

     4 likes
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    A powerful, feature packed, fully configurable IDE specifically designed for Windows developers.

    License model

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • GB flagUnited Kingdom

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Zeus IDE screenshot 1

    Zeus IDE VS Windows Notepad

     
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