Plain Text Editor AlternativesOnly apps categorised as Code Editors

The best Code Editor alternative to Plain Text Editor is Vim, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Plain Text Editor and many of them are Code Editors so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Code Editor alternatives to Plain Text Editor are gedit, GNU nano, TextMate and CudaText.

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Alternatives list

  1. Vim icon

    Vim

     1343 likes

    Vim ("Vi IMproved") is an advanced text editor that allows syntax highlighting, word completion and has a huge amount of contributed content. It also has a GUI version called GVim.

    214 Vim alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Haiku
    • AmigaOS
    • OpenSolaris
    • MorphOS
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Snapcraft
    Vim screenshot 1
     

    • Vim is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Plain Text Editor.

    • Vim is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Plain Text Editor.

    • Vim is Free and Open SourcePlain Text Editor is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Vim is CustomizablePlain Text Editor is not according to our users
  2. gedit icon

    gedit

     694 likes

    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.

    192 gedit alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Chrome OS
    • BSD
    • GNOME
    • OpenSolaris
    • Flathub
    The Default look under GNOME with Adwaita
     
  4. GNU nano icon

    GNU nano

     289 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

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Haiku
    GNU nano screenshot 1
     
  5. TextMate icon

    TextMate

     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
    TextMate screenshot 1
     
  7. PSPad icon

    PSPad

     204 likes

    PSPad is a freeware programmers editor in 8 languages for Microsoft Windows operating systems. Some features are highlighted syntax, ftp, projects and so on. Code explorer for Pascal, C/C++, INI, HTML, XML, PHP and more in development, internal web browser with APACHE support.

    172 PSPad alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Main Window - Project Settings
     
  9. UltraEdit icon

    UltraEdit

     161 likes

    UltraEdit is the ideal text, HTML and HEX editor, and an advanced PHP, Perl, Java and JavaScript editor for programmers. An industry-award winner, UltraEdit supports disk-based 64-bit file handling (standard) on 32-bit Windows platforms (Windows 2000 and later).

    211 UltraEdit alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Pay once or Subscription
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    UltraEdit features an integrated FTP browser and supports syntax highlighting for hundreds of languages, with more always in the works. And with an integrated SSH/telnet client, scripting, custom tools, macros and Smart Templates, UltraEdit's ready for any coding session.
     

    • UltraEdit is the most popular commercial alternative to Plain Text Editor.

    • UltraEdit is Paid and ProprietaryPlain Text Editor is Freemium and Proprietary
  10. SciTE icon

    SciTE

     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
    SciTE screenshot 1
     
  11. CotEditor icon

    CotEditor

     42 likes

    Syntax Highlighting: Colorize more than 50 pre-installed major languages like HTML, PHP, Python, Ruby or Markdown. You can also create your own settings.

    161 CotEditor alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    version 4 released 2020-11-14
     
  12. Xed icon

    Xed

     23 likes

    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.

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Xed screenshot 1
     
  14. BBEdit icon

    BBEdit

     48 likes

    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.

    119 BBEdit alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Pay once)
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    BBEdit screenshot 1
     
12 of 28 Plain Text Editor alternatives