Spacemacs AlternativesCode & Text Editors like Spacemacs

Spacemacs is described as 'Beautiful Emacs distribution designed for both GNU Emacs and Vim users' and is a Code Editor in the development category. There are more than 25 alternatives to Spacemacs for a variety of platforms, including Mac, Linux, Windows, BSD and Flathub apps. The best Spacemacs alternative is Visual Studio Code, which is free. Other great apps like Spacemacs are Sublime Text, VSCodium, Vim and Zed Editor.

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Spacemacs alternatives page was last updated May 20, 2025

Visual Studio Code
1367 likes
Free and extensible code editor with built-in Git support, smart IntelliSense, integrated debugger, 30,000+ extensions, works offline, supports markdown and syntax highlighting for numerous languages.
201 Visual Studio Code alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Proprietary
Application types
Code Editor
IDE
Origin
United States
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Online
Chrome OS
Snapcraft
+2
Is Visual Studio Code a good alternative to Spacemacs?
Visual Studio Code is the most popular Web-based, Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Spacemacs.
Visual Studio Code is the most popular free alternative to Spacemacs.
Visual Studio Code is Free and ProprietarySpacemacs is Free and Open Source
Visual Studio Code is CustomizableSpacemacs is not according to our users
Sublime Text
2036 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.
190 Sublime Text alternatives
Cost / License
Freemium (Pay once)
Proprietary
Application types
Code Editor
Text Editor
Origin
Australia
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
+2
Is Sublime Text a good alternative to Spacemacs?
VSCodium
389 likes
This repository contains a build file to generate FLOSS release binaries of Microsoft's Visual Studio Code - Open Source ("Code - OSS") project, the open source core of the proprietary Visual Studio Code.
194 VSCodium alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application types
Code Editor
IDE
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Flathub
Electron
Snapcraft
Homebrew
Chocolatey
Is VSCodium a good alternative to Spacemacs?
VSCodium is the most popular Open Source alternative to Spacemacs.
VSCodium is Free and Open SourceSpacemacs is also Free and Open Source
VSCodium is Customizable, Privacy focused and LightweightSpacemacs is not according to our users
Vim
1339 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.
212 Vim alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application types
Code Editor
Text Editor
Origin
Netherlands
EU
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
Haiku
AmigaOS
OpenSolaris
MorphOS
Flathub
Flatpak
Snapcraft
Is Vim a good alternative to Spacemacs?
Zed Editor
98 likes
Blazing fast code editor offering real-time multi-user collaboration, language-aware syntax highlighting, integrated terminal, multi-buffers for tab-free editing, built-in Vim mode, searchable outline, AI coding assistance, advanced keyboard commands, and cross-platform support.
83 Zed Editor alternatives
Cost / License
Freemium (Subscription)
Open Source
Application types
Code Editor
IDE
Origin
United States
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Flathub
Flatpak
Is Zed Editor a good alternative to Spacemacs?
Neovim
186 likes
Refactored version of Vim, simplifying maintenance, improving developer contributions, and enabling new user interfaces. Features extensible plugin architecture, lightweight resource usage, syntax highlighting, no registration, ad-free, and distraction-free mode.
103 Neovim alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application types
Code Editor
Text Editor
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Chocolatey
Flathub
Snapcraft
Is Neovim a good alternative to Spacemacs?
GNU Emacs
387 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:
178 GNU Emacs alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application types
Text Editor
Code Editor
Origin
United States
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Android
BSD
Snapcraft
F-Droid
Haiku
Debian
MacPorts
Homebrew
+6
Is GNU Emacs a good alternative to Spacemacs?

|
6users say it's a good alternative
Almost everyone thinks GNU Emacs is a great Spacemacs alternative.
GNU Emacs is the most popular Android alternative to Spacemacs.
GNU Emacs is Free and Open SourceSpacemacs is also Free and Open Source
GNU Emacs is Customizable, Privacy focused and LightweightSpacemacs is not according to our users
Edit
19 likes
Open-source command-line text editor for Windows with a modern interface inspired by MS-DOS Editor, featuring key bindings, lightweight build under 250KB, multi-file handling with ctrl + P, keyboard-optimized navigation, and direct file editing for developers.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application types
Code Editor
Text Editor
Origin
United States
Platforms
Windows
Is Edit a good alternative to Spacemacs?
Pulsar Editor
47 likes
A Community-led Hyper-Hackable Text Editor, built on Electron. and based on everything we love about our favorite editors.
74 Pulsar Editor alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application types
Code Editor
Text Editor
Origin
United States
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Chrome OS
BSD
Electron
Is Pulsar Editor a good alternative to Spacemacs?
Helix
34 likes
Helix is a fast text editor for the terminal inspired by modal editors like Kakoune and Neovim. Built as a native app using .
91 Helix alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application types
Code Editor
Text Editor
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Is Helix a good alternative to Spacemacs?
CudaText
54 likes
CudaText is a cross-platform text editor, written in Lazarus / Free Pascal.
194 CudaText alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application types
Code Editor
Text Editor
Origin
Russia
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
Flathub
Haiku
+3
Is CudaText a good alternative to Spacemacs?
Lapce
27 likes
Lightning-fast and Powerful Code Editor written in Rust.
189 Lapce alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application types
Code Editor
IDE
Origin
China
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Is Lapce a good alternative to Spacemacs?