Sublime Text Alternatives for Mac

There are many alternatives to Sublime Text for Mac if you are looking for a replacement. The best Mac alternative is Visual Studio Code, which is free. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Sublime Text and loads of them are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Mac alternatives to Sublime Text are Vim, VSCodium, Geany and Kate.

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Sublime Text alternatives are mainly Code Editors but may also be Text Editors or IDEs.  Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Sublime Text.
Sublime Text iconSublime Text
  2018
  • ...

Sophisticated text editor for code with sleek interface, multi-select tabs, side-by-side definitions, and swift variable renaming using multiple selections.

More about Sublime Text
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Sublime Text alternatives page was last updated Feb 27, 2025
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Alternatives
  1. Visual Studio Code icon

    Visual Studio Code

     1313 likes
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    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.

    205 Visual Studio Code alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Proprietary

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Chrome OS
    Visual Studio Code screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Customizable
    2.  Support for Themes

    Features

    1.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    2.  Autocompletion
    3.  Built-in terminal emulation
    4.  Syntax Highlighting
    5.  Code Completion
    6.  Multiple languages
    7. Git icon  Git Support
    8. GitHub icon  GitHub Integration
    9.  Dark Mode
    10.  Supports Python
    11.  Multiple Cursors
    12.  C++

    Visual Studio Code VS Sublime Text

     
    Comments about Visual Studio Code as an Alternative to Sublime Text
    Comment summary: Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is widely praised for being free, offering great customizability, and having strong community support. While it can handle large files similarly to Sublime Text, some users note its higher resource consumption due to Electron. VS Code appeals to developers with its rich set of extensions and built-in Git integration, despite being more of an IDE compared to the simpler Sublime Text.
    Top Positive Comment
    webzooks
    Feb 8, 2024
    1

    VS Code can open large files as Sublime Text. Both programs are nice, but VS Code is free.

    Top Negative Comment
    Guest
    Aug 5, 2020
    9

    As an Atom fork it has the same problems like Atom being more an IDE than an editor and the usage of the Electron Framework results in extremely more RAM usage (more than factor 10), CPU usage, loading time and disk usage.

    Most Recent Comment
    durgeshhirani131
    Positive •Nov 27, 2023
    0

    Vscode is an IDE and sublime text is simple code editor. Both are good in their usage.

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    3 of 17 comments
    Sublime Text Icon
    Visual Studio Code icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Visual Studio Code is a great Sublime Text alternative.

    • Visual Studio Code is the most popular Web-based, Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Sublime Text.

    • Visual Studio Code is the most popular free alternative to Sublime Text.

    • Visual Studio Code is Free and ProprietarySublime Text is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Visual Studio Code is CustomizableSublime Text is not according to our users
  2. Vim icon

    Vim

     1315 likes
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    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.

    209 Vim alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • NL flagNetherlands
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

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

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Keyboard focused
    3.  Customizable
    4.  Configurable

    Features

    1.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    2.  Syntax Highlighting
    3.  Hackable
    4.  Well documented
    5.  Modal editor
    6.  Command line interface
    7.  Works Offline
    8.  Support for MarkDown
    9.  No registration required
    10.  Portable
    11.  Batch Editing
    12.  Terminal-based

    Vim VS Sublime Text

     
    Comments about Vim as an Alternative to Sublime Text
    Ron Bowman
    Positive •Feb 15, 2019
    6

    Much more options than any other editor. While this is great for the experienced user, novice users could easily get confused.

    Guest
    Positive •Aug 4, 2020
    0

    terminal-based, open-source, very fast, extensible, text editor and by that I mean it is not intended as an IDE while other recommendations mostly are, can confuse new users, but overall it is very awesome if you can get used to it.

    Sublime Text Icon
    Vim icon

    • Most users think Vim is a great Sublime Text alternative.

    • Vim is Free and Open SourceSublime Text is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Vim is Lightweight and CustomizableSublime Text is not according to our users
  4. VSCodium icon

    VSCodium

     340 likes
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    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.

    195 VSCodium alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Electron
    VSCodium screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Customizable
    2.  Privacy focused
    3.  Support for Themes
    4.  Lightweight
    5.  Clean design

    Features

    1.  No Tracking
    2.  Prevent telemetry
    3.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    4.  Works Offline
    5.  No registration required
    6.  Autocompletion
    7.  MIT License
    8.  Dark Mode
    9. Git icon  Git integration
    10.  Syntax Highlighting
    11.  Ad-free
    12.  Minimap

    VSCodium VS Sublime Text

     
    Comments about VSCodium as an Alternative to Sublime Text
    Most Recent Comment
    Paul
    Positive •Nov 4, 2022
    0

    VS Code, but truly open source, and without the Microsoft crap.

    durgeshhirani131
    Positive •Nov 27, 2023
    0

    it is (VScode - microsoft telemetry).

    Guest
    Positive •Dec 24, 2020
    0

    Having used MS VSCode for a while, its refreshing to have a version that is TRULY open source. And if you've used MS's VSCode, than using this won't alter your workforce at ALL.

    Show more comments
    3 of 4 comments
    Sublime Text Icon
    VSCodium icon

    • Almost everyone thinks VSCodium is a great Sublime Text alternative.

    • VSCodium is Free and Open SourceSublime Text is Freemium and Proprietary
    • VSCodium is Customizable and Privacy focusedSublime Text is not according to our users
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  6. Geany icon

    Geany

     567 likes
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    Geany is a powerful, stable and lightweight programmer's text editor that provides tons of useful features without bogging down your workflow.

    148 Geany alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
    • Flatpak
    Geany screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Support for Themes
    3.  Minimalistic
    4.  Customizable
    5.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Multiplatform
    2.  Syntax Highlighting
    3.  Code navigation
    4.  Automatic Indentation
    5.  Shell integration
    6.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    7.  Ad-free
    8. LaTeX icon  Support for LaTeX
    9.  Hierarchical Structure
    10.  Live Preview
    11.  Debian package compatible
    12.  Shortcut keys

    Geany VS Sublime Text

     
    Comments about Geany as an Alternative to Sublime Text
    Guest
    Positive •Dec 7, 2016
    2

    its support many programming language and so easy to compile,build,and run..!

    LucasVieites
    Positive •Nov 16, 2015
    1

    For users who come from a Linux environment this is a perfect editor to keep using on MacOS X

    Sublime Text Icon
    Geany icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Geany is a great Sublime Text alternative.

    • Geany is Free and Open SourceSublime Text is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Geany is Lightweight, Minimalistic and Privacy focusedSublime Text is not according to our users
  7. Kate icon

    Kate

     294 likes
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    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.

    139 Kate alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • KDE Plasma
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Snapcraft
    Kate screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Native application
    2.  Themes
    3.  Syntax Highlighting
    4.  Built-in terminal emulation
    5.  Editable text color schemes
    6.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    7.  Tabbed interface
    8.  Code Formatting
    9. Git icon  Git Support
    10.  Support for MarkDown
    11.  Spell Checking
    12.  Full-Text Search

    Kate VS Sublime Text

     
    Comments about Kate as an Alternative to Sublime Text
    Paul
    Positive •Nov 4, 2022
    0

    Really good code editor, especially if you're using Linux and KDE.

    Ron Bowman
    Positive •Feb 15, 2019
    1

    Kate is among the best text editors, especially when working on multiple documents simultaneously.

    Sublime Text Icon
    Kate icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Kate is a great Sublime Text alternative.

    • Kate is Free and Open SourceSublime Text is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Kate is LightweightSublime Text is not according to our users
  8. Neovim icon

    Neovim

     175 likes
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    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.

    97 Neovim alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Neovim screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Configurable
    3.  Distraction-free

    Features

    1.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    2.  Lua scripting
    3.  Terminal-based
    4.  Syntax Highlighting
    5.  Asynchronous
    6.  Sane defaults
    7.  Ad-free
    8.  No registration required
    9.  Autocompletion
    10.  Code Formatting

    Neovim VS Sublime Text

     
  10. GNU Emacs icon

    GNU Emacs

     378 likes
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    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:

    171 GNU Emacs alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • BSD
    • F-Droid
    • Haiku
    • Homebrew
    • Snapcraft
    • Debian
    • MacPorts
    The GNU Emacs Manual calls Emacs the extensible, customizable, self-documenting real-time display editor

    Properties

    1.  Customizable
    2.  Lightweight
    3.  Distraction-free

    Features

    1.  Extensibility
    2.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    3.  Org-mode
    4.  Self-documenting
    5.  Terminal-based
    6.  Syntax Highlighting
    7.  Support for scripting
    8.  Command line interface
    9.  No Tracking
    10.  Works Offline
    11.  Spell Checking
    12.  Ad-free

    GNU Emacs VS Sublime Text

     
    Comments about GNU Emacs as an Alternative to Sublime Text
    au
    Positive •Aug 28, 2017
    1

    More powerful and extensible plugins.

    Sublime Text Icon
    GNU Emacs icon

    • Almost everyone thinks GNU Emacs is a great Sublime Text alternative.

    • GNU Emacs is the most popular Android alternative to Sublime Text.

    • GNU Emacs is Free and Open SourceSublime Text is Freemium and Proprietary
    • GNU Emacs is CustomizableSublime Text is not according to our users
7 of 96 Sublime Text alternatives