Thunderpad AlternativesOnly apps categorised as IDEs

The best IDE alternative to Thunderpad is Visual Studio Code, which is free. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Thunderpad and many of them are IDEs so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting IDE alternatives to Thunderpad are VSCodium, Vim, Eclipse and Geany.

filter to find the best alternatives

Thunderpad alternatives are mainly Text Editors but may also be Code 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 Thunderpad.

Thunderpad

Text Editor
Free • Open Source

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.

More about Thunderpad

Thunderpad alternatives page was last updated Sep 9, 2022

Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code is a free and extensible code editor for building web, desktop, and mobile applications, using any programming language and framework.
206 Visual Studio Code alternatives
License model
- Free • Proprietary
Application types
- Code Editor
- IDE
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Chrome OS
+2
Top Visual Studio Code Features
1. Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
2. Customizable
3. Autocompletion
4. IDE
5. Built-in terminal emulation
6. Syntax Highlighting
7. Code Completion
8. Multiple languages
9. Git Support
10. GitHub Integration
11. Support for Themes
12. Dark Mode
Show all NaN Visual Studio Code features ▾
Visual Studio Code VS Thunderpad
Is Visual Studio Code a good alternative to Thunderpad?
- Visual Studio Code is the most popular Web-based, Mac & Linux alternative to Thunderpad.
- Visual Studio Code is Free and ProprietaryThunderpad is Free and Open Source
- Visual Studio Code is CustomizableThunderpad is not according to our users

VSCodium
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
- Code Editor
- IDE
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Electron
- Flathub
Top VSCodium Features
1. No Tracking
2. Prevent telemetry
3. IDE
4. Customizable
5. Privacy focused
6. Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
7. Works Offline
8. No registration required
9. Autocompletion
10. MIT License
11. Git integration
12. Syntax Highlighting
Show all NaN VSCodium features ▾
VSCodium VS Thunderpad
Is VSCodium a good alternative to Thunderpad?

Vim
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.
205 Vim alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Code Editor
- Text Editor
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- Haiku
- AmigaOS
- OpenSolaris
- MorphOS
- Flathub
- Flatpak
- Snapcraft
Top Vim Features
1. Lightweight
2. Keyboard focused
3. Customizable
4. Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
5. Syntax Highlighting
6. Hackable
7. Command line interface
8. Works Offline
9. Support for MarkDown
10. No registration required
11. Portable
12. Batch Editing
Show all NaN Vim features ▾
Vim VS Thunderpad
Is Vim a good alternative to Thunderpad?

Eclipse
Eclipse is an extensible development platform with runtimes and application frameworks for building, deploying and managing software across the entire software lifecycle. Many people know Eclipse as a Java IDE, but it is much more than that- Eclipse actually consists of over 60...
159 Eclipse alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- IDE
- Code Editor
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
Top Eclipse Features
1. IDE
2. Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
3. Java IDE
4. C++
5. Refactoring
6. Autocompletion
7. Syntax Highlighting
8. Portable
9. No registration required
10. Works Offline
11. Spell Checking
12. Code Formatting
Show all NaN Eclipse features ▾
Eclipse VS Thunderpad
Is Eclipse a good alternative to Thunderpad?

Geany
Geany is a powerful, stable and lightweight programmer's text editor that provides tons of useful features without bogging down your workflow.
144 Geany alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Text Editor
- Code Editor
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- PortableApps.com
- Flathub
- Flatpak
- Snapcraft
+5
Top Geany Features
1. Lightweight
2. Support for Themes
3. Multiplatform
4. IDE
5. Minimalistic
6. Syntax Highlighting
7. Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
8. Support for LaTeX
9. Ad-free
10. Distraction-free
11. Autocompletion
12. Code Formatting
Show all NaN Geany features ▾
Geany VS Thunderpad
Is Geany a good alternative to Thunderpad?

TextMate
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.
159 TextMate alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Code Editor
- Text Editor
Platforms
- Mac
Top TextMate Features
1. Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
2. Support for Themes
3. Syntax Highlighting
4. Support for MarkDown
5. Lightweight
6. Search and Replace
7. No registration required
8. Dark Mode
9. Code Formatting
10. Ad-free
11. Works Offline
12. Automatic Indentation
Show all NaN TextMate features ▾
Discontinued
Last commit and version is from 2021
TextMate VS Thunderpad
Is TextMate a good alternative to Thunderpad?

Notepad3
Notepad3 is a fast and light-weight text editor with syntax highlighting for programming jobs. Auto-completion, Multi-language, Dark mode more.
206 Notepad3 alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Text Editor
- Code Editor
Platforms
- Windows
+1
Top Notepad3 Features
1. Lightweight
2. Support for Unicode
3. Small-footprint
4. Multiple languages
5. Syntax Highlighting
6. Search and Replace
7. Portable
8. Support for regular expressions
9. No registration required
10. Ad-free
11. Works Offline
12. Dark Mode
Show all NaN Notepad3 features ▾
Notepad3 VS Thunderpad
Is Notepad3 a good alternative to Thunderpad?

Aptana Studio
Aptana Studio is a complete web development environment that combines powerful authoring tools with a collection of online hosting and collaboration services that help you and your team do more. Includes support for PHP, CSS, FTP, and more...
123 Aptana Studio alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- IDE
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Aptana Studio Features
Real time collaboration
Support for FTP
Show all NaN Aptana Studio features ▾
+5
Discontinued
The last update is from Feb 2021 and the last release is from Jul 2018.
Aptana Studio VS Thunderpad
Is Aptana Studio a good alternative to Thunderpad?

Lapce
Lightning-fast and Powerful Code Editor written in Rust.
192 Lapce alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Code Editor
- Text Editor
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Top Lapce Features
1. Lightweight
2. Rust
3. Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
4. Built-in terminal emulation
5. Syntax Highlighting
6. Git Support
7. No registration required
8. Full-Text Search
9. Support for Themes
10. Works Offline
11. Modal editor
Show all NaN Lapce features ▾
Lapce VS Thunderpad
Is Lapce a good alternative to Thunderpad?

Qt Creator
Qt Creator is a cross-platform integrated development environment (IDE) built for the maximum developer experience. Qt Creator runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS desktop operating systems and allows developers to create software across desktop, mobile, and embedded platforms.
137 Qt Creator alternatives
License model
- Paid • Open Source
Application type
- IDE
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
Qt Creator Features
1. Autocompletion
2. Ad-free
3. Syntax Highlighting
4. Works Offline
5. Code Formatting
6. C++
7. QT Based
8. Visual studio intergration
9. Debugging
10. Refactoring
Show all NaN Qt Creator features ▾
Qt Creator VS Thunderpad
Is Qt Creator a good alternative to Thunderpad?
- Qt Creator is the most popular commercial alternative to Thunderpad.
- Qt Creator is Paid and Open SourceThunderpad is Free and Open Source

Bluefish Editor
Bluefish is a powerful editor targeted towards programmers and webdesigners, with many options to write websites, scripts and programming code. Bluefish supports many programming and markup languages, and it focuses on editing dynamic and interactive websites.
214 Bluefish Editor alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Code Editor
- Text Editor
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Flathub
Bluefish Editor Features
Arduino
PHP IDE
Support for SFTP
Show all NaN Bluefish Editor features ▾
Bluefish Editor VS Thunderpad
Is Bluefish Editor a good alternative to Thunderpad?

JetBrains Fleet
Built from scratch, based on 20 years of experience developing IDEs. Fleet uses the IntelliJ code-processing engine, with a distributed IDE architecture and a reimagined UI.
191 JetBrains Fleet alternatives
License model
- Free • Proprietary
Application types
- Code Editor
- Text Editor
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
JetBrains Fleet Features
1. Syntax Highlighting
2. Lightweight
3. Dark Mode
4. Support for MarkDown
5. Autocompletion
6. Code Formatting
7. Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
Show all NaN JetBrains Fleet features ▾
JetBrains Fleet VS Thunderpad
Is JetBrains Fleet a good alternative to Thunderpad?