Vim Alternatives for Mac

There are many alternatives to Vim 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 Vim and loads of them are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Mac alternatives to Vim are Neovim, VSCodium, Sublime Text and GNU Emacs.

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Vim 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 Vim.

Vim

1298

Code Editor
Free • Open Source

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.

More about Vim

Vim alternatives page was last updated Sep 5, 2024

Textadept
Textadept is a fast, minimalist, and ridiculously extensible cross-platform text editor for programmers. Written in a combination of C and Lua and relentlessly optimized for speed and minimalism over the years, Textadept is an ideal editor for programmers who want endless...
90 Textadept alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Text Editor
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
Textadept Features
1. Syntax Highlighting
2. Lightweight
3. Portable
4. Command line interface
5. Lua scripting
Show all NaN Textadept features ▾
Textadept VS Vim
Is Textadept a good alternative to Vim?

Light Table
Light Table is a new interactive IDE that lets you modify running programs and embed anything from websites to games. It provides the real time feedback we need to not only answer questions about our code, but to understand how our programs really work.
90 Light Table alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- IDE
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Electron / Atom Shell
Light Table Features
Lightweight
Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
Clean design
Show all NaN Light Table features ▾
+3
Discontinued
The last version (0.8.1) is from January 2016.

Light Table VS Vim
Is Light Table a good alternative to Vim?

ReText
ReText is a simple text editor for Markdown and reStructuredText documents with syntax highlighting and optional live preview.
196 ReText alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Text Editor
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
ReText Features
1. Lightweight
2. Support for MarkDown
3. Live Preview
4. Distraction-free
5. WYSIWYG Support
6. ReStructuredText
Show all NaN ReText features ▾
ReText VS Vim
Is ReText a good alternative to Vim?

Textastic
Textastic is an advanced code editor for iOS and macOS with support for syntax highlighting, remote file transfer, and SSH.
67 Textastic alternatives
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Application types
- Code Editor
- Text Editor
Platforms
- Mac
- iPhone
- iPad
+9
Textastic Features
1. Syntax Highlighting
2. Support for Themes
3. Dark Mode
4. Support for FTP
5. Sync with iCloud
6. Dropbox integration
7. Support for SFTP
8. Local Storage
Show all NaN Textastic features ▾
Textastic VS Vim
Is Textastic a good alternative to Vim?
- Textastic is the most popular iPhone & iPad alternative to Vim.
- Textastic is Paid and ProprietaryVim is Free and Open Source

Haroopad
Haroopad is a markdown enabled document processor for creating web-friendly documents. You can author various formats of documents such as blog article, slide, presentation, report, and e-mail as if experts did.
104 Haroopad alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Text Editor
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Haroopad Features
Support for MarkDown
Vim key mapping
Publishing
Show all NaN Haroopad features ▾
+4
Discontinued
The last update was in December 2018.

Haroopad VS Vim
Is Haroopad a good alternative to Vim?

Nova
The beautiful, fast, flexible, native Mac code editor from Panic.
128 Nova alternatives
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Application types
- Code Editor
- Text Editor
Platforms
- Mac
+3
Nova Features
1. Syntax Highlighting
2. Lightweight
3. Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
4. Autocompletion
5. Live Preview
6. Works Offline
7. Dark Mode
8. Support for Themes
9. Support for FTP
Show all NaN Nova features ▾
Nova VS Vim
Is Nova a good alternative to Vim?

Notepad Next
A cross-platform, reimplementation of Notepad++. Releases are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
56 Notepad Next alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Text Editor
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Notepad Next Features
Lightweight
Show all NaN Notepad Next features ▾
Notepad Next VS Vim
Is Notepad Next a good alternative to Vim?

Spacemacs
Spacemacs is an beautiful Emacs distribution designed for both GNU Emacs and Vim users.
40 Spacemacs alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Text Editor
- Code Editor
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Spacemacs Features
EMACS
Vim
Vim key mapping
Emacs integration
Show all NaN Spacemacs features ▾
+2
Spacemacs VS Vim
Is Spacemacs a good alternative to Vim?