Best GNU Emacs Alternatives (131)
Looking for a GNU Emacs alternative? We've compiled the best options based on user reviews, features, and pricing to help you find the right fit.
What is GNU Emacs? GNU Emacs is a popular, open source text editor and computing environment. It runs on most operating systems and provides extensibility through an Emacs Lisp interpreter.
Top Alternatives to GNU Emacs
Visual Studio Code
freeVisual Studio Code is a free, open-source, lightweight code editor developed by Microsoft. It supports debugging, syntax highlighting, intelligent code …
Sublime Text
PaidSublime Text is a popular, lightweight, cross-platform source code editor with a Python application programming interface. It has a minimal …
Zed Code Editor
FreeZed is a free, open-source code editor developed by the coding community. It has support for hundreds of programming languages …
HTMLPen.com
UnknownHTMLPen.com is a free online HTML editor that allows you to write, edit and preview HTML code in real-time. It …
Orwell Dev-C++
Open SourceOrwell Dev-C++ is an open-source integrated development environment (IDE) for C and C++ programming. It is fast, lightweight, customizable, and …
Ynote Classic
Open SourceYnote Classic is a free note taking app for Windows. It has a simple interface for creating, organizing, and searching …
PHP Studio
SubscriptionPHP Studio is an integrated development environment focused on PHP web development. It includes code editing features, debugging, project management …
Taco HTML Edit
Open SourceTaco HTML Edit is a free, open-source web development editor for Windows, Mac and Linux. It has syntax highlighting, code …
Neon Notepad is a simple text editor and note taking app for Windows. It has a minimal interface with basic …
Bluefish Editor
Open SourceBluefish Editor is a free, open source text editor aimed primarily at programmers and webdevelopers. It has support for many …
MS Paint IDE is a simple image editing software that allows users to draw, color, and edit images in a …
Little Transformer is a free text editor for Windows that includes text-to-speech capabilities. It allows users to write documents and …
Android Studio is an integrated development environment for Android app development. It is the official IDE for Android and includes …
MetroTextual is a lightweight text editor for Windows with a minimal interface. It focuses on fast loading times and includes …
Code Writer is a lightweight code editor with support for syntax highlighting, auto-complete suggestions, and other helpful tools for writing …
SuperbEdit
Open SourceSuperbEdit is a text and code editor for Windows. It has syntax highlighting and autocompletion for many programming languages. It …
Arm DS-5 Development Studio is an integrated development environment and toolchain for Arm-based systems. It provides compilers, debuggers, simulators, and …
Corezoid is a low-code process automation and integration platform that allows users to visually model business processes and integrate various …
Simple Code Editor
Open SourceSimple Code Editor is a lightweight, open-source text editor optimized for editing code. It has syntax highlighting for many programming …
Cursive IDE is a plugin for IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio focused on Clojure development. It provides advanced editing features …
FoldingText is a lightweight plain text editor for Mac that allows users to focus on writing without the distractions of …
Java-Editor
Open SourceJava-Editor is a lightweight, open-source code editor for Java development. It provides syntax highlighting, auto-completion, debugging tools, and integration with …
PICO (the PIne COmposer)
Open SourcePICO is a lightweight open-source text editor for Linux and Windows. It has a simple interface and is aimed at …
XML Notepad
Open SourceXML Notepad is a lightweight XML editor for Windows that provides a simple interface for editing, viewing, and formatting XML …
Apimac Notepad is a simple text editing software for macOS. It has basic features like find/replace, fonts, colors, etc. but …
Hacker Pad is a real-time collaborative code and text editing platform. It allows multiple people to edit the same document …
Emacs Prelude is an Emacs distribution that aims to enhance the default Emacs experience. It provides sensible defaults, out-of-the-box experience, …
Syncplify.me Notepad! is a free text editor and notepad app developed by Syncplify, Inc. It allows users to take notes, …
SpaceNeovim
Open SourceSpaceNeovim is a lightweight, customizable Neovim GUI focused on speed and usability. It is built with Rust and provides key …
Light Table
Open SourceLight Table is an open-source, lightweight integrated development environment with support for live coding. It features a minimalist editor with …
An alternative text browser is a web browser that is designed for simplicity and efficiency, optimized for reading and navigating …
Doom Emacs
Open SourceDoom Emacs is a lightweight and modular configuration framework for Emacs focused on enhancing productivity and ergonomics. It comes prepacked …
Keypress Editor
FreeKeypress Editor is a lightweight, keyboard-focused code editor designed for speed and simplicity. It has features like customizable keybindings, smart …
jdTextEdit
Open SourcejdTextEdit is a text editor for Windows that focuses on simplicity and ease of use. It has basic editing features …
JetBrains Fleet is a software delivery management and optimization platform. It provides visibility, automation, and insights to help development teams …
Squircle IDE
Open SourceSquircle IDE is a lightweight integrated development environment focused on providing a minimalist user interface and robust code editing features …
The vi editor (short for visual editor) is a classic, ubiquitous text editor common to Unix-like systems. It has a …
Text Edit Plus is a text and code editor for Windows with features like syntax highlighting, macros, code folding, and …
Batch Text File Editor is a software program that allows users to perform bulk editing across multiple text files at …
Beaver Editor
FreeBeaver Editor is a visual WordPress page builder plugin that allows you to build custom page layouts and designs without …
Leo Editor
Open SourceLeo Editor is a free and open-source outlining and literate programming editor, useful for organizing and developing software code. It …
Aquamacs Emacs
Open SourceAquamacs Emacs is a free open-source text editor and command-line interface for macOS based on GNU Emacs. It has an …
BDV Notepad
Open SourceBDV Notepad is a simple text editor for Windows. It has basic features like syntax highlighting, find/replace, bookmarks and more. …
EncryptPad
Open SourceEncryptPad is an open-source end-to-end encrypted text editor. It allows users to securely create, store, and share text documents and …
BinHex CryPactor is an email encryption software program developed in the early 1990s for Mac OS. It uses public key …
GNOME Builder
FreeGNOME Builder is an integrated development environment (IDE) for creating applications on the GNOME platform and for the Linux environment. …
Lines code editor
Open SourceLines is a modern, lightweight code editor with a focus on speed and usability. It has a simple yet powerful …
More Similar Software
GNU Emacs Overview
GNU Emacs is a powerful, customizable, open source 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. This extensibility allows Emacs to provide far more than your average text editor.Beyond text editing, Emacs provides an environment for email, web browsing, debugging, file management, and more. Its intuitive keyboard shortcuts and extensibility have attracted a loyal following of programmers, writers, engineers, scientists, and others …
Pricing: Free
Quick Comparison
| Software | Pricing | Score |
|---|---|---|
| GNU Emacs | Free | — |
| Visual Studio Code | free | 35 |
| Neovim | Open Source | 32 |
| Sublime Text | Paid | 32 |
| Zed Code Editor | Free | 30 |
| MacVim | Open Source | 30 |
| VSCodium | Open Source | 30 |
| HTMLPen.com | Unknown | 1 |
| Spacemacs | Open Source | — |
| acme | N/A | — |
| Orwell Dev-C++ | Open Source | — |