MacVim

MacVim is a free, open source GUI version of the popular Vim text editor for macOS. It has a native macOS look and feel and includes additional features like clipboard support not found in terminal-based Vim.

MacVim alternatives ➤

What is MacVim?

MacVim is a free, open source GUI (graphical user interface) version of the popular Vim text editor for macOS. Developed by Bram Moolenaar based on Vim, MacVim has many of the same powerful text editing features of Vim but with some additional enhancements suited for macOS.

Like Vim, MacVim is highly customizable and supports advanced text editing features like multi-level undo/redo, extensive keyboard shortcuts, macros, split windows, syntax highlighting for over 200 file formats, and power user tools like regular expressions. It has multiple editing modes for different types of text manipulation.

However, MacVim also has a native macOS look and feel with features not available in terminal Vim like support for the system clipboard and mouse interactions. The GUI makes MacVim easier to use while retaining the efficient modal editing paradigm that makes Vim loved by developers and power users.

MacVim is well-integrated with macOS, supporting features like automatic recovery of open files after a crash using auto-save, split view in full screen mode, Lion style full screen support, and various shortcuts using Mission Control and Spaces. It has an extensive plugin system and support for customizing the interface.

With the editing power and features of Vim now available with a native GUI, MacVim is a popular choice among developers, writers, and others who want a polished advanced text editor for macOS.

Official Links

Official Website
macvim-dev.github.io/macvim

The Best MacVim Alternatives

Top Apps like MacVim

Visual Studio Code, Notepad++, GNU nano, Neovim, Kate, VSCodium, GNU Emacs, Notepad3, CudaText, Neovide, Pulsar Editor, Spacevim, SpaceNeovim, GNvim, Emacs Prelude, Jove, Neovim Qt, DinVim are some alternatives to MacVim.

Sugggest an alternative ❐

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is a source code editor developed by Microsoft that includes support for debugging, embedded Git control, syntax highlighting, intelligent code completion, snippets, and code refactoring. It's free, open-source, and available for Windows, Linux, and macOS.As a lightweight but powerful code editor, VS Code gives developers a...

Notepad++

Notepad++ is a popular open-source text and source code editor for Windows. It supports a wide variety of programming languages and markup languages with syntax highlighting, code folding, macro abilities and more. Some key features of Notepad++ include:Syntax highlighting for over 100 programming languages like C++, Java, HTML, XML and...

GNU nano

GNU nano is a popular open source text editor for Unix-like operating systems. It is designed to be simple and intuitive to use, making it a good choice for beginners or casual users who just need to make quick text edits.Some key features of nano include:Easy to navigate...

Neovim

Neovim is a hyperextensible Vim-based text editor developed since 2014. It is a rewrite and refactoring of Vim to allow for greater plugin/extension development. Neovim offers the core functionality of Vim - the keybindings, editing modes, configuration options that users are familiar with - just with a more streamlined codebase...

Kate

Kate is a free and open-source text editor that provides advanced features for programmers and developers. It is available on Linux, UNIX, Windows and macOS platforms.Some key features of Kate include:Syntax highlighting for over 200 file formats including C, C++, Java, HTML, XML, PHP, JavaScript, Perl and moreCode folding...

VSCodium

VSCodium is an open source, community-driven alternative to Microsoft's popular Visual Studio Code editor. It is based on the same codebase as Visual Studio Code, but stripped of any Microsoft branding, telemetry or tracking. Just like VS Code, VSCodium is a free, cross-platform source code editor with support for debugging...

GNU Emacs

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...

Notepad3

Notepad3 is a text editor for Windows that aims to provide better functionality and stability than Notepad++. It is built on the Scintilla text editing component and offers features like:Multi-document interface to edit multiple files in tabsSyntax highlighting for over 80 programming and markup languagesSearch and replace across multiple documentsCode...

CudaText

CudaText is a powerful, lightweight text editor for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Developed by Alexey Torgashin, it is written in Lazarus and designed to provide many useful features while keeping high performance and low memory usage.Some key features of CudaText include:Fast and lightweight - starts quickly and uses...

Neovide

Neovide is a graphical user interface client designed specifically for the Neovim text editor. It is built using Rust and takes advantage of GPU-accelerated rendering to provide a lightweight and responsive graphical interface for Neovim.Some of the key features Neovide offers include:Hardware-accelerated rendering using OpenGL - This allows...

Pulsar Editor

Pulsar Editor is a free, open source, lightweight text and code editor available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Despite its simplicity, Pulsar packs robust features for programmers and writers alike.Syntax highlighting for over 20 programming and markup languages helps developers easily scan code. The minimal UI keeps the focus on...

Spacevim

Spacevim is a distribution of the Vim text editor that has been preconfigured with many plugins and settings to provide a more complete out-of-the-box experience. The goal of Spacevim is to build a lightweight and fast Vim configuration focused on ergonomics and customizability.Some of the key features that come...

SpaceNeovim

SpaceNeovim is a graphical user interface for the Neovim text editor built using Rust. Its goal is to provide a fast, customizable, and easy-to-use interface for Neovim.Some key features of SpaceNeovim include:Fuzzy finding - Quickly open files and jump between symbols in your projectsCode completion - Intelligent suggestions...

GNvim

GNvim is a graphical user interface for the Neovim text editor written in the Go programming language. The goal of GNvim is to provide a simple yet customizable GUI for Neovim without adding too many dependencies.Some key features and characteristics of GNvim include:Tabbed interface for opening multiple files...

Emacs Prelude

Emacs Prelude is an Emacs distribution that aims to enhance the default Emacs experience. It provides sensible defaults, out-of-the-box experience, and bundles many useful Emacs packages.Key features of Emacs Prelude include:Enhanced UX - Provides an improved out-of-the-box experience by bundled many Emacs packages for a variety of use...

Jove

Jove is an open-source web application designed for easily publishing rich interactive computational content online. It was created at Data Science Institute of University of Virginia for the data science community to disseminate knowledge. The Jove platform allows users to create tutorials and lessons that combine code, results, plots, figures...

Neovim Qt

Neovim Qt is a graphical user interface specifically designed for the Neovim text editor. Neovim is a fork and reboot of the classic Vim text editor, focused on extensibility and agility. Neovim Qt wraps the capabilities of Neovim in an accessible graphical application.Key features of Neovim Qt include:Full...

DinVim

DinVim is a feature-rich Neovim client designed specifically for iOS devices including iPhones and iPads. It enables users to harness the power and flexibility of the Neovim text editor and Vim keybindings to edit text files and code right on their iOS devices.Some key features of DinVim include:Full...