# Comparison of text editors

This article provides basic comparisons for notable text editors. More feature details for text editors are available from the Category of text editor features and from the individual products' articles. This article may not be up-to-date or necessarily all-inclusive.
Feature comparisons are made between stable versions of software, not the upcoming versions or beta releases – and are exclusive of any add-ons, extensions or external programs (unless specified in footnotes).

## Overview

List of text editors :
| Name | Developer | Initial release | Latest release | Latest release | Program­ming language | Cost (US$) | License | GUI | TUI or CLI |
| Name | Developer | Initial release | Version | Date | Program­ming language | Cost (US$) | License | GUI | TUI or CLI |
| Acme | Rob Pike | 1993 | Plan 9 and Inferno | | C | No cost | MIT GPL-2.0-only LPL-1.02 | | |
| AkelPad | Alexey Kuznetsov Alexander Shengalts | 2003 | 4.9.9 | 2024-10-16 | C | No cost | BSD-2-Clause | | |
| Alphatk | Vince Darley | 1999 | 8.3.3 | 2004-12-10 | | $40 | Proprietary, with BSD components | | |
| Atom | GitHub | 2014 | 1.63.1 | 2022-11-23 | HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C++ | No cost | MIT | | |
| BBEdit | Rich Siegel | 1992 | 15.0.3 | 2024-04-08 | Objective-C, Objective-C++ | No cost for most features, $49.99 for full version | Proprietary | | |
| Bluefish | Bluefish Development Team | 1999 | 2.2.16 | 2024-09-22 | C | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | | |
| Brackets | Adobe Systems | 2012 | 2.2.1 | 2023-03-22 | HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C++ | No cost | MIT | | |
| Coda | Panic | 2007 | 2.7.7 | 2020-11-05 | Objective-C | $99 | Proprietary | | |
| ConTEXT | ConTEXT Project Ltd | 1999 | | | Object Pascal (Delphi) | No cost | BSD-3-Clause | | |
| Crimson Editor | Ingyu Kang | 1999 | 3.72-r286m | 2011-10-01 | C++ | No cost | Proprietary | | |
| CudaText | UVViewSoft | 2015 | 1.217.5.1 | 2024-09-05 | Object Pascal (Lazarus) | No cost | MPL-2.0 | | |
| ed | Ken Thompson | 1970 | unchanged from original | | C | No cost | ? | | |
| Editra | Cody Precord | 2007 | 0.7.20 | 2013-01-05 | Python | No cost | wxWindows license | | |
| EmEditor | Emurasoft, Inc. | 1997 | 21.3.0 | 2021-11-24 | C++ | $39.99 | Shareware | | |
| epsilon | Lugaru Software | 1984 | 14.00 | 2020-10-20 | C | $250 | Proprietary | | |
| FeatherPad | Pedram Pourang | 2016 | 1.4.1 | 2023-06-12 | C++, Qt | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | | |
| FocusWriter | Graeme Gott | 2008 | 1.8.10 | 2025-02-14 | C++, Qt | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | | |
| gedit | GNU Project | 2000 | 48.0 | 2024-09-14 | C | No cost | GPL-3.0 | | |
| Geany | Enrico Tröger | 2005 | 2.0.0 | 2023-10-19 | C, GTK+ | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | | |
| GNU Emacs | Richard Stallman | 1984 | 30.1 | 2025-02-23 | C, Emacs Lisp | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | | |
| GNU nano | Chris Allegretta | 1999 | 8.3 | 2024-12-21 | C | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | | |
| IA Writer | Information Architects | 2010.09.22 | 5.6 | 2020-12-07 | Objective-C (iOS), Objective-C (macOS), C# (Windows), Java (Android) | $29.99 | Proprietary | | |
| JED | John E. Davis | 1992 | 0.99-19 | 2009-12-13 | C, S-Lang | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | | |
| jEdit | Slava Pestov | 1998 | 5.7.0 | 2024-08-03 | Java | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | | |
| JOE | Joseph Allen | 1988 | 4.6 | 2018-01-09 | C | No cost | GPL | | |
| JOVE | Johnathon Payne | 1983 | 4.17.5.3 | 2023-03-21 | C | No cost | JOVE license | | |
| Kate | KDE Project | 2000-12 | 24.12.1 | 2025-01-09 | C++ | No cost | GPL | | |
| KEDIT | Mansfield Software Group, Inc. | 1983 | 1.6.1 | 2016-12-05 | C | $129 | Proprietary | | |
| Komodo Edit | Activestate | 2007 | 12.0.1 | 2020-02-10 | Python, JavaScript, Perl, Tcl, PHP, Ruby | No cost | MPL, GPL, LGPL | | |
| Komodo IDE | Activestate | 2001 | | | Python, JavaScript, Perl, Tcl, PHP, Ruby | $295 | Proprietary | | |
| KWrite | KDE Project | 2000 | R14.1.1 | 2023-10-19 | C++ | No cost | GPL | | |
| LE | Alexander V. Lukyanov | 1997 | 1.16.8 | 2021-02-05 | C++ | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | | |
| Leo | Edward K. Ream | 1996 | 6.7.6 | 2023-12-19 | Python | No cost | MIT | | |
| Light Table | Chris Granger | 2012 | 0.8.1 | 2016-01-22 | ClojureScript | No cost | MIT | | |
| mcedit | Miguel de Icaza | 1994 | 4.8.33 | 2025-01-23 | C, Python, PHP, Javascript, Perl, Tcl, Ruby | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | | |
| Metapad | Alexander Davidson | 1999 | 3.6 | 2011-05-28 | C | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | | |
| mg | Dave Conroy | 1986 | current | 2020-07-22 | C | No cost | Public domain | | |
| MinEd | Thomas Wolff | 1992 | 2022.27 | 2022-12-23 | C | No cost | GPL | | |
| MS-DOS Editor | Microsoft | 1991 | 2.0.026 | | | Bundled with MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows | Proprietary | | |
| ne | Sebastiano Vigna Todd Lewis Daniele Filaretti | 1993 | 3.3.4 | 2025-02-06 | C | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | | |
| NEdit | Mark Edel | 1991 | 5.7 | 2017-02-08 | C | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | | |
| Notepad | Microsoft | 1985 | 11.2302.16.0 | | MASM (originally) | Bundled with Microsoft Windows | Proprietary | | |
| Notepad++ | Don Ho | 2003-11-25 | 8.7.8 | 2025-03-08 | C++ | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | | |
| nvi | Keith Bostic | 1994 | 1.81.6 | 2007-11-18 | C | No cost | BSD-3-Clause | | |
| Pico | University of Washington | 1992 | 4.64 | | C | No cost | Apache-2.0 | | |
| PimNote | Pimtel | 2023 | 1.2.0 | 2023-04-22 | C# | No cost | Proprietary | | |
| PolyEdit | PolySoft Solutions | 1998 | 5.4 | 2010‑04‑07 | | $27.95 | Shareware | | |
| PSPad | Jan Fiala | 2002 | 5.0.7 | 2023-03-10 | Object Pascal (Delphi) | No cost | Proprietary | | |
| RJ TextEd | Rickard Johansson | 2004 | 15.63 | 2022-09-29 | Object Pascal (Delphi) | No cost | Proprietary | | |
| Sam | Rob Pike | 1980s (early) | stable | | C | No cost | LPL (OSI approved) | | |
| SciTE | Neil Hodgson | 1999 | 5.5.4 | 2024-12-18 | C++ | $41.99 for macOS. No cost for others | HPND | | |
| SlickEdit | SlickEdit, Inc. | 1988 | 28.0.1 | 2024-01-21 | C, Slick-C | $299 | Proprietary | | |
| Smultron | Peter Borg | 2004 | 12.0.6 | 2020-01-03 | Objective-C | $7.99 | Proprietary | | |
| SubEthaEdit | TheCoding­Monkeys | 2003 | 5.2.4 | 2022-01-08 | | No cost | MIT | | |
| Sublime Text | Jon Skinner, Sublime HQ | 2008 | 4 (Build 4192) | 2025-01-20 | C++, Python | $99 | Shareware | | |
| TED Notepad | Juraj Simlovic | 2001 | 6.3.1 | 2021-12-01 | C | No cost | Proprietary | | |
| Textadept | Mitchell | 2007 | 12.6 | 2025-02-01 | C, Lua | No cost | MIT | | |
| TextEdit | Apple Inc. | 2001 | 1.18 | 2022-10-24 | | No cost (also bundled with macOS) | BSD-3-Clause | | |
| TextMate | MacroMates | 2004-10-10 | 2.0.23 | 2021-10-12 | Objective-C++ | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | | |
| TextPad | Helios Software Solutions | 1992 | 9.3.0 | 2023-08-01 | | $30.00 (£16.50) | Shareware | | |
| TextWrangler | Bare Bones Software | 2003 | 5.5.2 | 2016-09-20 | | No cost | Proprietary | | |
| The SemWare Editor | Sammy Mitchell | 1985-11 | 4.49 | 2023-01 | C, SAL | No cost | BSD-2-Clause | | |
| UltraEdit | IDM Computer Solutions | 1994 | 25.0 | 2018-03-12 | C++ | $99.95 | Proprietary | | |
| VEDIT | Ted Green, Greenview Data | 1980 | 6.24.2 | 2015-01-12 | Assembly, C | $89 standard, $239 Pro64 | Proprietary | | |
| vi | Bill Joy | 1976 | 3.7 | | C | No cost | BSD-4-Clause or CDDL | | |
| Vim | Bram Moolenaar | 1991 | 9.1 | 2024-01-02 | C, Vim script | No cost | Vim | | |
| Visual Studio Code | Microsoft | 2015 | 1.98.1 | 2025-03-11 | JavaScript, TypeScript | No cost | Source code: MIT Binaries built by Microsoft: Proprietary | | |
| XEmacs | Lucid Inc. | 1991 | 21.4.22 | 2009-01-30 | C, Emacs Lisp | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | | |
| XNEdit | Olaf Wintermann | 2018 | 1.5.2 | 2023-10-05 | C | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | | |

## Operating system support

This section lists the operating systems that different editors can run on. Some editors run on additional operating systems that are not listed.

### Cross-platform

Text editor support for various operating systems :
| | Microsoft Windows | BSD | Unix | OpenVMS |
| Acme | Partial | | | |
| AkelPad | | | | |
| Alphatk | | | | |
| Atom | | | | |
| Arachnophilia | | | | |
| BBEdit | | | | |
| Bluefish | | | | |
| Brackets | | | | |
| Coda | | | | |
| ConTEXT | | | | |
| Crimson Editor | | | | |
| CudaText | | | | |
| ed | Partial | | | |
| Editra | | ? | ? | ? |
| EmEditor | | | | |
| epsilon | | | | |
| Geany | | | | |
| gedit | | | | |
| GNU Emacs | | | | |
| JED | | | | |
| jEdit | | | | |
| JOE | | | | |
| JOVE | | | | |
| Kate | | | | |
| KEDIT | | | | |
| Komodo Edit | | | ? | ? |
| Komodo IDE | | | ? | ? |
| KWrite | | | | |
| LE | Partial | | | |
| Light Table | | | | |
| Metapad | | | | |
| mg | | | | ? |
| MinEd | | | | |
| GNU nano | | | | |
| ne | Partial | | | |
| NEdit | Partial | | | |
| Notepad | | | | |
| Notepad++ | | | | |
| nvi | | | | |
| Pico | | | | |
| PSPad | | | | |
| RJ TextEd | | | | |
| Sam | Partial | | | |
| SciTE | | | | |
| SlickEdit | | | | |
| Smultron | | | | |
| SubEthaEdit | | | | |
| Sublime Text | | | | |
| TED Notepad | | | | |
| Textadept | | | | |
| TextEdit | | | | |
| TextMate | | | | |
| TextPad | | | | |
| TextWrangler | | | | |
| The SemWare Editor | | | | |
| UltraEdit | | | | |
| Ulysses (text editor) | | | | |
| vi | | | | |
| Vim | | | | |
| Visual Studio Code | | | | |
| XEmacs | | | | |
| XNEdit | Partial | | | |

## Natural language (localization)

Available languages for the UI :
| | Languages supported |
| Acme | English |
| AkelPad | English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish |
| Alphatk | English |
| Atom | English |
| BBEdit | English |
| Brackets | English, German, French, Polish(Outdated), Korean, Japanese, Italian, Czech, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish(Outdated) |
| Coda | English, German, French, Spanish |
| ConTEXT | English, German, French, Polish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish |
| Crimson Editor | English |
| CudaText | Main: English. Addons: Japanese, French, Polish, Korean, Hungarian (2018), Greek, German (2017), and 9 others |
| ed | |
| Editra | English, German, French, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish |
| EmEditor | English, German, French, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Spanish |
| epsilon | English |
| Geany | English, German, French, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Hindi |
| gedit | English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Hindi |
| GNU Emacs | English |
| JED | English |
| jEdit | English |
| JOE | English, German, French |
| JOVE | English |
| Kate | English, German, French, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish |
| KEDIT | English |
| Komodo Edit | English |
| KWrite | English, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish |
| Metapad | English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish |
| mined | English |
| MS-DOS Editor | English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish |
| Nano | English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese |
| NEdit | English |
| Notepad | English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Hindi |
| Notepad++ | English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Hindi |
| nvi | English |
| Pico | English, Italian |
| PolyEdit | English |
| PSPad | English, German, French, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Czech, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish |
| RJ TextEd | English, German, French, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish |
| Sam | English |
| SciTE | English, German, French (Outdated (1.72)), Polish, Japanese (Outdated (1.62)), Italian, Dutch (Outdated (1.67)), Portuguese (Outdated (1.63)), Spanish, Swedish |
| SlickEdit | English |
| Smultron | English, German, French, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish |
| SubEthaEdit | English |
| TED Notepad | English |
| TextEdit | English, German, French, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish |
| TextMate | English |
| TextPad | English, German, French, Polish (Outdated (4.7.3)), Japanese, Italian(Outdated (4.7.3)), Dutch (Outdated (4.7.3)), Spanish (Outdated (4.7.3)), Portuguese (Outdated (4.7.3)) |
| TextWrangler | English |
| The SemWare Editor | English |
| UltraEdit | English, German, French, Korean, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese |
| VEDIT | English |
| vi | English |
| Vim | Afrikaans, Catalan, Chinese(Simplified), Chinese(Taiwan), Czech, Danish, Dutch, German, English(UK), English(US), Esperanto, Finnish, French, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Norwegian(Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese(Brazil), Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese |
| Visual Studio Code | English, Bulgarian, Chinese, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish |
| XEmacs | English |
| XNEdit | English |

## Document interface

Text editor support for common document interfaces :
| | Multiple instances | Single document window splitting | MDI: overlappable windows | MDI: tabbed document interface | MDI: window splitting |
| Acme | | | | | |
| AkelPad | | | | | |
| Alphatk | | | | | |
| Atom | | | | | |
| BBEdit | | | | | |
| Bluefish | | | | | |
| Brackets | | | | | |
| Coda | | | | | |
| ConTEXT | | | | | |
| Crimson Editor | | | | | |
| CudaText | | | | | |
| ed | | | | | |
| Editra | | | ? | | ? |
| EmEditor | | | | | |
| Geany | | Plug‑in | | | |
| gedit | | Plug‑in | | | Plug‑in |
| GNU Emacs | | | | | |
| JED | | | | | |
| jEdit | | | | | |
| JOE | | | | | |
| JOVE | | | | | |
| Kate | | | | | |
| KEDIT | | | | | |
| Komodo Edit | | | | | |
| Komodo IDE | | | | | |
| KWrite | | | | | |
| LE | | | | | |
| Light Table | | | | | |
| Metapad | | | | | |
| mined | | | | | |
| MS-DOS Editor | | | | | |
| Nano | | | | | |
| NEdit | | | | | |
| Notepad | | | | | |
| Notepad++ | | | | | 2 windows |
| nvi | | | | | |
| Pico | | | | | |
| PolyEdit | | | | | |
| PSPad | | | | | |
| RJ TextEd | | | | | |
| Sam | | | | | |
| SciTE | | | | | |
| SlickEdit | | | | | |
| Smultron | | | | | |
| SubEthaEdit | | | | | |
| TED Notepad | ? | ? | ? | | ? |
| TextEdit | | | | | |
| TextMate | | | | | |
| TextPad | | | | | |
| TextWrangler | | | | | |
| The SemWare Editor | | | | | |
| UltraEdit | | | | | |
| VEDIT | | | | | |
| vi | | | | | |
| Vim | | | | | |
| Visual Studio Code | | | | | |
| XEmacs | | | | | |
| XNEdit | | | | | |
| | Multiple instances | Single document window splitting | MDI: overlappable windows | MDI: tabbed document interface | MDI: window splitting |