GNU Emacs Alternatives
GNU Emacs
GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable 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. The features of GNU Emacs include:
* Content-sensitive editing modes, including syntax coloring, for a variety of file types including plain text, source code, and HTML.
* Complete built-in documentation, including a tutorial for new users.
* Full Unicode support for nearly all human languages and their scripts.
* Highly customizable, using Emacs Lisp code or a graphical interface.
* A large number of extensions that add other functionality, including a project planner, mail and news reader, debugger interface, calendar, and more. Many of these extensions are distributed with GNU Emacs; others are available separately.
Best Open Source GNU Emacs Alternatives
Want a really good GNU Emacs alternative? Take a look at these popular alternatives if you're hunting for software similar to GNU Emacs. Let's take a quick peek at some comparison that highlight your device and platform.
Notepad++
FreeOpen SourceWindowsPortableApps.comNotepad++ is a free source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages.
Features:
- Lightweight
- Code formatting
- Tabbed interface
- Custom Language Definitions
- Customer support
- Support for Javascript
- Macros
- Portable
- Auto-saving
- Autocompletion
- Block edit
- Built-in editor
- Color coding
- Column edit mode
- Configurable
- Debugger
- Developer Tools
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Support for FTP
- Integrated Search
- Live Preview
- Multiple languages
- Multiple Open Tabs
- Native GUI
- Plugin manager
- Support for regular expressions
- Side-by-Side comparison
Vim
FreeOpen SourceMacWindowsLinuxBSDHaikuOpenSolarisVim ("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...
Features:
- Lightweight
- Customizable
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Syntax Highlighting
- Keyboard focused
- Plugins
- Well documented
- Built-in terminal emulation
- Command line interface
- Configurable
- For geek
- Hackable
- MarkDown support
- Batch Editing
- Command line
- Configurable
- Dedication to home row
- Developer Tools
- Support for Large File
- Lightweight
- Mnemonic key bindings
- Modal editor
- Native application
- Plugin manager
- Regex substitution
- Spell checking
- Terminal-based
- Vim Buffers
- Vim folding
- Visual Mode
- Word completion
Eclipse
FreeOpen SourceMacWindowsLinuxEclipse is an extensible development platform with runtimes and application frameworks for building, deploying and managing software across the entire software...
Features:
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- IDE
- Python
- Developer Tools
- Java IDE
- Refactoring
- Autocompletion
- Collaborative Workspaces
- Debugger
- IDE
- Java
- Php
- Rich Client Platform
- Ruby
- SCM Integration
- Support for Themes
Atom
FreeOpen SourceMacWindowsLinuxChrome OSBSDElectron / Atom ShellExtensible, cross-platform text editor with a rich ecosystem of plugins and themes.
Features:
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Customizable
- Support for Themes
- Community based
- Package Control
- GIT support
- Teletype
- GitHub integration
- Hackable
- Syntax Highlighting
- Autocompletion
- Clean design
- Code completion
- Collaborative writing
- Electron based
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Folder Hierarchy
- Fuzzy Finder
- Gitlab integration
- Interior Design
- Live collaboration
- Minimap
- Modular System
- Multiple languages
- Multiple cursors
- Night mode/Dark Theme
- Distraction-free UI
- Package Manager
- Plugin API
- Plugin manager
- Real time collaboration
- Separated workspaces
- Support for NodeJS
- Tabbed interface
- Unit Testing
Visual Studio Code
FreeOpen SourceMacWindowsLinuxChrome OSElectron / Atom ShellCode combines the streamlined UI of a modern editor with rich code assistance and navigation, and an integrated debugging experience – without the need for a full IDE.
Features:
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Lightweight
- Built-in Terminal
- Autocompletion
- Intellisense
- Customizable
- Syntax Highlighting
- Code completion
- GIT support
- Plugins
- C++ support
- C# Scripting
- C support
- Graphical interface
- IDE
- Support for Javascript
- MarkDown support
- Multiple cursors
- Night mode/Dark Theme
- Ruby support
- Source code debugging
- Supports loads of file formats
- Supports Python
- Bugs
- Code formatting
- Code navigation
- Color coding of code
- Electron based
- Embedded debugger
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Extensions
- Git integration
- Mercurial support
- Minimap
- PHP IDE
- Remote Debugging
- Run Android Apps on Desktop
- Support for NodeJS
- Version and Source control
gedit
FreeOpen SourceMacWindowsLinuxChrome OSBSDGNOMEOpenSolarisOfficial text editor of the GNOME desktop environment. Has syntax highlighting and is suitable for programming, with support for several languages. It is extensible with...
Features:
- Lightweight
- Autocompletion
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Spell checking
- Syntax Highlighting
Geany
FreeOpen SourceMacWindowsLinuxBSDPortableApps.comXfceGeany is a small and lightweight Integrated Development Environment. It was developed to provide a small and fast IDE, which has only a few dependencies from other...
Features:
- Better syntax highlighting support
- Debian package compatible
- FOSS
- IDE
- Lightweight
- Multiplatform
- Shell integration
- Support for Themes
- Automatic Indentation
- Built-in Terminal
- Code navigation
- Customizable
- Support for Large File
- Minimalistic
- Portable
- Shortcut keys
- Spell checking
- Syntax Highlighting
- Vim plugin
GNU nano
FreeOpen SourceMacWindowsLinuxBSDHaikuGNU nano is a small and friendly text editor. Besides basic text editing, nano offers many extra features like an interactive search and replace, go to line and column...
Features:
- Command line interface
- Automatic Indentation
- Search and replace
- Terminal-based
Kate
FreeOpen SourceMacWindowsLinuxBSDKDEThe Kate project develops two main products: KatePart, the advanced editor component which is used in numerous KDE applications requiring a text editing component, and...
Features:
- Editable text color schemes
- Native application
- Built-in Terminal
- Built-in themes
- Code formatting
- File management
- MarkDown support
- Notetaking
- Support for regular expressions
- Syntax Highlighting
- Tabbed interface
- Themes
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