Best Text Editors 2024: for Windows, Linux, Mac and more

The best text editors make it easy to write code and keep formatting problems from messing up your work.

The best Text editors, in plain English, are places where you can write and change text. It could be anything from making changes to a simple Word document for a school assignment to writing long blocks of code for a new program. As a coder, it’s important to find the right text editor because you’ll spend a lot of time working on it. But when you start learning to code for the first time, you might be confused by how many options there are for even the most basic steps.

If you choose a text editor that is too simple, you might be able to learn the basics faster. But they run into problems like having to enter more complicated codes, using different languages, and learning how to use plugins. On the other hand, if you are just starting out, using a complex text editor can slow down your learning. And you might stop caring about coding.

For many developers, even the most complicated web apps can be made with just a reliable text editor. Whether you’re making a site from scratch, editing a CSS file, or messing with configuration files on the server, a good, solid text editor will do the job just fine. Over 600 people voted last week for the text editor they thought was the best out of the many that are available.

What is a text editor?

A text editor is a piece of software or a tool that lets users make, change, and edit text files. Text editors are often used to do things like write code, draft documents, take notes, or make easy changes to files that only involve text. There are many different kinds of text editors, from simple ones with few features to ones with lots of features that are made for specific programming languages or jobs. Some well-known text tools are:

???? Notepad is a simple, lightweight text editor that comes with many Windows operating systems.

???? TextEdit is a simple text editor that comes with macOS and lets you do the most important things with text.

???? Vim is a powerful command-line text editor that can be set up in many different ways. Many coders and system administrators use it. It is hard to learn, but once you do, it has a lot of features.

???? Emacs is another powerful and flexible text editor that is known for being able to work with many computer languages. A lot of people also use Emacs as an integrated development environment (IDE).

???? Sublime Text is a famous text editor that works on many different platforms and has a clean and easy-to-use interface. It comes with a variety of apps and themes that can improve how it works and how it looks.

Best Text Editors and All platforms Comparison Table

The table below shows the most important features and differences between some of the best text editors out there. This will help you choose the best one for your coding, writing, or editing needs. Find the best text editor for your process by looking at their features, how well they work with other programs, and other things.

Text EditorPriceOperating SystemsExtensions/Plugins
BracketsFreeWindows, macOSYes
Sublime Text$80 (Trial)Windows, macOS, LinuxYes
Notepad++ (Free)FreeWindowsYes
BBEdit$49.99macOSYes
TextMate$59.99macOSYes
Visual Studio CodeFreeWindows, macOS, LinuxYes

Brackets

Best Text Editors

Features

  • Open-source and free.
  • Focused on web development, with live preview and inline editing for HTML and CSS.
  • Extensions and themes support.
  • Lightweight and fast.

Brackets is mostly for people who make websites, but anyone can use it to view or change a text document. Even though it has a lot of advanced settings, the interface is clean and modern, and it feels really easy to use. In fact, almost all of the options are hidden from view so that anyone can use it. This also makes the editing interface very open. Currently, this is one of the best Apps for Apple Pencil.

Writers of code might like that Brackets highlights syntax, can split the screen so you can edit more than one document at once, lets you click one button for a really simple, distraction-free interface, and supports a lot of keyboard shortcuts so you can quickly indent, duplicate, move between lines, toggle line and block comments, show or hide code hints.

You can change the file type you’re working on quickly to change the rules for syntax highlighting right away. You can also change the file’s encoding if you need to. If you are editing a CSS or HTML file, you can turn on the Live Preview option to see how the page changes as you make changes to the file in your web browser.

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Pros

  • Lightweight and easy to use.
  • Built-in support for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
  • Offers live preview of web pages.

Cons

  • Limited language support compared to other text editors.
  • Less customizable compared to some other editors.

Sublime Text

Best Text Editors and All platforms

Features

  • Cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux).
  • Highly customizable with a Python-based plugin API.
  • Multiple selections and split editing for efficient coding.
  • Command palette for quick access to functions.
  • Distraction-free mode.

One of our favorites is the Sublime Text editor. It has a free version for testing, but users who want to keep it running have to pay $99 to do so. Even though $99 might seem like a lot for a text editor, it’s important to know that the licenses are per-user, not per-machine, so you can use Sublime Text on as many computers and operating systems as you want with one license.

In terms of features, Sublime Text has an advantage because it uses very few resources but still has some of the more advanced features you’d expect from a top text editor. The main benefit of Sublime Text is that it has shortcuts and search tools that make it easy to find functions quickly and make changes to many lines at once. It only takes a few seconds to jump to certain symbols or words.

Also, Sublime Text automatically makes an index of all functions and methods, so you can use shortcuts and change the way it works to find code while you’re working.In keeping with the trend of shortcuts in Sublime Text, the text editor lets you move directly to menu items with just a few keystrokes. So, if you wanted to sort something in your document, you wouldn’t have to look through the whole menu to find that function Currently, this is one of the Best Text Editors you can consider now.

Pros

  • Fast and responsive performance.
  • Multi-platform support (Windows, macOS, Linux).

Cons

  • Lack of some advanced features compared to other editors.
  • Development and updates can be slow at times.

Notepad++ (Free)

Best Text Editors and All platforms

Features

  • Free and open-source.
  • Windows-only.
  • Supports multiple programming languages with syntax highlighting.
  • Extensive plugin support.
  • Tabbed interface for easy file management.

Don Ho made Notepad++ in the year 2003. It is a free editor for Windows source code. It is still the most reliable text editor for developers and programmers even though it has been around for 17 years. This text editor has some advanced features, such as syntax highlighting, code folding, scripting, limited auto-completion for programming, and so on Overall, this is one of the Best Text Editors you can consider now.

It also has macro recording, editing in split-screen mode, and markup languages. You’ll also get an interface that lets you switch between tabs and manage multiple projects at once.Also, the Notepad editor has more than 140 plug-in extensions that can be used. It lets you add features like W3C validation, sorting text, and handling quotes with just a few clicks.

Pros

  • Free and open-source.
  • Lightweight and fast.
  • Supports a wide range of programming languages.

Cons

  • Limited to Windows platform.
  • Plugin management can be complex for new users.

BBedit

Best Text Editors and All platforms

Features

  • macOS-exclusive.
  • Powerful text editing capabilities.
  • Syntax highlighting for numerous programming languages.
  • Extensible through plugins and scripts.
  • Built-in support for version control systems.

BBedit is an interesting choice for people who use macOS because it has professional features for coding and can be used for both simple and complex projects. Many programmers use BBedit because it is fast and easy to use. One feature, for instance, lets you copy a big chunk of text and have it appear right away in a new document when you open BBedit.

This wouldn’t save much time if you only did it once, but when you copy, paste, and change code all day, every second counts. Text completion, code folding, and support for Universal Stags are some of the other features of BBedit. Text completion helps speed up coding by suggesting completions for symbols and clippings. It also gives you access to Git and Subversion and makes it easy to work with source files that are under version control.

Pros

  • Powerful and feature-rich text editor for macOS.
  • Advanced text manipulation and search capabilities.

Cons

  • Available only for macOS.
  • Can be overwhelming for casual users or beginners.
  • License fee required for full version.

TextMate

Best Text Editors and All platforms

Features

  • macOS-exclusive.
  • Versatile, with support for various languages and markup.
  • Extensive bundle system for adding functionality.
  • Snippet support for code reuse.
  • Highly customizable.

TextMate can be downloaded for free, but you can also choose to pay $59 to get the full version. Keep in mind that this payment only gets you one license. If you have a whole team that needs to use the text editor, you would have to pay for more seats.

TextMate only works on the macOS to begin with. At first glance, it looks like a simple editor, but it has a lot of features packed into a small space. You would expect a text editor to have tools for find, search, and replace, autocompletion, and board management.

TextMate can work with any programming language, and it has a tool for Xcode projects.TextMate lets you set up multiple insertion points so that you can edit and change a lot of code at once. You also get a list of all the changes made to each version. So, the list shows changes to files and lets you go back in time if you need to This is the most popular Apps for Best Text Editors you can consider now.

Pros

  • Clean and intuitive user interface.
  • Great support for web development languages.
  • Wide range of customizable features.

Cons

  • Available only for macOS.
  • Limited plugin ecosystem compared to some other editors.
  • Development updates can be infrequent.

Visual Studio Code

Best Text Editors and All platforms

Features

  • Cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux).
  • Developed by Microsoft, free, and open-source.
  • Rich ecosystem of extensions for various programming languages.
  • Intelligent code completion and debugging features.
  • Customizable themes and settings.

Visual Studio Code is made by Microsoft, which is a big name in the tech world. It is known as one of the text editors with the most features and options. This open-source text editor can be changed and added to. It works with a wide range of programming languages and frameworks, from C and C++ to newer languages like Go and Rust. AI is one of the features of VS Code that saves the most time. The software automatically reads all of the code and text that the developer writes in this text editor Overall, this is one of the Best Text Editors you can consider now.

Pros

  • Supports a wide range of programming languages and frameworks.
  • Strong community support and regular updates.

Cons

  • Some features may have a learning curve for new users.
  • Initially slower startup compared to simpler editors.

Features to Consider When Choosing a Text Editor for SEO

It’s important to choose the right text editor for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) if you want to manage and optimize the content on your website effectively. Here are some important things to think about and tools to look for in a text editor for SEO:

???? Code Highlighting: Look for a text editor that has syntax highlighting for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other web languages. This tool helps you find mistakes in your code and improve its structure for SEO.

???? Plugins or extensions for SEO: Some text tools come with plugins or extensions for SEO that can help with on-page optimization. These tools may give you tips on how to improve the SEO of your content, such as how to analyze keywords, optimize meta tags, and more.

????️ Live Preview: A live preview lets you see in real time how your content will look on the web. This can help you make sure that your content is written correctly and looks good, which can indirectly help your SEO.

Spellcheck and Grammar Check: SEO relies on good content, so having a spellcheck and grammar check built in can help you keep your content high-quality and free of mistakes.

???? Auto-save and version control: Text tools that save your work automatically and let you keep track of different versions can keep you from losing data and let you look at and go back to older versions if you need to.

FAQs

Is Notepad ++ a text editor?

Notepad++ is a free text and source code editor for Microsoft Windows that is made by notepad-plus-plus.org. It has tabbed editing, which lets you work on multiple files at once in the same window.

What is the best text editor for beginners?

This is a good choice for people who are just starting out. It has certain features and a simple user interface to make it easy to get started. Atom is the best choice for people who want a text editor and a way to work with other people at the same time. CoffeeCup HTML Editor: You can use this text editor if you are learning to code.

Lucas Simonds
Lucas Simonds
Lucas Simonds is a skilled content editor at Bollyinside, specializing in "How to" and "Tips & Tricks" articles focused on Gaming, Software, and Apps. With a genuine passion for video games, he not only writes about them but also actively engages in gaming. His commitment to providing insightful and approachable content has earned him a trusted reputation within the online community.

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