What are the best simple text editors for Windows?

Question

37

Options
Considered

176

User
Recs.

1 hr

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 1 of 36 OptionsWhy?

Best simple text editors for Windows	Price	Platforms	License
92 Notepad++	Free	Windows	GPL
83 Sublime Text	70.00	Windows; macOS; Linux	Proprietary
-- Visual Studio Code	FREE	Windows; macOS; Linux	MIT
77 Atom	Free	Windows, Mac, Linux	MIT
-- Cudatext	Free	macOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Linux-arm	MPL 2.0

See Full List

35 Other Options Considered

Sublime Text

Top Pro

Fast and responsive

Starts almost immediately. Doesn't feel bloated even though it has a lot of functionality. Package control is not installed but is essential for customization and adding key features (sidebar enhancements). See More

Top Con

Updates are not so frequent

Even though SublimeText is not buggy updates are not very frequent. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; macOS; Linux

License:Proprietary

Supported remote file editing protocols:FTP (plug-in); SSH (plug-in)

Bracket Matching:Yes

See All Specs

Top Pro

Multi-cursor editing

Top Con

Not a full IDE

It does not necessarily function on a project level. See More

Top Pro

Clean UI

Top Con

Paid

Although paying for something good is far from a Con, having the competition this editor has and still having to pay for it is definitely a Con. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight

Top Con

Proprietary

Code is protected and copyrighted. See More

Top Pro

Many plugins to extend functionalities

Top Pro

Comfortable to work with

Sublime Text has a minimap on the side that provides a top-down view of the file and keyboard shortcuts for most actions. It also supports a large number of languages and general text editing features out of the box. See More

Top Pro

Beginner-friendly

When you start using Sublime Text, it doesn't drown you in keyboard shortcuts or non-intuitive use-concepts. However, high-level functionality can still be easily accessed when the need for it arises. See More

Top Pro

Can load massive files > 10GB

and shows nice progress bar See More

Top Pro

Functionality can be easily extended

Sublime Text uses TextMate's syntax declaration files to support new languages, it has all its menus and keybindings generated from JSON files, and it can be scripted to add new features using Python. If Sublime Text doesn't support a desired language or feature, it's usually not long before someone implements it themselves - examples include the plugin package manager and the 'open in browser' command. See More

Top Pro

Multi-line select and editing

Multiple cursors and column selection allows for versatile ways of editing. ctrl + d will select the current word and each time the command is repeated, it adds the next occurrence of the word to the selection. ctrl + click or middle-mouse click will place another cursor in the place that's clicked. Cursors can then be controlled together. This also permits selecting vertically. ctrl + shift + l will place a cursor on every highlighted line. See More

See All

Visual Studio Code

Top Pro

Ready to use out of the box

You don't need to configure and add plugins before being productive. However, you can add plugins if needed but for the basics you're well covered. See More

Top Con

Very heavy to be a simple text editor

It is better suited to edit source files in a project than simple text. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; macOS; Linux

Top Pro

Embedded Git control

Visual Studio Code has integrated Git control, guaranteeing speed, data integrity, and support for distributed, non-linear workflows. See More

Top Con

Embedded Git isn't powerful enough

You can do nothing but track changes, stage them, and commit. No history, visualization, rebasing or cherry-picking – these things are left to git console or external git client. See More

Top Pro

Extendable through plugins

Visual Studio Code comes fairly complete out of the box, but there are many plugins available to extend its functionality. See More

Top Con

Slow launch time

Than it's competitors, e.g. Sublime Text. See More

Top Pro

Libre/open source

Released under the MIT License. See More

Top Con

Needs some customization in order to work as an IDE

Top Pro

Updated frequently

There's a new release of Visual Studio Code every month. If you are one of the insiders then releases are daily. See More

Top Pro

Huge community behind it

The ease of getting assistance and finding tutorials is increasing as the community grows. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

For a 'wrapped' web-based application, Visual Studio Code performs very well. See More

Top Pro

Integrated terminal

There's no need to press alt+tab to go to a terminal: it is directly integrated into the editor. Shift+~ is a handy hotkey to toggle the integrated terminal. See More

Top Pro

TypeScript integration

There is very solid TypeScript integration in Visual Studio Code. Both are developed by Microsoft and VSC itself is written in TypeScript. See More

Top Pro

Fast, good extension support

Top Pro

Active development

It's really nice to see how the code editor evolves. Every month there is a new version with great communication of new features and changes. See More

Top Pro

Extensions (aka plugins) are written in JavaScript

Extensions are written in either Typescript or JavaScript. See More

Top Pro

Integrated debugging

VSC includes debugging tools for Node.js, TypeScript, and JavaScript. See More

Top Pro

JavaScript IntelliSense support

JavaScript IntelliSense allows Visual Studio Code to provide you with useful hints and auto-completion features while you code. See More

See All

Atom

Top Pro

Extendable

Due to its modular design, almost any aspect of the editor can be changed. Even seemingly core packages, like those taking care of search and replace functionality, can be forked on GitHub, and changed and replaced in the editor. The documentation for creating new plugins is also great, making it easier for developers to jump in and create plugins for Atom. See More

Top Con

High memory usage

Atom has a relatively high memory usage, especially when compared to some other text editors not based on Electron. For those who develop on the go, this also tends to mean shorter battery life. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac, Linux

License:MIT

Supported remote file editing protocols:FTP (plug-in); SSH (plug-in)

Bracket Matching:Yes (plugin)

See All Specs

Top Pro

Free and open source

Atom is free, open source, and written in C++, LESS, and CoffeeScript. See More

Top Con

Very slow startup time

Atom is very slow to startup, which is a big disadvantage if you are accustomed to using it to make quick changes on your files. See More

Top Pro

Built-in package management

Atom was built from the ground up with the community in mind. Package management is therefore a first class feature. See More

Top Con

Has difficulty with large text files

Tends to crash or hang with large >(10MB) text files, making it less useful as a general text editor. See More

Top Pro

Multi-cursor editing

Top Pro

Great syntax highlighting

Top Pro

Beginner friendly

One of the goals of Atom is to be a text editor for both experienced and beginner programmers. You can add keyboard shortcuts, change themes, install plugins, and change core settings by clicking through a GUI, or by manually editing config files the old-fashioned way. It has the added advantage of being built using the same engine that powers Google Chrome, so actions like opening and closing tabs feel familiar, even to new or non-programmers. See More

Top Pro

Extensive list of packages

Atom has a built-in package manager and an extensive list of packages. Packages are written in CoffeeScript. See More

Top Pro

Embedded Git control

Atom will highlight folders, files, and lines that have any uncommitted edits made. It also integrates really well with GitHub. See More

Top Pro

Themes

You can theme and customize Atom to your liking. See More

Top Pro

Command Palette support

The Command Palette permits fuzzy searching all available functions, settings, snippets, etc. See More

Top Pro

Multiplatform

Atom can run on Mac, Windows, and Linux. See More

Top Pro

Awesome UI

See All

Cudatext

Top Pro

No installer or dependencies required

Cudatext is very easy to install. Just extraxt the zip file and you are done. See More

schlaumeier's Experience

A quite capable text editor for test, code and markdown. No isntallation is required and the plugin manager is included. It's a nice editor for windows and easy to handle. See More

Specs

Platforms:macOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Linux-arm

License:MPL 2.0

Bracket Matching:Yes

Price:Free

Top Pro

Syntax highlighting for many languages ( > 160)

Top Pro

Super easy colour theme changes

A GUI interface is available to change a Theme or create a new one based on an existing one. See More

Top Pro

Plugin manager built-in

Top Pro

Beginner friendly

Supports a normal menu and command palette to help discover functions and remember them. See More

Top Pro

Quite lightweight, doesn't need much resources.

Top Pro

Minimap plugin available

Top Pro

Addon manager

Useful built-in addon manager. See More

Top Pro

Package for Linux ARM available

Top Pro

Addons can be developed in Python

Top Pro

Written in Pascal on Lazarus

Top Pro

Command palette

Supports a fuzzy finder for commands similar to Sublime Text or Atom. This helps a lot to discover and remember commands to make good use of them. See More

Top Pro

Supports some nifty text editor functions

Supports code folding, multi-cursor, FTP file access via plugin, etc. See More

Top Pro

Native cross-platform for macOS, Windows, Linux and FreeBSD

Top Pro

Many programming languages supported for syntax highlighting

About ~180 programming languages supported at the time of writing either built-in or can be added easily with the addon manager. See More

See All

Vim

Top Pro

Works in terminal over SSH

Unlike other editors such as Sublime Text, Vim is a command line editor and hence can be used in remote development environments like Chromebooks via SSH. See More

Top Con

Difficult learning curve

You'll spend a lot of time learning all the commands and modes supported in Vim. You'll then spend more time tuning settings to your needs. Although once it's tuned to your needs, you can take your .vimrc to any machine you need and have the same experience across all your computers. See More

Specs

Platforms:Linux, macOS, Windows

License:GPL

Supported remote file editing protocols:Yes

Bracket Matching:Yes

See All Specs

Top Pro

Extremely portable

Vi/vim exists on almost all Unix-like platforms. It's the de-facto Unix editor and is easily installed on Windows. All you need to make it work is a text-based connection, so it works well for remote machines with slow connections, or when you're too lazy to set up a VNC/Remote Desktop connection. See More

Top Con

Foreign keyboards have a hard time on Vim out of the box

A lot of frequently-used keybinds are way harder to access on foreign keyboards because they use different layouts. For example, Germans use the QWERTZ layout, while French use the AZERTY. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight and fast

When compared to modern graphical editors like Atom and Brackets (which have underlying HTML5 engines, browsers, Node, etc.), Vim uses a sliver of the system's memory and it loads instantly, all the while delivering the same features. Vim is also faster than Emacs. See More

Top Con

Difficult to copy, paste, and delete

Top Pro

Free and open-source software

Vim is open-source, GPL-compatible charityware. See More

Top Con

Doesn't play nice with the system cut/paste mechanisms

This can be worked around if you disable mouse for insert mode. You can then right-click your terminal and use paste like you would anywhere else in a terminal. See More

Top Pro

Keyboard-based, mouse-free interface, and trackpad support

There's no need to reach for the mouse or the Ctrl/Alt buttons again. Everything is a mere key press or two away with almost 200 functions specifically for text editing. Vim does support the mouse, but it's designed so you don't have to use it for greater efficiency. Versions of Vim, like gVim or MacVim, still allow you to use the mouse and familiar platform shortcuts. That can help ease the learning curve and you'll probably find you won't want to (or need to) use the mouse after a while. See More

Top Con

Poor support for external tooling

Many plugins depend on optional Python and Lua features, which may or may not be included in whatever binaries are available for your system. And without platform-specific hacks, it is difficult for plugins to operate in the background or use external tooling. See More

Top Pro

Great productivity

Vim's keyset is mainly restricted to the alphanumeric keys and the escape key. This is an enduring relic of its teletype heritage, but has the effect of making most of Vim's functionality accessible without frequent awkward finger reaches. See More

Top Con

Lacks many modern programming features out of the box

Syntax checking, autocompletion, file management, plugin/update management, etc., all require plugins and extensive configuration to get working. Further to this, you'll probably have to compile native binaries yourself and ensure your system has the proper development libs to do so. See More

Top Pro

Vim encourages discipline

If you use Vim long enough, it will rewire your brain to be more efficient. See More

Top Pro

If you can use Vim you can also use vi

Top Pro

Donations and support to Vim.org helps children in Uganda through ICCF Holland

Top Pro

Can set up keymapping

Top Pro

Flexible feature-set

Vim allows users to include many features found in IDEs and competing editors, but does not force them all on the user. This not only helps keep it lighter in weight than a lot of other options, but it also helps ensure that some unused features will not get in the way. See More

Top Pro

Has been supported for a long time and will be supported for many years to come

Top Pro

Has multiple distinct editing modes

Interaction with Vim is centered around several "modes", where purpose and keybindings differ in each. Insert mode is for entering text. This mode most resembles traditional text entry in most editors. Normal mode (the default) is entered by hitting ESC and converts all keybindings to center around movement within the file, search, pane selection, etc. Command mode is entered by hitting ":" in Normal mode and allows you to execute Vim commands and scripts similar in fashion to a shell. Visual mode is for selecting lines, blocks, and characters of code. Those are the major modes, and several more exist depending on what one defines as a "mode" in Vim. See More

Top Pro

Tons of plugins/add-ons

This makes Vim the definitive resource for every environment (Ruby/Rails, Python, C, etc.), or simply just provides more information in your view. See More

Top Pro

Can never outgrow it

The fact that very few, if any, people claim to be a "Vim Master" is a testament to the breadth and depth of Vim. There is always something new to learn - a new, perhaps more efficient, way to use it. This prevents Vim from ever feeling stale. It's always fresh. See More

Top Pro

Amazing extensibility

Vimscript provides a rich scripting functionality to build upon the core of Vim. When combined with things like Tim Pope's Pathogen plugin management system, it becomes easy to add support for syntax, debugging, build systems, git, and more. See More

Top Pro

Excellent performance

As it loads the whole file into RAM, replacing all string occurrences in 100 MB+ files is quick and easy. Every other editor has sort of died during that. It is extremely fast even for cold start. Vim is light-weight and very compact. In terminal, it only uses a small amount of memory and anytime you invoke Vim, it's extremely fast. It's immediate, so much so you can't even notice any time lag. See More

Top Pro

Macros increase productivity

Many text editors have programmable macros, but since Vim is keyboard-based, your programmed macros are usually far more predictable and easier to understand. See More

Top Pro

Everything is mnemonic

No need to memorize different key combinations for things like deleting the text inside of a block or deleting the text inside of a pair of quotes. It's just a series of actions, or nouns and verbs, or however you prefer to think about it. If you want to delete, you select "d"; if you want it to happen inside something, you select "i"; and if you want the surrounding double-quotes, just select ". But if you were changing the text, or copying it, or anything else, you'd still use the same "i" and ". This makes it very easy to remember a large number of different extremely useful commands, without the effort it takes to remember all of the Emacs "magic incantations", for example. See More

Top Pro

Vimtutor

Vimtutor is an excellent interactive tutorial for people with no prior experience of Vim. It takes about 30 minutes to complete. See More

Top Pro

Productivity enhancing modal paradigm

As with all vi-like editors, Vim provides a modal paradigm for text editing and processing that provides a rich syntax and semantic model for composing succinct, powerful commands. While this requires some initial investment in learning how it works in order to take full advantage of its capabilities, it rewards the user well in the long run. This modal interface paradigm also lends itself surprisingly well to many other types of applications that can be controlled by vi-like keybindings, such as browsers, image viewers, media players, network clients (for email and other communication media), and window managers. Even shells (including zsh, tcsh, mksh, and bash, among others) come with vi-like keybinding features that can greatly enhance user comfort and efficiency when the user is familiar with the vi modal editing paradigm. See More

Top Pro

Works on Android

Top Pro

Once learned, it's very hard to forget

Vim's somewhat steep learning curve is more than made up for once you've mastered a few basic concepts and learned the tricks that allow you to program faster with fewer cut/paste mistakes. See More

Top Pro

Asynchronous I/O support

Since Vim 8, Vim can exchange characters with background processes asynchronously. This avoids the problem of the text editor getting stuck when a plugin that had to communicate with a server was running. Now plugins can send and receive data from external scripts without forcing Vim to freeze. See More

Top Pro

Built-in package management

Starting with Vim 8, a package manager has been built into Vim. The package manager helps keep track of installed plugins, their versions and also only loads the needed plugins on startup depending on the file type. See More

Top Pro

By default in Linux

See All

Kate

Top Pro

Free and open source

Kate is released under the GNU LGPL V2 license, therefore the whole source code is publicly availabe See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; OSX; *nix

License:GPL

Supported remote file editing protocols:FTP; HTTP; SSH; WebDAV

Collaborative editing:No

See All Specs

Top Pro

Fast and minimaistic

Kate is pretty fast and lightweight. This helps it with it's start up speed. See More

Top Pro

Edit over FTP, SSH, or other protocols

Kate uses KDE's input and output libraries to read and write files, allowing seamless integration with FTP, SMB, SFTP, and many other protocols. See More

Top Pro

Project mode

Kate allows you to make projects to simplify the organisation of your code. This brings in additional organization of an IDE without the overhead. See More

Top Pro

Syntax highlighting

Kate supports syntax highlighting for over 180 languages, from Assembler to Zsh. See More

See All

Codelobster

Top Pro

Portable option available

Codelobster IDE offers a lightweight, portable option. See More

Top Con

You need to sign up to get a free serial number for the free version

In order to use the free version of Codelobster, you have to sign up and get a free account. This is done to help stopping piracy, but it's still pretty jarring when all you want to do is install a program. See More

Top Pro

Very advanced editor

Top Con

Expensive

For the Pro version (which includes all the available plug-ins), the cost is $99.95. The lite version (without plugins) is $39.95. See More

Top Pro

Free version available

There is a free version available for download; it comes with a lot of features that you would find in an IDE. See More

See All

micro

Top Pro

Runs in terminal

Specs

Platforms:Linux, MacOS, BSD, Windows, ARM Linux

SciTE

Top Pro

Powerful syntax highlighting for numerous languages

Lexers providing folding and syntax highlighting are based on code, not on regular expressions. They support context, nesting, special rules, etc. See More

Top Con

Hard to config

The configuration is mainly a file-based config, which can be unintuitive and difficult to use for new users. See More

Mike's Experience

Being a single file executable called Sc1 which does not need any DLL or properties files it's the best 'simple windows text editor' for every USB-Stick. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; OSX; *nix

License:HPND

Supported remote file editing protocols:None

Top Pro

Free (except on Mac) and open source

SciTE is written in C++, with lot of contributors, both to the core and to the numerous lexers. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight

With less than 2 MB of binary on Windows, SciTE starts instantly. Plus, if you don't need all the config, syntax files, blah, there's a 678k standalone .exe version. Nothing is going to beat that for lightweight and start-up times. Stick it in a folder that is already on your PATH. See More

Top Pro

Portable

SciTE works on Windows and Linux, and it also has a commercial port on MacOS. See More

See All

QOwnNotes

Top Pro

Markdown support

Specs

Platforms:Mac OSX; Windows; Linux

License:GPL

Preview:Live side-by-side

User interface:Fully customizable

See All Specs

Textadept

Add Video or Image

Programmer's Notepad

Top Pro

Automatic Line ending conversion

Copy and paste from/to Unix/Linux without problems with line endings. (Also supports Mac line endings.) See More

Top Con

Supports too few languages

Does not have a lot of modern language support. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

License:BSD

Collaborative editing:No

Top Pro

Have multiple files open simultaneously.

Top Con

No unicode support

Does not support Unicode See More

Top Pro

Highlighting for several languages

Options include Plain Text, Assembler, C/C++ family, HTML, LaTeX, Bash, Poweshell, and SQL See More

Top Pro

No Microsoft Cruft

Work on files in a native Windows app without Microsoft defining your fonts every other character. See More

See All

Notepad2

Top Pro

Can replace Windows Notepad

ne

Top Pro

Runs in terminal

Specs

Supported keybinding styles:IBM CUA, flexible..

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