When comparing BBEdit vs Xcode, the Slant community recommends Xcode for most people. In the question“What are the best developer tools for Mac OSX?” Xcode is ranked 12th while BBEdit is ranked 30th. The most important reason people chose Xcode is:
Makes programming quick and painless.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Stable development, been around for decades
BBEdit is commercial software, the paid counterpart to their free application Textwrangler. Though BBEdit comes off as pricey, this allows for stable and consistent updates from the developers. BBEdit has been around since 1992.
Pro Can open very large files
Pro Just about every feature is already built in
No searching for plug-ins that may or may not work.
Pro Great customer support
The developer is very responsive to bug reports and feature suggestions.
Pro Native application
Follows platform standards.
Pro Built-in FTP/SFTP browser
BBEdit can open files directly from, and save them to, any available FTP server. It can also open and save files directly via SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol).
Pro Great JAMStack environment
You can build the static site of your dreams without needing any external assistants. Although it does not process LESS, SASS, or SCSS files, BBEdit's includes are very powerful.
Pro Live syntax checking, built-in documentation, code completion
Makes programming quick and painless.
Pro Great iOS integration
iOS integration makes it easy to deploy apps.
Pro Easy to install
Just head to AppStore and install it for free.
Cons
Con Featureless
Con Expensive
It's US$49.99 a single user license.