Whenever you need to edit your text or write code, you make use of text editors. They have many features in common: provide standard text commands, allow you to auto-complete and speed up your coding, customize the interface and menu, quickly find and replace text across several projects, compare different backups, and many more. How to choose the best plain text or source code editor? We've reviewed the top 5 text editors and compared their features. Have a look at the article and choose the best text editor to your needs.
Price
Special features
Audience
Languages
Apply/Create plug-ins
Remotely view files
Preview changes
Supported OS
Atom
It's a plain text and source code editor designed by GitHub. Atom is based on HTML, Node.js, JavaScript, and CSS and runs on the Electron framework. Apply a variety of built-in plugins and themes to customize the app's features. Alternatively, create new functionality and add it to the Atom website. It's open-source and it's available for Windows 7+, macOS, Linux and iOS.
Editor Settings
Features
- Write code faster with smart autocompletion.
- Customize its features with the built-in packages.
- Create new functionality and upload it as a package.
- Apply pre-installed plugins and themes in dark and light colors.
Advantages
- It's developed for both novices and experienced programmers.
- Split the interface into several panes to compare and edit code.
- Access a project or several projects in one window.
- While typing, find, preview and change text in one file or across several projects.
Disadvantages
- It eats a lot of RAM.
- It takes time so sync all the files.
- Plugins can break each other.
BBEdit
Search, edit, convert and manage texts and source code in BBEdit by Bare Bones Software, Inc. Quickly make changes and apply them to your files. Customize syntax coloring for 20 languages and easily navigate through your code. It's suitable for users who just want to write text and application developers. BBedit works only on macOS. You have access to all the features for 30 days, after that you can still use it for free or purchase the extended version at $49.99.
Application Preferences
Features
- Create, format, convert, remove and replace text.
- Search and sort texts with regular expression matching and multi-file filtering.
- Quickly make changes and apply them to any number of files.
- Customize keyboard shortcuts and menu commands.
- Create your own functionality with AppleScript, Automator, Perl and Unix Shell.
- Improve syntax colouring and feature navigation using codeless language modules.
- Use clippings and custom tages to speed up PHP coding.
Advantages
- Remotely view and edit documents in Disk browsers or FTP browsers.
- Organize files on your disk or from FTP/SFTP servers.
- Apply built-in command-line tools.
- Compare files with the Find Differences option.
- Automatically check code errors as well as grammatical mistakes.
- Preview your website within the interface.
Disadvantages
- No FiraCode ligatures.
- The free version is very limited after the 30-day trial expires.
Brackets
Brackets by Adobe is an open-source text editor for front-end developers and web designers. It's famous for its modern interface that understands web designs. The app is better optimized for HTML, CSS, and JS. Apply a number of free extensions, edit and preview colors and gradient measurements, get code hints while typing, change the code in split windows, and many more. It's provided on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Developer Tools
Features
- Work in the web environment.
- Write code without pop-ups in split windows.
- Alter CSS and HTML and immediately preview the changes.
- Customize the tool up to your liking.
- Use a number of open-source extensions.
Advantages
- Quickly edit code in inline editors.
- Visualize and preview colors and gradient measurements.
- Easily launch the editor in Command Line and manage it using shortcuts.
- Fold and unfold blocks of code.
- Edit fonts and colors.
- Quickly search files.
- Get code hints (HTML, JS, CSS) from PSD files.
Disadvantages
- It doesn't open files both in the horizontal and vertical panes.
- It works quite slow.
- No elementary commands.
UltraEdit
It's a standard text editor by IDM Computer Solutions. UltraEdit is designed both for ordinary users and professional developers. Perform simple editing operations, highlight syntax, sort your data, edit columns or blocks. It quickly processes large files and features SSH, Telnet, FTP, SFTP, and FTPS protocols. UltraEdit supports more than 600 languages, including SAS, Assembly languages, COBOL, Lisp, Oracle, MATLAB, etc. Download it on Windows, macOS or Linux, evaluate its trial version for 30 days, then you have to annually pay $79.95.
Command line
Features
- Quickly find and replace code.
- Organize and link your files and folders.
- Automatically highlight XML/HTML tags.
- Open files larger than 4 GB.
- Sort lines and remove duplicates.
- Automate editing with macro and scripting support.
Advantages
- Multi-select and simultaneously edit your text or code.
- Apply multi-column editing.
- Preview HTML and Markdown changes.
- Customize the interface and menu.
- Choose a default theme or create your own one.
- Generate your own layouts.
- Manage files from remote servers (FTP, SFTP, and FTPS protocols).
- Compare different backups.
Disadvantages
- Insignificant security vulnerability issues.
- It sometimes crashes in script.
Sublime Text
It's a text editor by Sublime HQ Pty Ltd designed to change your writings, markup, and code. You can try the free version for an unlimited period of time, but you have to buy a license for continuous use for at $80. Sublime Text is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Console window
Features
- Get access to Package Control - a number of plug-ins genereted by other users.
- Customize menus, macros, and so on.
- Edit one project in multiple windows.
- Choose from 22 themes.
Advantages
- Use multiple selections to simultaneously edit several lines.
- Easily access files using shortcuts.
- Automaticaly create a project-wide index of every option.
- Quickly find features in Command Palette.
Disadvantages
- There're irritating popups in the free version reminding you of buying a license.
- You can't print files.
- It takes time to process large files.
Conclusion
You see, there is a variety of decent text editors. How to choose the best one? It depends on your aim. If you need a plain text editor to manage your writings, use open-source Atom or the free limited version of BBedit. If you are an app developer and you need to enhance your code, have a look at open-source Brackets that lets you work in a web environment or commercial UltraEdit that allows you to remotely edit files and process large files.
What kind of text editor are you using? Please share!
Thanks for sharing this list! Will check these text editors out!
I've used BBEdit for many years, free version. It is powerful and some of its features take a bit of getting used to. However, for basic text editing, its great. And your files are ALWAYS saved as plain text with no unexpected markups.