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Notepad Alternatives for Linux

Looking for Notepad alternatives? We've curated 18 top alternatives that offer similar functionality. Whether you need Linux options, free plans, or open source solutions, explore our comprehensive list to find the perfect fit for your needs.

Sublime Text

Sublime Text

Freemium

Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, markup, and prose. It's known for its speed, powerful features, and extensive customization options. With features like multiple cursors, GoTo Anything, and a robust plugin ecosystem, it's a favorite among developers and writers alike for boosting productivity and creating a tailored editing environment.

Key Features

  • Exceptional performance and speed
  • Highly customizable interface and behavior
  • Powerful features like multiple cursors and GoTo Anything

vs Notepad

Exceptional performance and speed compared to Notepad
Vim

Vim

Open Source

Vim is an advanced, highly configurable text editor designed for efficiency, particularly favored by developers. Operating primarily in the terminal, it offers powerful editing capabilities through keyboard commands, syntax highlighting, and extensive plugin support, making it a cornerstone tool for programming and advanced text manipulation.

Key Features

  • Extremely efficient for text editing once mastered.
  • Highly customizable and extensible with a vast plugin ecosystem.
  • Lightweight and available on almost all platforms.

vs Notepad

Extremely efficient for text editing once mastered. compared to Notepad
Atom

Atom

Open Source

Atom is a highly customizable and extensible open-source text editor developed by GitHub. Built on Electron, it provides a modern, hackable platform for developers, offering robust features like syntax highlighting, Git integration, and a vast ecosystem of packages to enhance productivity and tailor the editing experience to individual needs.

Key Features

  • Highly customizable and extensible through a vast package ecosystem.
  • Strong integrated support for Git and GitHub.
  • Open-source and free to use.

vs Notepad

Highly customizable and extensible through a vast package ecosystem. compared to Notepad
gedit

gedit

Open Source

gedit is a free and open-source text and code editor for the GNOME desktop environment. Known for its simplicity and clean interface, gedit provides essential features for both general text editing and basic code development, making it a popular choice for users seeking a straightforward and efficient tool.

Key Features

  • Very user-friendly and easy to learn
  • Excellent performance and lightweight
  • Good syntax highlighting and basic coding features

vs Notepad

Very user-friendly and easy to learn compared to Notepad
GNU Emacs

GNU Emacs

Open Source

GNU Emacs is a highly extensible and customizable text editor, renowed for its powerful features and ability to serve as a complete development environment. It is based on the Emacs Lisp programming language, allowing for deep customization and a vast ecosystem of packages.

Key Features

  • Highly customizable and extensible through Emacs Lisp.
  • Vast ecosystem of packages for added functionality.
  • Can serve as a comprehensive development environment.

vs Notepad

Highly customizable and extensible through Emacs Lisp. compared to Notepad
GNU nano

GNU nano

Open Source

GNU nano is a user-friendly command-line text editor widely used on Unix-like systems. Known for its simplicity and quick startup, it provides basic editing functionalities for configuration files, scripts, and general text manipulation directly within the terminal environment.

Key Features

  • Very easy to learn and use, even for beginners.
  • Extremely fast startup time and low resource usage.
  • Displays common commands at the bottom of the screen.

vs Notepad

Very easy to learn and use, even for beginners. compared to Notepad
Kate

Kate

Open Source

Kate, the KDE Advanced Text Editor, is a powerful yet lightweight text editor popular among developers and advanced users. Offering robust features like syntax highlighting, built-in terminal, extensibility via plugins, and comprehensive customization options, Kate caters to a wide range of text editing and coding tasks across platforms.

Key Features

  • Feature-rich with advanced tools like built-in terminal and regex support.
  • Highly customizable interface, themes, and keyboard shortcuts.
  • Extensive syntax highlighting with support for custom languages.

vs Notepad

Feature-rich with advanced tools like built-in terminal and regex support. compared to Notepad
UltraEdit

UltraEdit

Commercial

UltraEdit is a powerful and versatile text, hex, and code editor designed for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It offers a comprehensive feature set for developers, programmers, web designers, and general users working with text files, code, and binary data.

Key Features

  • Handles extremely large files efficiently.
  • Excellent Hex editing features.
  • Extremely customizable interface and functionality.

vs Notepad

Handles extremely large files efficiently. compared to Notepad
SciTE

SciTE

Open Source

SciTE is a free and open-source text and code editor built on the SCIntilla editing component. It's designed to be a lightweight yet powerful tool for programmers and web developers, offering syntax highlighting, code folding, autocompletion, and extensibility across multiple platforms.

Key Features

  • Extremely lightweight and fast performance.
  • High degree of customization through configuration files.
  • Good syntax highlighting and features for many languages.

vs Notepad

Extremely lightweight and fast performance. compared to Notepad
Leafpad

Leafpad

Open Source

Leafpad is an exceptionally lightweight and straightforward text editor designed for Linux, BSD, and Maemo environments. It prioritizes speed and efficiency, offering basic text editing functionalities without the complexity of feature-rich editors.

Key Features

  • Extremely lightweight and fast startup.
  • Simple and intuitive user interface.
  • Minimal resource consumption.

vs Notepad

Extremely lightweight and fast startup. compared to Notepad
ReText

ReText

Open Source

ReText is a straightforward yet effective text editor designed primarily for authoring documents in Markdown and reStructuredText. It provides essential features like live preview and syntax highlighting, making it a suitable choice for writers and developers who prefer lightweight, plain text formats.

Key Features

  • Excellent Live Preview for Markdown and reStructuredText
  • Lightweight and Fast Performance
  • Clear and Effective Syntax Highlighting

vs Notepad

Excellent Live Preview for Markdown and reStructuredText compared to Notepad
Scribes

Scribes

Open Source

Scribes is a free and open-source minimalist text editor designed for programmers and writers who value simplicity and efficiency. It provides a clean interface with essential features like syntax highlighting, autocompletion, and extensibility through plugins, making it a lightweight yet powerful tool for various coding and writing tasks.

Key Features

  • Minimalist and clean user interface.
  • Lightweight and fast performance.
  • Good syntax highlighting and autocompletion.

vs Notepad

Minimalist and clean user interface. compared to Notepad
Mousepad

Mousepad

Open Source

Mousepad is a straightforward yet capable text editor designed specifically for the Xfce desktop environment. It provides essential text editing functionalities in a lightweight package, making it an excellent choice for everyday tasks and basic code editing.

Key Features

  • Extremely lightweight and fast startup
  • Simple and intuitive user interface
  • Efficient tabbed interface for multiple documents

vs Notepad

Extremely lightweight and fast startup compared to Notepad
Editra

Editra

Open Source

Editra is a robust, cross-platform text editor designed with developers in mind. It's open-source, highly customizable through plugins, and features essential tools for coding like syntax highlighting, code completion, and an embedded terminal.

Key Features

  • Highly customizable through plugins.
  • Seamlessly works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
  • Includes an integrated terminal for convenience.

vs Notepad

Highly customizable through plugins. compared to Notepad
wxMEdit

wxMEdit

Open Source

wxMEdit is a versatile cross-platform text and hex editor, serving as a powerful alternative to the discontinued MadEdit. Built on C++ and wxWidgets, it provides developers and advanced users with robust features for editing text files and binary data.

Key Features

  • Seamlessly integrates text and hex editing.
  • Lightweight and performs well with large files.
  • Cross-platform support (Windows, macOS, Linux).

vs Notepad

Seamlessly integrates text and hex editing. compared to Notepad
JOE

JOE

Open Source

JOE (Joe's Own Editor) is a venerable, full-featured terminal-based text editor known for its ease of use and extensive feature set, making it suitable for both casual editing and complex programming tasks within the command line environment.

Key Features

  • User-friendly for a terminal editor
  • Feature-rich
  • Lightweight and fast

vs Notepad

User-friendly for a terminal editor compared to Notepad
TweakStyle

TweakStyle

Commercial

TweakStyle is an advanced code editor meticulously crafted for web developers. It simplifies the process of creating and fine-tuning web projects with a focus on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, offering powerful features like live preview, code completion, and integrated tools.

Key Features

  • Excellent live preview for instant feedback.
  • Strong support for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
  • Integrated FTP client streamlines deployment.

vs Notepad

Excellent live preview for instant feedback. compared to Notepad
MadEdit

MadEdit

Open Source

MadEdit is a discontinued, cross-platform text and hex editor designed with developers in mind. It offers syntax highlighting, a hex editing mode, and various customization options within a lightweight, tabbed interface. While no longer maintained, it provided a range of features useful for coding and binary file manipulation.

Key Features

  • Integrated text and hex editing reduces the need for multiple applications.
  • Lightweight and responsive, even with larger files.
  • Cross-platform support allows for a consistent experience.

vs Notepad

Integrated text and hex editing reduces the need for multiple applications. compared to Notepad

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