Top Alternatives to Programmer's Notepad

Notepad++ is a widely-used free and open-source text and source code editor for Windows. Built on the Scintilla editing component, it offers a rich set of features for programmers, including syntax highlighting for multiple languages, code folding, macro recording, and a tabbed interface for managing multiple files efficiently. Its lightweight design ensures fast performance even with large files.

Eclipse is a powerful, open-source Integrated Development Environment (IDE) widely used for Java development, but also supporting a variety of other programming languages through its extensive plugin ecosystem. It provides a robust set of tools for coding, debugging, testing, and deployment.

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.

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.

Geany is a powerful yet lightweight text editor that bridges the gap between basic editors and full-fledged IDEs. It provides essential development environment features like syntax highlighting, code navigation, and a built-in terminal, making it suitable for a wide range of programming tasks.

Aptana Studio was a robust, open-source integrated development environment (IDE) specifically designed for web development. It provided developers with a comprehensive set of tools and features to build web applications efficiently, supporting various web technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and Python.

Coda is a Mac-exclusive integrated development environment (IDE) designed for web developers. It combines a powerful text editor, built-in file management (including FTP/SFTP/WebDAV), version control integration, and web preview tools into a single, cohesive application.

TextMate is a robust and feature-rich graphical text editor for macOS, specifically designed for developers. It offers syntax highlighting, powerful macros, bundles for extensibility, and a highly customizable interface to streamline coding workflows.

PSPad is a versatile, freeware text and code editor designed for Microsoft Windows. It offers a rich set of features for developers, including syntax highlighting, a built-in FTP client, project management, and a hex editor, all within a lightweight and portable package.

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free, open-source, lightweight yet powerful source code editor developed by Microsoft. It supports a wide range of programming languages and offers robust features like debugging, intelligent code completion (IntelliSense), built-in Git control, and an extensive ecosystem of extensions for enhanced functionality. Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, VS Code has become a popular choice for developers across various disciplines.

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.

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.

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.

Bluefish is a powerful yet lightweight code editor designed for web developers and programmers. It offers a wide array of features for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and many other programming languages, focusing on efficiency and ease of use for building dynamic websites and applications.

jEdit is a mature, feature-rich text editor written in Java. It's highly extensible via plugins and suitable for programmers and general text editing tasks across various operating systems.

Espresso is a powerful macOS-only web development tool designed for speed and simplicity. It combines code editing, visual previewing, and publishing features, making it an all-in-one solution for building websites.

EmEditor is a robust yet lightweight text editor for Windows designed for power users, developers, and anyone working with large files or needing advanced text manipulation features and it offers exceptional performance and customization.

VSCodium is a community-driven, freely licensed distribution of Microsoft's VS Code editor. It removes proprietary telemetry and tracking, providing a truly open-source alternative for developers who prioritize privacy and freedom.

TextPad is a robust and lightweight text editor designed for Windows systems. It offers a comprehensive set of features for editing plain text files, source code, and HTML documents. With support for syntax highlighting, macros, and a tabbed interface, it provides a productive environment for programmers and general users alike.

Qt Creator is a powerful, cross-platform Integrated Development Environment (IDE) tailored for building applications with the Qt framework. It supports C++, QML, and JavaScript, offering a comprehensive suite of tools for designing UIs, writing code, debugging, and deploying software across various platforms.

EditPad Lite is a free text editor designed for Windows, offering essential text editing features and serving as an excellent replacement for Notepad. It supports large files, multiple languages, and a tabbed interface, making basic text manipulation simple and efficient for non-commercial users.

Peppermint is a lightweight and native code editor designed exclusively for macOS, offering a clean and fluid interface for developers. It focuses on providing essential features like syntax highlighting, code completion, and built-in tools for a productive coding experience.

BBEdit is a powerful and robust text, code, and markup editor for macOS. Renowned for its stability and feature set tailored for developers and writers, it offers advanced search and replace, syntax highlighting, and integration with developer tools.

Spyder is a comprehensive Scientific Python Development Environment (IDE) designed specifically for data scientists, engineers, and researchers using Python for scientific computing. It offers a rich set of tools for interactive data exploration, analysis, and visualization.

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.

TextEdit is a fundamental, open-source word processor and text editor included with macOS. Designed for simplicity, it handles both plain text and Rich Text Format (RTF) documents, making it suitable for quick note-taking, basic document creation, and editing code or configuration files.

RJ TextEd is a powerful freeware text and source code editor for Windows, offering comprehensive features for web development, programming, and general text editing.

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.

SynWrite is a comprehensive and free source code editor for Windows, serving as an excellent Notepad replacement with robust features for various programming and web development tasks. It's designed for performance and extendibility, making it suitable for both novice and experienced developers.

Neovim is a modern, extended version of the Vim text editor, focusing on usability, extensibility, and integration. It's designed for developers and power users seeking a highly customizable and efficient text editing experience, particularly within the terminal environment.

HTML-Kit is a robust HTML editor for Microsoft Windows, designed for web developers who need a feature-rich environment for coding in HTML, XHTML, PHP, and JavaScript. It offers a blend of essential tools and extensibility through plugins.

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.

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.

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.

CotEditor is a free and open-source text editor designed specifically for macOS. It offers a clean and intuitive interface, making it a lightweight yet powerful tool for plain text editing, coding, and more.

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.