Vim Vim
vs
GNU Emacs GNU Emacs

This is a side by side comparison of Vim and GNU Emacs. Two products that are similar in nature, yet provide unique feature-sets that are worth taking in to account before making a purchasing decision or start using the software. This page can help you broadly analyze the products and weigh pros and cons against one another. Allowing you scrutinize peoples opinions about Vim and GNU Emacs, before making a decision if any of the products fit your use-case.

What is Vim?

Vim dates back all the way to 1991 when Vim's author, Bram Moolenaar released it to the public. Vim is a highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing. The software is released as free and open-source software under the Vim License. Vim is often called a "programmer's editor," as it relies more on customization of shortcuts and makes heavy use of macros that can be combined with muscle memory to achieve maximum proficiency. Vim was designed for use in both command-line interfaces and as a standalone application in a graphical user interface.

How much does Vim cost?

No pricing information available..

What platforms does Vim support?

Vim is available for Windows , macOS , Linux and BSD .

Top Vim Alternatives

Visual Studio Code

A free and open source IDE based on Electron and Atom, developed by Microsoft. Visual Studio Code or VS Code is an extensible IDE or coding editor that is loved by many developers around the globe. The editor combines a streamlined UI with advanced code assistance, code nagivation and intellisense.

Free & Open Source

Geany

A free and open-source lightweight GUI text editor using Scintilla and GTK with basic IDE features. Geany is designed and developed with performance in mind, and provides limited dependency on separate packages or external libraries on Linux. Geany is available for a wide variety of operating systems including BSD, Linux, macOS, Solaris and Windows.

Free & Open Source

Atom

A free and open-source IDE for macOS, Linux, and Windows developed by GitHub Inc. The application is build on the Electron framework and provides a wide eco-system of add-ons that can be used to extend the IDE further. Atom is loved by developers across the globe.

Free & Open Source

The software GNU Emacs GNU Emacs is removed from the Top Vim Alternatives since you are comparing against it. If you are looking for more software, applications or projects similar to Vim Vim we recommend you to check out our full list containing 11 Vim Alternatives.

Vim Gallery

What is GNU Emacs?

GNU Emacs is an extensible and customizable, free and open source text editor. It was created by GNU Project founder Richard Stallman and has been dubbed "the most powerful text editor available today". At the core of GNU Emacs is an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp programming language with extensions to support text editing. Which allows users to extend and customize GNU Emacs to their heart's content.

How much does GNU Emacs cost?

No pricing information available..

What platforms does GNU Emacs support?

GNU Emacs is available for Windows , macOS , Linux and BSD .

Top GNU Emacs Alternatives

Atom

A free and open-source IDE for macOS, Linux, and Windows developed by GitHub Inc. The application is build on the Electron framework and provides a wide eco-system of add-ons that can be used to extend the IDE further. Atom is loved by developers across the globe.

Free & Open Source

PhpStorm

PhpStorm is a commercial, cross-platform IDE specifically designed for PHP developers. The IDE provides on-the-fly code analysis, error prevention and automated refactoring for PHP, HTML and JavaScript code. PhpStorm is loved by professional Symfony, Laravel, Drupal, WordPress, Zend Framework, Magento, Joomla!, CakePHP, Yii developers across the globe.

Commercial & Proprietary

Visual Studio Code

A free and open source IDE based on Electron and Atom, developed by Microsoft. Visual Studio Code or VS Code is an extensible IDE or coding editor that is loved by many developers around the globe. The editor combines a streamlined UI with advanced code assistance, code nagivation and intellisense.

Free & Open Source

The software Vim Vim is removed from the Top GNU Emacs Alternatives since you are comparing against it. If you are looking for more software, applications or projects similar to GNU Emacs GNU Emacs we recommend you to check out our full list containing 9 GNU Emacs Alternatives.

GNU Emacs Gallery