Windows Notepad Alternatives

Windows Notepad is described as 'Fast, lightweight editor bundled with Windows since 1985. Supports plain text, UTF-8, Linux newline, over 100 languages, with improved features' and is a very popular Text Editor in the os & utilities category. There are more than 100 alternatives to Windows Notepad for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Web-based and BSD apps. The best Windows Notepad alternative is Notepad++, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Windows Notepad are Sublime Text, Vim, Kate and gedit.

filter to find the best alternatives

Windows Notepad alternatives are mainly Text Editors, but if you're looking for Code Editors or IDEs you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Text Editors, Open Source, Linux, Windows + Free, Windows and Windows + Lightweight. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Windows Notepad.
Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
Alternatives
Get a badge for your siteWindows Notepad alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. TextMate icon
     270 likes

    TextMate brings Apple's approach to operating systems into the world of text editors. By bridging UNIX underpinnings and GUI, TextMate cherry-picks the best of both worlds to the benefit of expert scripters and novice users alike.

    177 TextMate alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Good alternative?
     
  2. PSPad icon
     203 likes

    PSPad is a freeware programmers editor in 8 languages for Microsoft Windows operating systems. Some features are highlighted syntax, ftp, projects and so on. Code explorer for Pascal, C/C++, INI, HTML, XML, PHP and more in development, internal web browser with APACHE support.

    185 PSPad alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Good alternative?
     
    |
    2
  3. UltraEdit icon
     162 likes

    UltraEdit is a commercially maintained editor built for critical work where performance, reliability, and security matter most.

    230 UltraEdit alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
  4. SciTE icon
     149 likes

    SciTE is a SCIntilla based Text Editor. Originally built to demonstrate Scintilla, it has grown to be a generally useful editor with facilities for building and running programs. It is best used for jobs with simple configurations - I use it for building test and demonstration...

    172 SciTE alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Xfce
    Good alternative?
     
  5. Leafpad icon
     67 likes

    Leafpad is a lightweight text editor that emphasizes simplicity. As development focuses on keeping weight down to a minimum, only the most essential features are implemented in the editor.

    114 Leafpad alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Cygwin
    • MacPorts
    Good alternative?
     
    |
    2
  6. Notepad 4 icon
     5 likes

    A lightweight Scintilla based text editor with syntax highlighting, code folding, auto-completion and API list for many programming languages and documents, bundled with file browser plugin matepath.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Good alternative?
     
  7. Notepad.js icon
     12 likes

    An offline capable notepad powered by ServiceWorker. It's quick, distraction-free, dark mode enabled, mobile compatible (Android, iOS) and minimalist in nature.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    Good alternative?
     
  8. metapad icon
     43 likes

    Metapad is a small, fast (and completely free) text editor for Windows 9x/NT/XP/Vista with similar features to Microsoft Notepad but with many extra (and rather useful) features. It was designed to completely replace Notepad since it includes all of Notepads features and much...

    106 metapad alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • US flagUnited States
    Main Window and Settings
    Good alternative?
     
  9. Antinote icon
     3 likes

    Antinote provides beautiful temporary notes, calculations, and custom calculators with lifetime updates. Features swipe navigation, plain text support, instant conversions including crypto, and one-click export functionality. Includes screenshot-to-text conversion, global hotkey access, and more.

    41 Antinote alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Good alternative?
     
  10. Xed icon
     22 likes

    A text editor forked from Pluma and Gedit. Xed is the default text editor of Linux Mint. It can be customized and is available in multiple languages.

    165 Xed alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
  11. Mousepad icon
     35 likes

    A simple text editor for the Xfce desktop environment. Mousepad aims to be an easy-to-use and fast editor for quickly editing text files, not a development environment or an editor with a huge bunch of plugins.

    80 Mousepad alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Flathub
    • Xfce
    Good alternative?
     
    |
    2
You are at page 2 of Windows Notepad alternatives