TextEdit Alternatives

TextEdit is described as 'When you need to create text documents, TextEdit is a highly versatile word processor, including tools to format and layout your page, edit and stylize text, check spelling, create tables and lists, import graphics, work with HTML, and even add music and movie files' and is a Text Editor in the office & productivity category. There are more than 100 alternatives to TextEdit for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD and Flathub apps. The best TextEdit alternative is Sublime Text, which is free. Other great apps like TextEdit are gedit, GNU nano, Itsypad and TextMate.

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Get a badge for your siteTextEdit alternatives page was last updated May 1, 2026

UltraEdit
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 typeApplication types
Code Editor
Text Editor
Origin
United States
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
United States
+1
Good alternative?Is UltraEdit a good alternative to TextEdit?

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1comment
UltraEdit vs TextEdit Comments
Negative comment by freakqnc · Mar 8, 2026
Not an alternative. Has no RTF editing abilities.
1 of 1 comments
UltraEdit is Paid and ProprietaryTextEdit is Free and Proprietary
UltraEdit is a Code Editor TextEdit is a Text Editor
UltraEdit is Privacy focusedTextEdit is not according to our users
PSPad
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 typeApplication types
Code Editor
Text Editor
Origin
Czechia
EU
Platforms
Windows
Czechia
EU
+3
Good alternative?Is PSPad a good alternative to TextEdit?

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1comment
PSPad vs TextEdit Comments
Negative comment by freakqnc · Mar 8, 2026
Text Edit is capable of producing RTF documents while this program is mostly for programming therefore under that aspect is not close at all. To date most options listed are code editors and while those are great for programming, they have weak to non-existing RTF editing capabilities.
1 of 1 comments
PSPad is Free and ProprietaryTextEdit is also Free and Proprietary
PSPad is a Code Editor TextEdit is a Text Editor
SciTE
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 typeApplication types
Code Editor
Text Editor
Origin
Australia
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
Xfce
Australia
Good alternative?Is SciTE a good alternative to TextEdit?
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EmEditor
Versatile Windows editor offering lightweight, ultra-fast performance with robust support for text, code, and CSV files, AI-assisted writing, macros, Unicode, plugins, syntax highlighting, advanced search, column editing, split v...

https://www.emeditor.com
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EmEditor
78 likes
Versatile Windows editor offering lightweight, ultra-fast performance with robust support for text, code, and CSV files, AI-assisted writing, macros, Unicode, plugins, syntax highlighting, advanced search, column editing, split views, and file encoding conversion.
134 EmEditor alternatives
Cost / License
Freemium
Proprietary
Application type
Text Editor
Origin
United States
Platforms
Windows
United States
+7
Good alternative?Is EmEditor a good alternative to TextEdit?
ReText
48 likes
ReText is a simple text editor for Markdown and reStructuredText documents with syntax highlighting and optional live preview.
89 ReText alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Text Editor
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
Good alternative?Is ReText a good alternative to TextEdit?

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1comment
ReText vs TextEdit Comments
Negative comment by freakqnc · Mar 8, 2026
Text Edit is capable of producing RTF documents while this program is mostly for programming therefore under that aspect is not close at all. To date most options listed are code editors and while those are great for programming, they have weak to non-existing RTF editing capabilities.
1 of 1 comments
ReText is Free and Open SourceTextEdit is Free and Proprietary
Xed
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
Free
Open Source (GPL-2.0)
Application typeApplication types
Text Editor
Code Editor
Origin
Ireland
EU
Platforms
Linux
Ireland
EU
+4
Good alternative?Is Xed a good alternative to TextEdit?
TextWrangler
152 likes
TextWrangler is the powerful general purpose text editor, and Unix and server administrator’s tool.
105 TextWrangler alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Proprietary
Application typeApplication types
Code Editor
Text Editor
Origin
United States
Alerts
Discontinued
Platforms
Mac
United States
+1
Good alternative?Is TextWrangler a good alternative to TextEdit?

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2comments
Discontinued
The developers announced that development of TextWrangler has stopped, in favor of concentrating their efforts on the development of BBEdit.Quoted from the TextWrangler webpage, "We are sunsetting TextWrangler, and we encourage anyone interested in TextWrangler to download and use BBEdit instead."
TextWrangler vs TextEdit Comments
Negative comment by freakqnc · Mar 8, 2026
Apple Text Edit is capable of producing RTF documents while this program is mostly for programming therefore under that aspect is not close at all. To date most options listed are code editors and while those are great for programming, they have weak to non-existing RTF editing capabilities.
Positive comment by Dave Cortright · Mar 27, 2017
syntax coloring, compare document versions, and powerful search and replace.
2 of 2 comments
TextWrangler is Free and ProprietaryTextEdit is also Free and Proprietary
TextWrangler is a Code Editor TextEdit is a Text Editor
BBEdit
48 likes
BBEdit is a professional HTML and text editor for the Macintosh. Specifically crafted in response to the needs of Web authors and software developers, this award-winning product provides an abundance of high-performance features for editing, searching, and manipulation of text.
131 BBEdit alternatives
Cost / License
Freemium
Proprietary
Application typeApplication types
Code Editor
Text Editor
Origin
United States
Platforms
Mac
United States
Good alternative?Is BBEdit a good alternative to TextEdit?

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1comment
BBEdit vs TextEdit Comments
Negative comment by freakqnc · Mar 8, 2026
Apple Text Edit is capable of producing RTF documents while this program is mostly for programming therefore under that aspect is not close at all. To date most options listed are code editors and while those are great for programming, they have weak to non-existing RTF editing capabilities.
1 of 1 comments
BBEdit is Freemium and ProprietaryTextEdit is Free and Proprietary
BBEdit is a Code Editor TextEdit is a Text Editor
wxMEdit
27 likes
wxMEdit is a cross-platform text and hex editor, derived from MadEdit . It adds automatic updates, bookmarks, selecting lines with a tripple click, a FreeBASIC syntax file, more supported encodings (L1, CP850, CP437 etc, KOI8, UTF-x), better...
88 wxMEdit alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-3.0)
Application typeApplication types
Text Editor
Code Editor
Origin
China
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
China
Good alternative?Is wxMEdit a good alternative to TextEdit?

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1comment
wxMEdit vs TextEdit Comments
Negative comment by freakqnc · Mar 8, 2026
Apple Text Edit is capable of producing RTF documents while this program is mostly for programming therefore under that aspect is not close at all. To date most options listed are code editors and while those are great for programming, they have weak to non-existing RTF editing capabilities.
1 of 1 comments
wxMEdit is Free and Open SourceTextEdit is Free and Proprietary
Notepad 4
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 typeApplication types
Text Editor
Code Editor
Platforms
Windows
Good alternative?Is Notepad 4 a good alternative to TextEdit?
Pluma
17 likes
Pluma, fork of gedit , is a text editor part of MATE Desktop Environment. It supports most standard editor features, extending this basic functionality with other features not usually found in simple text...
161 Pluma alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-2.0)
Application typeApplication types
Text Editor
Code Editor
Origin
International
Platforms
Linux
Global
Good alternative?Is Pluma a good alternative to TextEdit?
CSSEdit
60 likes
CSSEdit is a visual cascading style sheet editor built-in Espresso , with CSS3 support for multi-browser gradients, shadows and more.
39 CSSEdit alternatives
Cost / License
Paid
Proprietary
Application type
Code Editor
Origin
Belgium
EU
Platforms
Mac
Espresso
Belgium
EU
Good alternative?Is CSSEdit a good alternative to TextEdit?

You are at page 2 of TextEdit alternatives

TextEdit Alternatives

Alternatives list

UltraEdit

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UltraEdit vs TextEdit Comments

PSPad

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PSPad vs TextEdit Comments

SciTE

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EmEditor

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ReText

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ReText vs TextEdit Comments

Xed

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TextWrangler

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TextWrangler vs TextEdit Comments

BBEdit

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BBEdit vs TextEdit Comments

wxMEdit

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wxMEdit vs TextEdit Comments

Notepad 4

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Platforms

Pluma

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CSSEdit

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