Best Neovim Alternatives
The top-ranked Neovim alternative is Visual Studio Code (Free). The best free option is Vim (open source).
Neovim is a hyperextensible, modern fork of Vim with Lua scripting and LSP support. People seek alternatives for gentler learning curves, GUI experiences, or full-featured IDEs.
1Lightweight, extensible code editor with strong Swift and mobile tooling support.
2Powerful, keyboard-driven modal text editor for the terminal.
3Emacs
Open SourceExtensible, customizable editor with an enormous ecosystem.
Helix
Open SourcePost-modern modal terminal editor in Rust with built-in LSP.
Fast, lightweight code editor with a rich plugin ecosystem.
JetBrains IDEs
FreemiumPowerful language-specific IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA and PyCharm with Vim emulation.
Kakoune
Open SourceModal editor with a selection-first editing model and multiple selections.
Micro
Open SourceModern, intuitive terminal-based text editor with mouse support.
GNU Nano
Open SourceSimple, easy-to-use terminal text editor for quick edits.
Vis
Open SourceA Vim-like editor combining modal editing with structural regex.
Lapce
Open SourceA fast, native code editor written in Rust with modal editing support.
Neovim alternatives: FAQ
What is the best alternative to Neovim?
Visual Studio Code is ranked first on this list (Free). The ranking combines our base score with readers' votes, so it can change.
What is the best free alternative to Neovim?
The highest-ranked free or open-source options here are Visual Studio Code, Vim and Emacs.
Which Neovim alternatives work on Mac?
Visual Studio Code, Vim, Emacs and Helix run on macOS.
Which Neovim alternatives work on Linux?
Visual Studio Code, Vim, Emacs and Helix run on Linux.
Know a Neovim alternative we missed? Suggest it — we review submissions before they go live.