alltexteditors.com / mac

Best Text Editors for Mac

macOS attracts editors with real craftsmanship: from BBEdit, in development since 1992, to Zed, the fastest editor ever built. TextEdit won't cut it for code or config files, so we ranked the 14 best GUI text editors for macOS, free and paid.

Visual Studio Code on macOS, the best free code editor for Mac
#1 · best overall

Visual Studio Code Free

The most complete free editor on the Mac. VS Code's extension marketplace covers every language and framework, IntelliSense and debugging are built in, and native Apple Silicon builds keep it responsive. It's heavier than the native Mac editors below, but no free tool offers more for daily development.

  • Native Apple Silicon build with strong performance
  • Tens of thousands of extensions for any workflow
  • IntelliSense completions, debugging and Git built in
  • Integrated terminal and remote development over SSH
  • AI-assisted coding via GitHub Copilot integration
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Sublime Text on macOS with multiple cursors editing code
#2 · best paid editor

Sublime Text

Born on the Mac and still the smoothest editing experience on it. GPU-accelerated rendering makes even huge files scroll like silk, and Goto Anything plus multi-cursor editing remain the gold standard. One-time $99 license with unlimited free evaluation.

  • Exceptional speed, even with very large files
  • Goto Anything: instant navigation to files, symbols, lines
  • Best-in-class multi-cursor and column selection
  • Package Control ecosystem with thousands of plugins
  • One-time license, free unlimited evaluation
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BBEdit professional text editor for Mac showing multi-file grep search
#3 · best mac-native power tool

BBEdit

The Mac institution: continuously developed since 1992 and beloved by writers, sysadmins and web developers alike. Nothing transforms and searches text like BBEdit, whose multi-file grep can chew through millions of files. Its permanent free mode keeps the core features unlocked forever, so it costs nothing to fall in love with.

  • Industrial-strength grep search across huge folder trees
  • Unmatched text transformation and Text Factory automation
  • Pattern Playgrounds for building regex interactively
  • Deep macOS integration, AppleScript and shell support
  • Permanent free mode; one-time license for full features
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Zed editor on macOS, a fast Rust-based code editor with collaboration
#4 · fastest editor

Zed Free

Built by the creators of Atom as an apology for Atom's slowness: Zed is written in Rust, renders on the GPU, and feels instant in a way that has to be experienced. Real-time collaboration and AI-assisted editing are built in, and it's free and open source.

  • Fastest editor on macOS: Rust core, GPU rendering
  • Built-in real-time collaboration and shared sessions
  • Language server support out of the box
  • Integrated AI assistant for edits and refactors
  • Free, open source and rapidly improving
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Nova by Panic, a beautiful native Mac code editor with publishing tools
#5 · most mac-like

Nova

Panic's Nova is what happens when a design-obsessed Mac company builds an editor: it looks and behaves exactly like a modern macOS app should. Beyond the polish it is a real workhorse, with built-in tasks, a debugger, and remote publishing inherited from Panic's Transmit.

  • Gorgeous, truly native macOS interface
  • Built-in FTP/SFTP/WebDAV publishing to servers
  • Task runner, debugging and version control included
  • Extension library with themes and language support
  • One-time purchase with a year of updates
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CotEditor free lightweight plain-text editor for macOS
#6 · best free lightweight

CotEditor Free

The friendliest free editor on the Mac. CotEditor is a lightweight, fully native app from the Mac App Store that launches instantly and just works: syntax highlighting, regex find and replace, and clean handling of encodings, with no setup at all. The ideal TextEdit replacement.

  • Fully native, sandboxed macOS app; instant launch
  • Syntax highlighting for 50+ languages
  • Regex find and replace with live highlighting
  • Powerful encoding and line-ending handling
  • Free and open source, on the Mac App Store
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TextMate 2 open-source text editor for macOS with bundles and snippets
#7 · the classic

TextMate Free

The editor that invented snippets and bundles and inspired both Sublime Text and VS Code (whose grammar format is literally TextMate's). Now free and open source, TextMate 2 remains a fast, elegant editor with an automation system Mac power users still swear by.

  • Legendary bundle system for snippets and commands
  • The origin of the syntax grammar VS Code still uses
  • Fast, minimal, genuinely Mac-native feel
  • Shell integration for scripted text automation
  • Completely free and open source
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UltraEdit for Mac editing a very large log file
#8 · best for huge files

UltraEdit

The go-to on macOS when a file is simply too big for anything else. UltraEdit opens multi-gigabyte logs and dumps, edits binaries in hex mode and does column editing, capabilities almost no Mac-native editor offers. Subscription pricing, aimed squarely at professionals.

  • Opens multi-gigabyte files other Mac editors refuse
  • Hex editing and column/block mode
  • Integrated FTP/SFTP for remote file editing
  • Large-scale find and replace across directories
  • Cross-platform license covers Windows and Linux too
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Kate advanced open-source text editor running on macOS
#9 · best free power features

Kate Free

KDE's advanced editor runs surprisingly well on macOS and brings a feature set most free Mac editors can't touch: split views, LSP completions, an embedded terminal and project support. It looks less Mac-native than CotEditor or Nova, but the capability per dollar (zero) is unbeatable.

  • Split views and multi-document interface
  • LSP support for IDE-style completions
  • Embedded terminal panel
  • Highlighting for 300+ languages and formats
  • Free, open source, cross-platform
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TextEdit, the default text editor included with macOS, in plain text mode
#10 · the built-in baseline

TextEdit Free

Already on every Mac, and fine for quick edits once you know its one trap: it defaults to rich text. Switch to plain text mode (Format > Make Plain Text) before touching code or config files. No highlighting, no regex, but zero installation, and sometimes that's all a quick edit needs.

  • Pre-installed on every Mac
  • Plain text mode for code and config files
  • iCloud sync and autosave built in
  • Opens RTF, Word and HTML documents too
  • Instant, zero-setup editing
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GNU Emacs extensible text editor running on macOS
#11 · the extensible legend

GNU Emacs Free

Nearly fifty years old and still without an equal for depth: Emacs is less an editor than a programmable text environment. On the Mac it runs beautifully as a native app, and Org mode alone (notes, agendas, literate documents) justifies the famous learning curve. If you invest in it once, it pays you back for decades.

  • Endlessly customizable via Emacs Lisp
  • Org mode: outlining, agendas, notes and export
  • Thousands of packages: magit, LSP, mail, terminals
  • Native macOS builds available (Homebrew or installer)
  • Free software, maintained since 1976
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Textastic fast code and markup editor for Mac with iCloud sync
#12 · best with ipad/iphone sync

Textastic

A fast, focused Mac editor from an indie developer, and the natural pick if you already code on an iPad: the acclaimed iOS version syncs files with the Mac app through iCloud Drive. Syntax highlighting covers 80+ languages, and it reads TextMate and Sublime Text syntax definitions and themes, all for a small one-time price on the Mac App Store.

  • Syntax highlighting for 80+ languages
  • iCloud sync with Textastic for iPad and iPhone
  • Compatible with TextMate and Sublime Text themes
  • Tabs, folder sidebar, find in files and symbol list
  • Inexpensive one-time purchase on the Mac App Store
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Zettlr open-source Markdown editor for writers and researchers on macOS
#13 · best for markdown & writing

Zettlr Free

The one entry here aimed at writers rather than programmers. Zettlr is a free, open-source Markdown workbench built for academic and long-form writing: Zettelkasten-style note linking, citations straight from Zotero or JabRef, and Pandoc-powered export to PDF, Word and LaTeX. Everything stays in local files with no forced cloud.

  • Distraction-free Markdown editing with live preview
  • Citations via Zotero, JabRef and 9,000+ CSL styles
  • Zettelkasten note linking and full-text search
  • Export to PDF, DOCX, HTML and LaTeX via Pandoc
  • Free, open source and privacy-first (no telemetry)
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Notepadqq, a Notepad++-like open-source editor, running on macOS
#14 · notepad++ style

Notepadqq Free

Long known as the Notepad++ of Linux, Notepadqq now ships macOS builds as well following its Qt 6 rewrite in version 2.1. It's the most literal answer to "I want Notepad++ on my Mac": familiar tabs, regex search and 100+ highlighted languages, completely free and open source. Less Mac-native in feel than CotEditor, but instantly familiar to Windows switchers.

  • Closest thing to Notepad++'s interface on macOS
  • Syntax highlighting for 100+ languages
  • Regex search, multiple selections and code folding
  • Also on Linux: same editor across both platforms
  • Free and open source
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frequently asked questions

Mac Text Editor FAQs

What is the best free text editor for Mac?

Visual Studio Code for programming, CotEditor for a lightweight Mac-native feel, and Zed if you want a modern, extremely fast editor. BBEdit's permanent free mode is also a great no-cost starting point.

Is there a Notepad++ for Mac?

No, Notepad++ is Windows-only. The closest Mac experiences are Notepadqq (a Notepad++-like editor with macOS builds), NotepadNext (an open-source reimplementation), CotEditor, Sublime Text and BBEdit. If you also use a Windows machine, see the best text editors for Windows, where free options like APIVoid Notepad cover the same ground and more.

What is the default text editor on Mac?

TextEdit. It defaults to rich text (RTF), so switch to plain text mode (Format > Make Plain Text) before editing code, or set plain text as the default in its settings.

Is BBEdit worth paying for?

If you work with a lot of text, yes: its transformation tools and multi-file grep are best in class, refined since 1992. And because its free mode never expires, you can use the core features indefinitely before deciding. Our recommendation is to give it a try, and see if it works for your needs.

What is the fastest text editor on macOS?

Most probably Zed: written in Rust with GPU rendering, built by former Atom developers specifically for speed. Sublime Text is a very close second with a longer track record.

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