💻Best Code Editors Ranked

Visual Studio Code

Microsoft's 2015 release rapidly became the default editor by marrying Electron flexibility with first-class language servers and a massive extension store. Its 2018 remote development push sealed dominance for web and cloud teams.

Release Year: 2015Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 10/10Performance: 7/10Open Source: ✓Popularity: 10/10

added by IJRin 2 rankingsVisual Studio Code

Sublime Text

Released in 2008, Sublime popularized lightning-fast native editing and the famous multiple-cursor workflow that still influences every editor today. Its speed on huge files remains legendary.

Release Year: 2008Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 8/10Performance: 9/10Open Source: —Popularity: 8/10

added by IJRSublime Text

Vim▲ Rising

Born in 1991 as an improved vi, Vim's modal editing and tiny footprint have kept it the fastest way to edit remote files for three decades. Its plugin ecosystem still powers many modern tools.

Release Year: 1991Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 8/10Performance: 10/10Open Source: ✓Popularity: 9/10

added by IJRVim

Emacs▲ Rising

Since 1976 Emacs has evolved from a simple editor into a full Lisp-powered environment where users live inside their tools. Its unparalleled customization still attracts power users who treat it as an OS.

Release Year: 1976Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 10/10Performance: 6/10Open Source: ✓Popularity: 7/10

added by IJREmacs

WebStorm▲ Rising

JetBrains released WebStorm in 2010 as the first IDE purpose-built for JavaScript, delivering instant refactoring and framework awareness that set the bar for frontend tooling.

Release Year: 2010Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 8/10Performance: 7/10Open Source: —Popularity: 7/10

added by IJR

Android Studio

Google's official Android IDE based on IntelliJ has driven mobile development since 2013 with instant build feedback and layout preview that transformed app creation.

Release Year: 2013Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 7/10Performance: 7/10Open Source: ✓Popularity: 8/10

added by IJRAndroid Studio

CLion

JetBrains entered native C/C++ tooling in 2015 with CLion, bringing smart refactoring and CMake integration that finally gave C++ developers an IDE experience.

Release Year: 2015Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 7/10Performance: 7/10Open Source: —Popularity: 6/10

added by IJRClion

IntelliJ IDEA

JetBrains' flagship since 2001 redefined intelligent code completion and refactoring for JVM languages, later expanding to full-stack web. Its deep static analysis remains unmatched for large codebases.

Release Year: 2001Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 9/10Performance: 7/10Open Source: —Popularity: 9/10

added by IJRIntelliJ IDEA

PyCharm

JetBrains spun out PyCharm in 2010 to give Python developers the same intelligent assistance their Java users enjoyed, quickly becoming the reference IDE for data science and web Python.

Release Year: 2010Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 8/10Performance: 7/10Open Source: —Popularity: 8/10

added by IJRPyCharm

TextMate

Mac-only since 2004, TextMate popularized bundles and snippets that influenced countless later editors and remains beloved by long-time Mac developers.

Release Year: 2004Main Platform: macOSExtensibility: 7/10Performance: 8/10Open Source: —Popularity: 4/10

added by IJRTextMate

Atom▲ Rising

GitHub's 2014 hackable editor proved the power of web technologies for desktop tools and introduced easy package development that influenced VS Code. Its 2022 sunset marked the end of an era.

Release Year: 2014Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 9/10Performance: 5/10Open Source: ✓Popularity: 6/10

added by IJRatom

RubyMine▲ Rising

JetBrains introduced RubyMine in 2009 to deliver Rails-aware refactoring and debugging that made professional Ruby development far more productive.

Release Year: 2009Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 7/10Performance: 7/10Open Source: —Popularity: 5/10

added by IJRRubyMine

Xcode

Apple's 2003 IDE remains the only first-class environment for iOS and macOS development, with Interface Builder and Swift integration that no third-party tool matches.

Release Year: 2003Main Platform: macOSExtensibility: 6/10Performance: 8/10Open Source: —Popularity: 7/10

added by IJRXcode

Visual Studio

Microsoft's flagship since 1995 evolved from a C++ IDE into the comprehensive .NET and C++ powerhouse still used by most enterprise Windows teams.

Release Year: 1995Main Platform: WindowsExtensibility: 8/10Performance: 7/10Open Source: —Popularity: 8/10

added by IJRVisual Studio

PhpStorm

JetBrains launched PhpStorm in 2009 to bring intelligent PHP refactoring and framework awareness to a language long served only by basic editors.

Release Year: 2009Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 8/10Performance: 7/10Open Source: —Popularity: 6/10

added by IJRPhpStorm

Geany

Launched in 2005 as a fast GTK+ editor with built-in build system, Geany carved a niche for lightweight IDE-like experience on Linux without heavy dependencies.

Release Year: 2005Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 6/10Performance: 9/10Open Source: ✓Popularity: 5/10

added by IJRGeany

Nano

GNU Nano's simple modeless interface since 1999 made command-line editing accessible to beginners while still offering enough power for quick server edits.

Release Year: 1999Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 3/10Performance: 10/10Open Source: ✓Popularity: 7/10

added by IJRNano

Eclipse

Originally an IBM Java IDE from 2001, Eclipse grew into a massive plugin platform that still powers many enterprise and embedded workflows despite newer rivals.

Release Year: 2001Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 9/10Performance: 6/10Open Source: ✓Popularity: 6/10

added by IJREclipse

Kate

KDE's long-running editor since 2000 offers solid syntax highlighting and plugin support while staying native and lightweight on Linux desktops.

Release Year: 2000Main Platform: LinuxExtensibility: 6/10Performance: 8/10Open Source: ✓Popularity: 5/10

added by IJRKate

BBEdit

Bare Bones' veteran Mac editor since 1992 continues to deliver pro-grade text processing and HTML tools that power many long-time Apple developers.

Release Year: 1992Main Platform: macOSExtensibility: 5/10Performance: 9/10Open Source: —Popularity: 4/10

added by IJRBBEdit

Notepad++

Since 2003 this lightweight Windows editor has remained the go-to replacement for basic text editing with powerful plugins and macro support for millions of Windows users.

Release Year: 2003Main Platform: WindowsExtensibility: 7/10Performance: 9/10Open Source: ✓Popularity: 8/10

added by IJRin 2 rankingsNotepad++

Rider

JetBrains released Rider in 2016 to give .NET developers a cross-platform IDE matching Visual Studio's depth while adding ReSharper-level inspections.

Release Year: 2016Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 8/10Performance: 7/10Open Source: —Popularity: 6/10

added by IJRRider

Spyder▼ Falling

Since 2009 Spyder has served the scientific Python community as a free MATLAB-like environment with variable explorer and integrated IPython console.

Release Year: 2009Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 6/10Performance: 7/10Open Source: ✓Popularity: 5/10

added by IJRSpyder

GoLand▼ Falling

JetBrains shipped GoLand in 2017 to bring its signature code intelligence to Go developers, quickly becoming the premium choice for large Go codebases.

Release Year: 2017Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 7/10Performance: 8/10Open Source: —Popularity: 5/10

added by IJR

RStudio▼ Falling

Posit (formerly RStudio) launched its IDE in 2011 and became the standard environment for R users with integrated notebooks, plots and package management.

Release Year: 2011Main Platform: Cross-platformExtensibility: 7/10Performance: 7/10Open Source: ✓Popularity: 6/10

added by IJRRStudio