IDEs & Code Editors

Sublime Text is a proprietary text editor prized for its raw speed and minimal footprint, even when working with very large files that would slow down heavier IDEs. Its Goto Anything feature lets developers jump to files, symbols, or lines with just a few keystrokes. Multiple selections allow simultaneous editing of many lines or instances of a word at once, a feature that has since influenced editors across the industry. A Python-based plugin API and Package Control repository let developers extend the editor with community-built packages. While it lacks the built-in language server integrations and native AI features of newer editors, its speed and low resource usage keep it popular among developers who prioritize a lightweight, distraction-free environment.

✦ Best for developers prioritizing speed and simplicity

Visual Studio Code is a lightweight but powerful source code editor which runs on your desktop and is available for Windows, macOS and Linux.

✦ Best for developers seeking customization and flexibility

Prettier is a popular code formatting tool that automatically formats code to a consistent style. It supports a wide range of programming languages and integrates with many code editors and IDEs.

✦ Best for development teams seeking uniform code style.

ANTLR (ANother Tool for Language Recognition) is a powerful parser generator for reading, processing, executing, or translating structured text or binary files. It is widely used in various industries such as compiler construction, data processing, and natural language processing.

✦ Best for experienced developers needing high-performance parsing solutions

ImHex is a hex editor designed for reverse engineers, programmers, and individuals who work with binary data. It provides a user-friendly interface and features to make working with binary data more efficient and comfortable. ImHex is designed to be used by individuals who value their retinas when working at 3 AM, implying that it has a dark mode or a comfortable color scheme. The editor is available on multiple platforms, including Windows, Mac, and Linux.

✦ Best for reverse engineers and programmers on a budget

Black is a Python code formatter that reformats your code to be more readable and consistent. It's designed to be used as a tool to enforce a consistent coding style across a project or team.

✦ Best for small to medium python projects and teams

Apache NetBeans is a full-featured integrated development environment that supports Java, JavaScript, PHP, HTML5, and many other languages. It provides powerful code editing, debugging, and profiling tools in a single, extensible platform. The IDE runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, offering a consistent experience across desktop environments. As an Apache project, NetBeans is community-driven, open source, and freely available for both hobbyists and professional developers.

✦ Best for java developers

Neovim is a project that seeks to aggressively refactor the Vim code base to enable modern UIs, improve extensibility, and support concurrent plugin execution. By enabling asynchronous plugin architecture and embedded scripting capabilities, it allows developers to build complex workflows without slowing down their editing experience. The editor maintains strong backwards compatibility with Vim while introducing powerful built-in features such as a native Language Server Protocol (LSP) client and a rich Lua runtime. It empowers developers and power users to deeply customize their editing environments and turn a lightweight text editor into a fully-featured integrated development environment.

✦ Best for advanced vim users and power developers

code-server lets you run the full Visual Studio Code editor on a remote server and access it through a web browser. It provides the same extensions, settings, and UI as the desktop version, enabling developers to code from anywhere without installing anything locally. Designed for individuals, teams, and CI environments, code-server integrates with GitHub, GitLab, and the vast VS Code extension marketplace. Its open‑source nature and self‑hosting model give you full control over data, resources, and customization.

✦ Best for teams needing self‑hosted vs code with full extension support

Marktext is a free and open-source markdown editor that provides a distraction-free writing experience. It supports syntax highlighting, live preview, and a variety of export options.

✦ Best for individual writers and developers

Editor.md is a simple online markdown editor that provides a distraction-free writing environment. It supports various markdown syntax and allows users to preview their content in real-time.

✦ Best for individual bloggers and writers

Eclipse is a free, open‑source integrated development environment (IDE) that supports Java, C/C++, Python, JavaScript and many other languages through a rich plugin ecosystem. Backed by the Eclipse Foundation, it provides a robust platform for building, testing, and deploying applications across desktop, cloud, and embedded devices. With vendor‑neutral governance and a large community of contributors, Eclipse offers extensive tooling for code editing, debugging, refactoring, and version control, making it a go‑to choice for developers, researchers, and enterprises seeking a flexible development platform.

✦ Best for experienced java developers