Alternatives to ecode
A lightweight multi-platform code editor built on a hardware-accelerated GUI, focused on responsiveness and performance. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
ecode
A lightweight multi-platform code editor built on a hardware-accelerated GUI, focused on responsiveness and performance.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as ecode.
Zed
A Rust editor from the people who built Atom, written for speed and for two people editing one file.
Zed is a GPU-rendered Rust editor for Windows, macOS and Linux with tree-sitter, language servers and real-time collaboration, though its Windows build is the least mature.
Lapce
A code editor written in Rust with GPU rendering, built-in LSP support, optional modal editing and remote development.
Lapce is an Apache-2.0 Rust editor with GPU rendering, built-in LSP, optional modal editing and remote development, still pre-1.0 with a tiny WASI plugin ecosystem.
Visual Studio Code
Microsoft's code editor, free to use but shipped under a Microsoft licence rather than an open one.
Visual Studio Code offers far more extensions, remote development and an integrated debugger, but is Electron-based, heavier, not open source and collects telemetry by default.
Sublime Text
A fast native editor for code and prose, paid for but with an evaluation that never stops working.
Sublime Text is a fast native editor for Windows, macOS and Linux that handles very large files, but it is paid, closed source software.
Lite XL
Edit text and code in a lightweight Lua-based editor.
Lite XL is an MIT-licensed lightweight editor for Windows, macOS and Linux extended through Lua plugins and themes, with some older Lite plugins needing adaptation.
CudaText
A fast, cross-platform open-source code editor written in Object Pascal and extensible with Python.
CudaText is an open-source cross-platform editor written in Object Pascal with over 300 lexers and Python add-ons, configured through JSON files.
Geany
A small, fast IDE built on GTK that starts instantly and does not depend on a heavy desktop environment.
Geany is a GPL GTK-based IDE that starts almost instantly with a configurable build command, but has no language server support in its core.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Helix
A modal terminal editor with language servers and multiple selections built in, and no plugins to install.
micro
A terminal editor with the keybindings you already know: Ctrl-S to save, Ctrl-C to copy, Ctrl-Z to undo.
Neovim
A modern rewrite of Vim with a built-in language server client, Lua configuration and an embeddable API.
Textadept
A fast, minimalist programmer's text editor that can be scripted and extended with Lua.
