Alternatives to Kate

KDE's text editor: syntax highlighting for over 400 languages, split views, multi-cursor editing and an embedded terminal. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as Kate.

  • Geany

    A small, fast IDE built on GTK that starts instantly and does not depend on a heavy desktop environment.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Geany depends only on GTK and starts almost instantly, with a configurable build command, but lacks language server support in its core.

  • Notepad++

    The fast Windows text and source code editor that replaced Notepad for a generation of users.

    FreeOpen sourceWindows

    Notepad++ is a fast native Windows editor with regex find across files and macros, but it has no macOS or Linux build.

  • Sublime Text

    A fast native editor for code and prose, paid for but with an evaluation that never stops working.

    PaidProprietaryWindowsmacOSLinux

    Sublime Text is a fast native editor for Windows, macOS and Linux with goto-anything, but it is closed source and paid.

  • Visual Studio Code

    Microsoft's code editor, free to use but shipped under a Microsoft licence rather than an open one.

    FreeProprietaryWindowsmacOSLinux

    Visual Studio Code offers extensions for nearly every language and an integrated debugger, but it is Electron-based and not open source.

  • VSCodium

    Visual Studio Code built from the same source without Microsoft’s branding, telemetry or licence.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    VSCodium is the MIT-licensed VS Code build without telemetry, with broader extension coverage than Kate and no KDE Frameworks dependency.

  • Lite XL

    Edit text and code in a lightweight Lua-based editor.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Lite XL is a lightweight MIT-licensed editor extended through Lua plugins, available on macOS as well, without Kate's embedded terminal or live previews.

  • Zed

    A Rust editor from the people who built Atom, written for speed and for two people editing one file.

    FreemiumOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Zed is a GPU-rendered Rust editor with language servers built in and real-time collaboration, also running on macOS.

  • Pulsar

    Community-maintained continuation of the Atom text editor.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Pulsar continues the hackable Atom editor with its own package registry on Windows, macOS and Linux, but is Electron-based with Atom's memory use.

Also worth comparing

These listings name Kate as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.

  • Bluefish

    A lightweight open-source code and text editor for programmers and web developers.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Kate is KDE's GPL editor for Windows and Linux with highlighting for over 400 languages, an embedded terminal and live HTML and Markdown preview, but it pulls in KDE Frameworks and has no macOS build.

  • CudaText

    A fast, cross-platform open-source code editor written in Object Pascal and extensible with Python.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Kate is KDE's GPL-2.0 editor with over 400 syntax definitions, an embedded terminal and multi-cursor editing, but it depends on KDE Frameworks and lacks a macOS build.

  • FeatherPad

    A lightweight Qt plain-text editor for Linux that works independently of any desktop environment.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Kate is KDE's more capable editor with over 400 highlighting languages, multi-cursor editing and an embedded terminal, but it pulls in the large KDE Frameworks dependency.

  • gedit

    A general-purpose text editor for Linux that is easy to learn and integrates with GNOME.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Kate adds over 400 syntax definitions, split views, multi-cursor editing and an embedded terminal, but it pulls in KDE Frameworks and looks out of place on GNOME.

  • GNOME Text Editor

    A simple text editor for the GNOME desktop focused on a pleasing default experience.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Kate is KDE's editor with over 400 syntax definitions, split views and an embedded terminal, but it pulls in KDE Frameworks and looks out of place on GNOME.

  • jEdit

    A mature, plugin-driven programmer's text editor written in Java for many operating systems.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Kate is KDE's GPL-2.0 editor with over 400 syntax definitions and an embedded terminal, depending on KDE Frameworks rather than Java, with no macOS build.

  • Mousepad

    A simple, fast text editor for the Xfce desktop, meant for quickly editing text files.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Kate adds syntax highlighting for over 400 languages, multi-cursor editing and an embedded terminal, but pulls in KDE Frameworks, a large dependency outside a KDE desktop.

  • Notepads

    Use a lightweight Windows text editor with tabs and Markdown preview.

    FreeOpen sourceWindows

    Kate adds syntax highlighting for 400 languages, an embedded terminal and live Markdown preview, and also runs on Linux.

  • Pluma

    The small, lightweight UTF-8 text editor of the MATE desktop environment, forked from Gedit.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Kate is KDE's more capable editor with multi-cursor editing, split views and an embedded terminal, but it pulls in KDE Frameworks as a large dependency.

  • UltraEdit

    A commercial text, code and hex editor for Windows, macOS and Linux that handles very large files.

    PaidProprietaryWindowsmacOSLinux

    Kate is a free, open-source KDE editor with highlighting for over 400 languages and an embedded terminal, running on Windows and Linux.

  • Xed

    A small, lightweight GTK3 text editor from Linux Mint that works across desktop environments.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Kate adds highlighting for over 400 languages, multi-cursor editing and an embedded terminal, and also runs on Windows, but pulls in KDE Frameworks.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.