Alternatives to micro
A terminal editor with the keybindings you already know: Ctrl-S to save, Ctrl-C to copy, Ctrl-Z to undo. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
micro
A terminal editor with the keybindings you already know: Ctrl-S to save, Ctrl-C to copy, Ctrl-Z to undo.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as micro.
GNU nano
Small terminal text editor with the shortcuts printed on screen.
GNU nano shows its shortcuts on screen and is installed on practically every Unix system, but lacks micro's multiple cursors, splits and plugins.
Microsoft Edit
Edit text with a familiar interface inside your terminal.
Microsoft Edit is an MIT-licensed terminal editor with a familiar interface, focused on basic text editing with fewer features than micro.
Vim
The editor that is already on every server, with a graphical build for Windows and a licence that asks you to donate to Ugandan children.
Vim is already installed on nearly every server and has decades of plugins, but its modal editing has a steep learning curve.
Neovim
A modern rewrite of Vim with a built-in language server client, Lua configuration and an embeddable API.
Neovim adds a built-in LSP client and tree-sitter for code intelligence, but requires learning modal editing and assembling plugins.
Helix
A modal terminal editor with language servers and multiple selections built in, and no plugins to install.
Helix is a single-binary terminal editor with language servers built in, using selection-first modal keys instead of common Ctrl shortcuts.
GNU Emacs
An editor that is really a Lisp environment, extensible to the point where people run their email, calendar and shell inside it.
GNU Emacs runs in a terminal and over SSH and is extensible in Lisp, with keybindings unlike any other editor and lengthy configuration.
Textadept
A fast, minimalist programmer's text editor that can be scripted and extended with Lua.
Textadept offers both terminal and graphical interfaces with portable executables and deep Lua customisation, though extending it well means learning its Lua API.
Also worth comparing
These listings name micro as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Kakoune
A modal terminal code editor where multiple selections are the main way of editing.
micro drops modal editing for common Ctrl-S and Ctrl-C shortcuts in the terminal and keeps multiple cursors, but has no language server support or project tooling.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Notepad++
The fast Windows text and source code editor that replaced Notepad for a generation of users.
Geany
A small, fast IDE built on GTK that starts instantly and does not depend on a heavy desktop environment.
Lite XL
Edit text and code in a lightweight Lua-based editor.
Serpl
A terminal interface for searching and replacing text across a whole project folder.
