Alternatives to Xed

A small, lightweight GTK3 text editor from Linux Mint that works across desktop environments. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

  • Xed

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

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as Xed.

  • gedit

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

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    gedit is the GNOME text editor Xed descends from, with optional programming features and closer integration with the GNOME desktop.

  • Pluma

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

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Pluma is the MATE desktop's Gedit fork, keeping a classic interface with plugin support and packaging in most distributions that offer MATE.

  • Mousepad

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

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Mousepad is the Xfce desktop's light GTK text editor, with a simple preferences dialog and extra settings through Dconf.

  • GNOME Text Editor

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

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    GNOME Text Editor has a cleaner modern interface with sensible defaults and Flathub installation, but fewer features for programming work.

  • FeatherPad

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

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    FeatherPad is a Qt-based editor independent of any desktop environment, with detachable tabs and an optional permanent search bar.

  • Kate

    KDE's text editor: syntax highlighting for over 400 languages, split views, multi-cursor editing and an embedded terminal.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsLinux

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

  • Geany

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

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Geany is a light GTK IDE with symbol lists, code folding and a configurable build command, running on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.