Compare software

Geany vs Howl: catalog facts
Geany	Howl
Free Free and open source under the GPL.	Free Free and open source under the MIT license.
Windows, macOS, Linux	Linux
Starts almost instantly and uses very little memory Depends only on GTK, so it installs cleanly on minimal Linux systems	Extensible with Lua or Moonscript Keyboard-driven interface
No language server support in the core, so completion is simpler than a modern IDE's Debugging needs a plugin and is basic	The last official release was in 2019 Developed for Linux, with FreeBSD and OpenBSD builds also expected
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-2.0	License: MIT
No account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 8, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.