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Helix vs Lapce: catalog facts
Helix	Lapce
Free Free and open source under the MPL 2.0.	Free Free and open source under Apache 2.0.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux
Language server and tree-sitter support without installing anything Selection-first editing makes multiple cursors a first-class tool	Native Rust with GPU rendering, so it starts and scrolls faster than Electron editors Language Server Protocol support built in for completion, diagnostics and code actions
No plugin system, so anything missing stays missing Selection-first keys are genuinely different from Vim muscle memory	Still pre-1.0; the last tagged release is from January 2026 Plugin ecosystem is tiny compared with VS Code
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: MPL-2.0	License: Apache-2.0
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

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