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GNU Emacs vs Helix

GNU Emacs

gnu.org

Helix

helix-editor.com

Side by side

FigureGNU EmacsHelix
Price fromFree—
Free planYes—
Free trial——
Open source——
WindowsYesYes
macOSYesYes
LinuxYesYes
AndroidYes—
Plans published10
Spec score · Text Editors9.0 (#4)7.7 (#59)
Spec score · Go IDEs8.8 (#2)7.6 (#21)
Spec score · Code editors8.9 (#4)7.6 (#38)
Spec score · Editor Software8.7 (#4)7.4 (#29)
Extension supportYesNo
Free planYesYes
Macro recordingYesYes
Multi-cursor editingYesYes
SupportUsers can seek help through the help-gnu-emacs mailing list or gnu.emacs.help newsgroup, and report bugs with M-x report-emacs-bug.The project directs users to discuss Helix on Matrix and contribute code on GitHub.
Supported platformsGNU/Linux, BSDs, Haiku, Windows, macOS, and Android.Linux,macOS,Windows

Plans

GNU Emacs

  • GNU EmacsFree

GNU Emacs pricing →

Helix

No plans published.

Helix pricing →

In their own words

GNU Emacs

GNU Emacs has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.

Visit gnu.org

Helix

Helix is a free, terminal-based text editor for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its editing model centers on multiple selections, so commands can act on several selections at once; it also supports multi-cursor editing and macro recording. Tree-sitter integration provides syntax highlighting, indentation calculation, and code navigation. Built-in language server support offers completion, go to definition, documentation, and diagnostics, though users need to install language servers for their chosen programming languages. Helix can select and navigate functions, classes, comments, and syntax tree nodes. Other included tools are a fuzzy finder for files and symbols, project-wide search, themes, automatic bracket pairing, and surround integration. Written in Rust, it can run in a terminal, over SSH, or in tmux. Configuration can be global or project-specific, including themes, keybindings, and language-specific settings; language servers and formatters can be configured through languages.toml files. Helix has no plugin system currently, although one is intended for the future. A graphical frontend is described as a future possibility.

Visit helix-editor.com