GNU Emacs vs Pulsar
GNU Emacs
gnu.org
Pulsar
pulsar-edit.devSide by side
| Figure | GNU Emacs | Pulsar |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Text Editors | 9.0 (#4) | 8.1 (#38) |
| Spec score · Go IDEs | 8.8 (#2) | 7.8 (#18) |
| Spec score · Code editors | 8.9 (#4) | 8.3 (#16) |
| Spec score · Editor Software | 8.7 (#4) | 7.8 (#25) |
| Customization options | Users can customize it with Emacs Lisp code or a graphical interface. | Users can customize keybindings, per-language settings, styles, and other appearance or behavior through configuration files. |
| Editor type | It is a customizable text editor with an Emacs Lisp interpreter at its core. | desktop |
| Extension support | Yes | Yes |
Plans
In their own words
Pulsar
Pulsar is a free, open-source desktop text editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is a community-led fork of the discontinued Atom editor, with a stated aim of continuing and improving an open, hackable editor. Its package manager supports finding and installing packages or creating them. Language server integration provides autocompletion, smart navigation, and other IDE features. A filesystem browser can open an individual file, one project, or multiple projects in the same window. Editing features include multiple cursors, snippets, semantic selections, code folding, and syntax highlighting. Configuration files let users adjust keybindings, language-specific settings, styles, and other aspects of appearance or behavior. Git tools can switch branches, stage code, resolve merge conflicts, and show open GitHub pull requests. A bundled updater detects when a newer version is available. The current release page lists Windows 10 or later, macOS 10.15 or later, and Linux with glibc 2.31 or later. Pulsar says its editor collects no user information and sends nothing to remote servers; backend troubleshooting logs include IP and user-agent details and are deleted after 30 days.