GNU Emacs vs Vim
GNU Emacs
gnu.orgVim
vim.orgSide by side
| Figure | GNU Emacs | Vim |
|---|---|---|
| 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) | 8.5 (#15) |
| Spec score · Go IDEs | 8.8 (#2) | 7.8 (#19) |
| Spec score · Code editors | 8.9 (#4) | 8.5 (#9) |
| Spec score · Editor Software | 8.7 (#4) | 7.8 (#26) |
| Column editing | Yes | Yes |
| Extensions | It includes a packaging system for downloading and installing extensions. | Vim has an extensive plugin system and a scripting language that allows plugin-like extensions. |
| Extension support | Yes | Yes |
| Founded | 1990 | 1991 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Macro recording | Yes | Yes |
| Support | Users 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 Vim community page lists mailing lists for user help, development discussion, Mac-specific discussion, and announcements. |
| Supported platforms | GNU/Linux, BSDs, Haiku, Windows, macOS, and Android. | Windows,macOS,Linux |
Plans
In their own words
Vim
Vim is a configurable text editor for creating and changing text, with uses that include programming, composing email, and editing configuration files. It supports hundreds of programming languages and file formats, with search and replace, column editing, macro recording, and a persistent, multi-level undo tree. An extensive plugin system and scripting language let users add plugin-like extensions, and Vim integrates with many tools. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows and is distributed freely under a GPL-compatible license as charityware. Users who find Vim useful are asked to consider donating to help children in Uganda through Kuwasha. Windows downloads include installers and zip packages for x64, x86, and ARM, plus links to Winget packages. For macOS, downloads link to MacVim for a graphical version and Homebrew for a terminal version. On Unix, Vim recommends obtaining it from source and links a daily-built AppImage for many Linux systems. The maker says Vim takes learning and is not a WYSIWYG word processor for typeset documents.