Neovim vs Sublime Text
Neovim
neovim.ioSublime Text
sublimetext.comSide by side
| Figure | Neovim | Sublime Text |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 7 |
| Spec score · Text Editors | 9.1 (#1) | 8.8 (#7) |
| Spec score · Code editors | 9.0 (#3) | 8.6 (#7) |
| Spec score · Go IDEs | 8.6 (#4) | 8.2 (#13) |
| Spec score · Developer Tools | 8.6 (#9) | 8.2 (#19) |
| Column editing | Yes | Yes |
| Extension support | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Large-file handling | Yes | Yes |
| Macro recording | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-cursor editing | Yes | Yes |
| Product | Neovim is a Vim-based text editor engineered for extensibility and usability. | Sublime Text is a text editor for code, markup and prose. |
| Supported platforms | Linux,macOS,Windows,Android | Windows,macOS,Linux |
Plans
Sublime Text
- PersonalPrice not published
- Business: seats 1-10Price not published
- Business: seats 11-25Price not published
- Business: seats 26-50Price not published
- Business: seats 51+Price not published
- Business license$65 a year
- Personal license$99, paid once
In their own words
Neovim
Neovim is a free, Vim-based text editor built for extensibility and usability. It keeps Vim’s editing model and Vimscript v1 support, while configuration lives in init.lua and users can create Lua plugins. Its documented, versioned API and RPC let developers build extensions in many languages; GUIs, IDEs, and web browsers can also embed Neovim. Tree-sitter supports syntax highlighting and text objects, and built-in language-server support provides semantic code inspection and refactoring. Editing tools include multicursor command replay, macro recording, column editing, and large-file handling. A built-in terminal includes modern terminal features. Neovim supports Vim 8.x plugins and more. Stable downloads are listed for Linux, macOS, and Windows, with x86_64 and arm64 builds for each. Windows 8 or newer is required; Windows 7 and older are unsupported. It is licensed under Apache 2.0, with exceptions for parts contributed under the Vim license. Community support is available through GitHub Discussions and vi.stackexchange.com.
Sublime Text
Sublime Text is a text editor for code, markup, and prose on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Editing includes multi-cursor and column work, macro recording, large-file handling, tab multi-select, split views, Goto Anything, Goto Definition, and context-aware auto-completion. GPU rendering is supported on all three platforms, including resolutions up to 8K. The maker lists native Apple Silicon support and Linux ARM64 builds. Extensions can add plugins, syntax definitions, menus, and snippets, and a documented Python API supports plugin development such as LSP. The download page identifies Sublime Text 4, Build 4215, as the current release. The software can be downloaded and evaluated without an enforced time limit, but continued use requires a license. A Personal license costs $99 as a one-time purchase and includes three years of updates. Business licensing costs $65 per seat per year for the first 10 seats, with lower rates for larger tiers. The maker is based in Woollahra, Sydney, Australia.