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GNU Emacs VS Vite

Compare GNU Emacs VS Vite and see what are their differences

GNU Emacs logo GNU Emacs

GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor—and more.

Vite logo Vite

Next Generation Frontend Tooling
  • GNU Emacs Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-19
  • Vite Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-17

GNU Emacs features and specs

  • Highly Extensible
    GNU Emacs is highly customizable, allowing users to configure nearly every aspect using Emacs Lisp. This makes it remarkably adaptable for various workflows.
  • Rich Plugin Ecosystem
    There is a wide array of plugins available for Emacs, extending its functionality for programming, text editing, project management, and more.
  • Versatile
    Aside from text editing, Emacs can function as an email client, web browser, terminal emulator, and more, making it a powerful multi-purpose tool.
  • Free and Open Source
    GNU Emacs is free to use and modify, with source code available under the GNU General Public License, encouraging collaborative improvement and transparency.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Emacs runs on many different operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and various Unix-like systems, ensuring a wide reach and consistent experience across platforms.

Possible disadvantages of GNU Emacs

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Due to its vast array of features and unique keybindings, new users often find Emacs difficult to learn initially.
  • Performance
    Emacs can be slower compared to more lightweight text editors, especially when heavily customized or handling large files.
  • Keyboard-Centric Interface
    Emacs relies heavily on keyboard shortcuts, which can be overwhelming and complex, leading to potential finger strain from extensive use.
  • Complex Configuration
    While its customizability is a strength, configuring Emacs to fit personal needs can be time-consuming and complex, requiring knowledge of Emacs Lisp.

Vite features and specs

  • Fast Development Server
    Vite uses native ES Modules and leverages browser support for them, which allows for an extremely fast development startup time.
  • Hot Module Replacement (HMR)
    Vite supports fast Hot Module Replacement (HMR), which allows developers to see changes almost instantly without reloading the entire application.
  • Optimized Build
    Vite has a built-in build command that bundles your code with Rollup, providing out-of-the-box optimizations for production.
  • Plugin Ecosystem
    Vite has a rich plugin ecosystem and allows for easy integration with various plugins for different functionalities such as TypeScript, JSX, and more.
  • Framework Agnostic
    Vite is not tied to any specific framework and can be used with Vue, React, Preact, Svelte, and others, making it very versatile.
  • TypeScript Support
    Vite supports TypeScript out-of-the-box, making it easier for developers to work with type-safe code.

Possible disadvantages of Vite

  • Ecosystem Maturity
    As a relatively new tool, Vite's ecosystem is not as mature as those of more established bundlers like Webpack, which might lack some advanced features.
  • Plugin Compatibility
    Some existing plugins or tools that work with Webpack or other bundlers may not be directly compatible with Vite, requiring additional setup or alternative solutions.
  • Limited Community Support
    Given its newness, the community around Vite is smaller compared to older tools. This can make finding help or resources more challenging for complex issues.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers familiar with more traditional setups like Webpack might face a learning curve in adapting to Vite’s methodology and features.

GNU Emacs videos

Switching to GNU Emacs

Vite videos

Premium Ramen? Vite Ramen Review

More videos:

  • Review - THE next HARMONY.....VITE ......DONT MISS THIS 100X
  • Review - The Child Of Ethereum & Nano? In-Depth Review Of VITE

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GNU Emacs and Vite)
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Software Development
15 15%
85% 85
IDE
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using GNU Emacs and Vite. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare GNU Emacs and Vite

GNU Emacs Reviews

14 BEST LaTeX Editor for Mac & Windows in 2022
Emacs is a Unix based text editor tool which is used by programmers, engineers, students, and system administrators. It is one of the best LaTeX editor for Mac that allows you to add, modify, delete, insert, words, letters, lines, and other units of text.
Source: www.guru99.com
The Top 7 Notepad++ Alternatives for You
Emacs has been around in its various forms since 1976 and is another very worthy Notepad++ alternative. When I first started using Emacs I have to admit that I didn’t find it the easiest to use. But once I got used to it I realized just how powerful Emacs is for the programming community.
10 Best Notepad++ Alternatives in 2020
Emacs is a Unix based text editor tool which is used by programmers, engineers, students, and system administrators. It allows you to add, modify, delete, insert, words, letters, lines, and other units of text.
Source: www.guru99.com
7 open source alternatives to Dreamweaver
Vim or Emacs. Without participating in the holy war between these two traditional text editors, I can safely say that there are a number of enhancements for web editing available for both. So if you're already a terminal junkie, take your pick. Or, if those don't satisfy, try one of these Emacs/Vim alternatives.
Source: opensource.com
10 Best Sublime Text Alternatives in 2019
Emacs is a Unix based text editor tool which is used by programmers, engineers, students, and system administrators. It allows you to add, modify, delete, insert, words, letters, lines, and other units of text.
Source: www.guru99.com

Vite Reviews

20 Next.js Alternatives Worth Considering
Energizing the dev process, Vite is a next-gen front-end build tool that harnesses native ES module imports during development. It stitches together the best practices from the get-go and redefines ‘swift’ in your build pipeline.
10 static site generators to watch in 2021
So let’s sneak this last one in. Not strictly speaking purely an SSG, but tooling for a similar purpose, Vite is another open source project from the brain of Evan You (along with a healthy set of hundreds of contributors). Its goal is to provide a faster and leaner development experience for the web.
Source: www.netlify.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Vite seems to be a lot more popular than GNU Emacs. While we know about 463 links to Vite, we've tracked only 6 mentions of GNU Emacs. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

GNU Emacs mentions (6)

  • Emacs daemon as sytemd service in debian 12 (gnome)
    Cat .config/systemd/user/default.target.wants/emacs.service [Unit] Description=Emacs text editor Documentation=info:emacs man:emacs(1) https://gnu.org/software/emacs/ [Service] Type=notify ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/emacs --fg-daemon # Emacs will exit with status 15 after having received SIGTERM, which # is the default "KillSignal" value systemd uses to stop services. SuccessExitStatus=15 # The location of the... Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Why does emacs exec path variable not just copy the users path variable?
    ## If your Emacs is installed in a non-standard location, you may need ## to copy this file to a standard directory, eg ~/.config/systemd/user/ . ## If you install this file by hand, change the "Exec" lines below ## to use absolute file names for the executables. [Unit] Description=Emacs text editor Documentation=info:emacs man:emacs(1)... Source: over 2 years ago
  • Hi DM's, what medium do you use to organise your campaign?
    For gathering notes, writing and organizing, Org-Roam which implies Org and Emacs. Source: over 2 years ago
  • This Guy is getting out of control at this point.
    I was heading to gnu.org/software/emacs to prove my point and it said:. Source: over 3 years ago
  • opam doesn't see emacs?
    <><> Version-specific details <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 🐫 Version 1 Repository default Homepage: "http://gnu.org/software/emacs" Bug-reports: "https://github.com/ocaml/opam-repository/issues" Authors: "anil@recoil.org" Maintainer: "anil@recoil.org" License: "GPL-1.0-or-later" Flags: conf Synopsis Virtual package to install the Emacs editor Description This... Source: over 3 years ago
View more

Vite mentions (463)

  • Is create-react-app Deprecated? What You Need to Know in 2025
    Vite Documentation Next.js Documentation React Docs. - Source: dev.to / 11 days ago
  • Why Upgrading to Tailwind CSS 4.1.4 Might Be the Best Decision You Make This Year
    When I first set up my project, I chose TailwindCSS 3.4.17 because it was stable, reliable, and packed with all the utilities I needed to build a sleek, responsive design. Paired with Vite 6.3.2 for its blazing-fast development server and autoprefixer 10.4.21 to handle browser compatibility, my workflow felt smooth and efficient. However, as the web development landscape evolves, so do the tools we rely on.... - Source: dev.to / 17 days ago
  • From Tailwind CLI to Vite: A Developer’s Journey to Better Performance (2025 Edition)
    I’m always on the lookout for tools that can make my workflow faster, more efficient, and enjoyable. Recently, I decided to integrate Vite into my existing TailwindCSS CLI project, all-things-digital. My goal was to modernize my build process while keeping the simplicity of my current setup intact. In this blog post, I’ll walk you through the entire process—from creating a backup branch, integrating Vite into my... - Source: dev.to / 20 days ago
  • Frontend letter to frontend lovers
    Vite framework is an alternative to the React framework, Vue.js lovers love it. VitePress is an open-source framework to build static websites, most importantly, documentation websites, and heavily documented websites. Do check the website, VitePress, a static site generator using markdown extension to build beautiful docs as well. - Source: dev.to / 20 days ago
  • Build a Simple Grocery Tracker App using Vue JS and Supabase
    Difference between Vite and Vue? Vite is just the tool that runs your Vue app behind the scenes. Vue handles the UI stuff, Vite handles the dev server and bundling. - Source: dev.to / 24 days ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing GNU Emacs and Vite, you can also consider the following products

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

React - A JavaScript library for building user interfaces

Sublime Text - Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, html and prose - any kind of text file. You'll love the slick user interface and extraordinary features. Fully customizable with macros, and syntax highlighting for most major languages.

Tailwind CSS - A utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces.

Vim - Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing

Vue.js - Reactive Components for Modern Web Interfaces