Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Neovim VS Vim-Plug

Compare Neovim VS Vim-Plug and see what are their differences

Neovim logo Neovim

Vim's rebirth for the 21st century

Vim-Plug logo Vim-Plug

:hibiscus: Minimalist Vim Plugin Manager. Contribute to junegunn/vim-plug development by creating an account on GitHub.
  • Neovim Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-23
  • Vim-Plug Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-30

Neovim features and specs

  • Extensibility
    Neovim is designed to be highly extensible with a robust API that allows for the development of custom plugins, making it easy to tailor the editor to individual workflows.
  • Asynchronous Plugins
    Support for asynchronous plugins enables smoother and faster performance by allowing tasks like linting and autocomplete to run in the background without freezing the editor.
  • Modern Codebase
    The refactored codebase improves maintainability and introduces new features more efficiently compared to the original Vim.
  • Compatibility
    Neovim maintains compatibility with existing Vim plugins and configuration, making it easier for users to transition from Vim.
  • Improved User Interface
    Neovim provides better support for modern terminal features, GUI interfaces, and offers features like an embedded terminal emulator.

Possible disadvantages of Neovim

  • Lack of Official GUI
    Neovim does not come with an official graphical user interface (GUI), which means users who prefer a graphical experience may need to rely on third-party options.
  • Smaller Community
    Although growing, Neovimโ€™s community is smaller compared to Vim, which means fewer community-created resources and plugins.
  • Learning Curve
    New users might find Neovimโ€™s highly customizable nature and reliance on configuration files challenging, especially if they are not familiar with Vim-type editors.
  • Potential Instability
    Frequent updates and changes can sometimes introduce bugs or instability, which may affect users who rely on a stable environment for their work.
  • Plugin Compatibility
    While most Vim plugins work, some could have compatibility issues or require modification to work with Neovim, necessitating additional effort from the user.

Vim-Plug features and specs

  • User-Friendly Syntax
    Vim-Plug uses a simple, concise syntax for plugin management which makes it easy to add, update, and remove plugins.
  • Parallel Installation
    Vim-Plug supports parallel installation of plugins, which significantly speeds up the process of setting up and updating plugins.
  • On-Demand Loading
    It provides the ability to defer loading of plugins until they are actually required, which can improve startup time and overall performance.
  • Extensive Documentation
    Vim-Plug is well-documented with a detailed guide and plenty of examples, making it easier for new users to get started.
  • Partial and Lazy Plugin Support
    Supports loading of plugins only when specific commands are invoked or files are opened, optimizing resource usage.

Possible disadvantages of Vim-Plug

  • Vim-Only
    Vim-Plug is designed specifically for Vim and Neovim, making it unsuitable for users of different text editors.
  • Manual Configuration
    While flexible, users need to manually configure their `vimrc` to manage plugins, which might be daunting for beginners.
  • Dependency Management
    Vim-Plug does not have built-in support for handling plugin dependencies, which means users must manually manage dependencies.
  • Conflict Resolution
    There are no advanced features for resolving conflicts between plugins, requiring users to manually troubleshoot issues.
  • Plugin Removal
    While Vim-Plug can remove plugins from the listing, residual files and configurations might still remain, requiring additional cleaning steps.

Analysis of Neovim

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Neovim is considered good by many developers, especially those who appreciate Vim's modal editing capabilities but seek a more modern and extensible platform.

Why this product is good

  • Neovim is a highly configurable text editor built to be an improved version of Vim. It offers enhanced performance, extensibility through plugins, and better integration with modern development tools. Its user-friendly Lua configuration system makes customization easier.

Recommended for

  • Developers who like Vim but want more features and flexibility
  • Programmers seeking a lightweight and fast code editor
  • Individuals interested in customizing their development environment through plugins
  • Users who prefer using the command line
  • People looking for an editor with a strong and active community support

Analysis of Vim-Plug

Overall verdict

  • Vim-Plug is considered a good plugin manager for Vim due to its speed, ease of use, and active maintenance. It is widely used in the Vim community and is favored for its straightforward setup and efficient plugin management.

Why this product is good

  • Vim-Plug is a minimalist and highly efficient plugin manager for Vim, known for its speed and simplicity. It allows users to easily install, update, and remove plugins with concise commands. Its asynchronous installation feature makes managing plugins faster and does not block the usage of Vim. The minimal configuration and user-friendly syntax make it accessible for both new and experienced Vim users.

Recommended for

  • Developers using Vim who want a simple and fast way to manage plugins.
  • Users looking for asynchronous plugin management in Vim.
  • Vim enthusiasts who appreciate minimalistic configurations.

Neovim videos

What is Neovim, and why should you care?

More videos:

Vim-Plug videos

Why and How I Use Vim-Plug to Manage My Vim Plugins

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Neovim and Vim-Plug)
Text Editors
80 80%
20% 20
IDE
82 82%
18% 18
Software Development
70 70%
30% 30
Productivity
63 63%
37% 37

User comments

Share your experience with using Neovim and Vim-Plug. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Neovim might be a bit more popular than Vim-Plug. We know about 112 links to it since March 2021 and only 95 links to Vim-Plug. 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.

Neovim mentions (112)

  • Microsoft: An Open-Source Comedy
    Microsoft vscode's Marketplace is where you can find extensions, themes, etc. And basically it's what turns vscode from a simple text editor to a powerful IDE. A few weeks ago I noticed that marketplace has stopped working on vscodium, and as a result I can't install new extensions or update the ones I had already installed. I did some research, and I realised it's not a bug, it's a new evil move from Microsoft.... - Source: dev.to / 14 days ago
  • How to connect Shopify to Notion
    Now you can use your favorite editor to edit your Gadget app's code. Changes sync back to Gadget in real-time. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Every Developer Should Try Vim
    Vim is a highly efficient, keyboard-driven text editor that prioritizes speed, precision, and control. Itโ€™s been around for decades, but itโ€™s far from outdated. In recent years, Vim has seen a resurgence, thanks largely to Neovim, a modern refactor of Vim that brings a faster core, better plugin support, and a vibrant, forward-looking community. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • 6 Reasons CLI Coding Agents Are the Future of Software Development
    A text-based shell interface is extremely lightweight compared to modern IDEs. Because it runs in the terminal, even a feature-rich agent has very low overhead. According to Forgecode โ€œLow Resource Usage: minimal impact on system performanceโ€. In contrast, a full IDE can consume hundreds of megabytes of RAM or more, even when idle. In one user benchmark, Neovim (a terminal editor) used only about 10 MB of RAM,... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • My Tech Stack in 2025
    PDE (Personalized Development Environment): Neovim. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
View more

Vim-Plug mentions (95)

  • How to Setup Vim for Kotlin Development
    Some examples are vim-plug, vundle, or, lazy.nvim. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Lite ๐Ÿš€ ApolloNvim Distro 2024
    ๐Ÿ‘‰ If you are missing a plugin, you can easily install or uninstall it using vim.plug. For more information, please visit vim.plug on GitHub or I'd be happy to advise you see about us. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • I a Avid Vim User, Finally Migrated to Neovim! How does it work, what do I gain from it?
    I have been talking about plugins since the beginning of the article, but using a simple editor doesn't involve doing everything by hand. So I have been using a plugin manager for a long time and if you don't, I strongly advise you to get started: it's very practical. I used Vim plug which was everything I like: simple and effective. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • How to use vim-plug with init.lua? win11
    Is it possible to use vim-plug with init.lua? https://github.com/junegunn/vim-plug. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Vimtex not loading (vim-plug)
    Did you really install VimTeX? Did you run :PlugInstall? Ensure you installed and set up vim-plug correctly (https://github.com/junegunn/vim-plug). If VimTeX is installed, it should be installed to '~/.vim/plugged', thus you can open a terminal, then cd ~/.vim/plugged/vimtex and you should find the files there. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Neovim and Vim-Plug, you can also consider the following products

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

Vim Awesome - Awesome Vim plugins from across the universe

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

fugitive (via vim) - Free - VIM license

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.

vimtex - vimtex is a Vim plugin that provides support for writing LaTeX documents.