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UltraEdit VS MacVim

Compare UltraEdit VS MacVim and see what are their differences

UltraEdit

UltraEdit is a commercially maintained editor built for critical work where performance, reliability, and security matter most.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Paid Free trial $99.95 / Annually (UltraEdit Core)
Alternatives Is it good?
MacVim

MacVim is a port of the text editor Vim to Mac OS X.

Rating
0 reviews
Alternatives Is it good?
Eddyter
Build and integrate a WYSIWYG editor in minutes. Eddyter offers fast setup, developer-friendly APIs, and seamless content editing for modern web apps today. sponsored

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, MacVim seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 3 times since March 2021.

social mentions
0 vs 3
Text Editors popularity
91% vs 9%
alternatives listed
235 vs 44

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

UltraEdit
MacVim
Website ultraedit.com github.com
Pricing
Paid Free trial $99.95 / Annually (UltraEdit Core) Official pricing
—
Platforms
Windows MacOS Linux
—
Listed in
Text Editors IDE Software Development IDEs And Text Editors Code Editor +2
Text Editors IDE Software Development IDEs And Text Editors +1

About UltraEdit and MacVim

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

UltraEdit
MacVim

UltraEdit is a commercially maintained text and code editor built for critical work where performance, reliability, and security matter most. It is designed to handle demanding editing tasks, from very large files and complex datasets to code, logs, configuration files, and sensitive information....

Read more about UltraEdit

No description of MacVim yet.

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

UltraEdit 7 features
MacVim 5 features
  • Large File Handling
    UltraEdit is built to open and edit very large files, including files larger than 10 GB, while maintaining stability and performance under heavy workloads.
  • Advanced Search & Replace
    Powerful search and replace across files and folders, with regular expressions, filters, saved searches, and tools for complex text-processing tasks.
  • Column & Block Editing
    Edit, select, insert, delete, and transform data across multiple rows at once—especially useful for logs, datasets, and structured text.
  • FTP, SFTP & FTPS
    Built-in remote file access lets users open, edit, and save files on remote servers without relying on a separate FTP application.
  • Security & Offline Workflows
    Designed for sensitive and restricted environments, with local file processing, offline activation options, and ongoing commercial maintenance.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, giving individuals and organizations a consistent professional editor across major desktop platforms.
  • Commercial Support
    Backed by a professional development and support team, with ongoing maintenance and support for business-critical issues.
  • Familiar Vim Interface
    MacVim provides the same powerful and familiar editing interface as Vim, making it a great choice for users who are already accustomed to Vim's keybindings and commands.
  • Native macOS Integration
    MacVim is specifically designed for macOS, offering better system integration, including support for native macOS features like full-screen mode, a menu bar, and better keyboard shortcut customization.
  • GUI Enhancements
    While retaining Vim's command-line capabilities, MacVim offers a graphical user interface (GUI) which makes it more accessible to users who prefer a more visual interaction with their text editor.
  • Plugin Support
    MacVim supports Vim's extensive plugin system, allowing users to customize and extend its functionality with thousands of available plugins.
  • Active Development
    Being open-source and maintained by a community of developers means MacVim benefits from regular updates, bug fixes, and new features.

Possible disadvantages

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Like Vim, MacVim can be challenging for beginners due to its unique mode-based editing paradigm and the need to remember extensive keybindings.
  • Resource Intensive
    Though optimized for macOS, MacVim with a GUI can be more resource-intensive compared to traditional Vim, which may be a concern for those with older or less powerful machines.
  • Not for Non-Vim Users
    For users unfamiliar with Vim, MacVim can be intimidating and less intuitive compared to other modern text editors or IDEs.
  • Occasional macOS-Specific Bugs
    Being a macOS-specific application, some users encounter macOS-related bugs or compatibility issues that might not be present in the original Vim.
  • Requires Additional Configuration
    To fully leverage MacVim's capabilities, users often need to spend time configuring their environment, including installing and setting up plugins.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

UltraEdit
MacVim

Overall verdict

  • Yes, UltraEdit is considered a good text editor, especially for users who need a reliable and feature-rich tool for coding and text editing tasks.

Why this product is good

  • UltraEdit is widely regarded as a powerful text editor for its versatility, speed, and support for a wide range of file types, including larger files that other editors may struggle with. It offers robust features such as syntax highlighting, code folding, integrated FTP client, and a customizable interface. Additionally, its multi-platform support makes it a good choice for developers and IT professionals across different operating systems.

Recommended for

  • Developers
  • IT professionals
  • Programmers
  • Power users handling large files
  • Users looking for a customizable text editor

No analysis of MacVim yet.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

UltraEdit 3 videos + Add
MacVim 2 videos + Add

UltraEdit's Hex Editor | Binary/.bin/byte File Editor

More videos

  • - How to use column mode in UltraEdit text editor
  • - How to instantly open HUGE (10+ GB) text files using UltraEdit

Why is MacVim much faster than Vim in the Terminal?

More videos

  • - MacVim | Astros a Star | Ep. 5

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
UltraEdit
MacVim
91% 91%
Text Editors
9% 9%
90% 90%
IDE
10% 10%
93% 93%
Software Development
7% 7%
100% 100%
Tool
0% 0%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing UltraEdit and MacVim.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

UltraEdit's answer

UltraEdit is a native desktop application built primarily with C/C++ technologies, with an embedded JavaScript scripting engine and platform-specific components for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

What makes your product unique?

UltraEdit's answer

UltraEdit combines the power of a professional text and code editor with exceptional performance for demanding workflows. It is particularly strong at handling very large files, advanced search and replace, column/block editing, and complex text and data manipulation. Unlike many free or community-maintained editors, UltraEdit is commercially maintained and supported, making it suitable for critical and security-sensitive work.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

UltraEdit's answer

UltraEdit is built for developers, IT professionals, engineers, data professionals, and technical users who regularly work with code, logs, configuration files, structured data, or very large files. Its users range from individual professionals to large enterprises, including organizations in financial services, healthcare, government, technology, and other security- or reliability-sensitive industries.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

UltraEdit's answer

UltraEdit is designed for users who need more than a lightweight editor. It offers reliable large-file performance, powerful search and editing tools, built-in capabilities for working with code and data, and commercial support. It is a strong fit when performance, reliability, security, and long-term maintenance matter more than simply having a free editor.

What's the story behind your product?

UltraEdit's answer

UltraEdit began in 1994 when engineer Ian D. Mead created a Windows text editor, originally called MEDIT, as a personal programming project and alternative to Notepad. After releasing it through CompuServe as shareware, the editor quickly attracted both individual and corporate users. More than 30 years later, UltraEdit has grown into a suite of professional editing tools with more than 4 million users worldwide.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

UltraEdit's answer

  • BMW
  • Capital One
  • CVS Pharmacy
  • Intel
  • Progressive
  • Samsung
  • Allianz
  • BNP Paribus
  • National Bank of Canada
  • Mercedes

User comments

Share your experience with using UltraEdit and MacVim. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

UltraEdit no reviews yet
MacVim no reviews yet

We have no reviews of MacVim yet. Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

UltraEdit 0 mentions
MacVim 3 mentions

Tracking UltraEdit since Mar 2021.

  • Notepad Next
    gVim (only on windows/linux) with a minimal config is my preferred. Fast but a few powerful built-in vim features like search, replace, syntax highlighting, spellchecking, auto-indent etc. It loads in about 1.5s on my machine and renders... - Source: Hacker News / over 4 years ago
  • Vim: The Best Way to Write Code?
    Vim (aka Vi IMproved) is a highly efficient text editor that has inspired other editors like it, most notably MacVim (which I will refer to as vim from here on) and gVim. - Source: dev.to / over 5 years ago
  • Vim 9 - Update
    If you want to try out Vim9, you can download the latest Win32 binaries from: https://github.com/vim/vim-win32-installer/releases. For MacOS, you can use https://github.com/macvim-dev/macvim/. Source: over 5 years ago

Alternatives to UltraEdit and MacVim

When comparing UltraEdit and MacVim, you can also consider the following products.

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