Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Vim VS Textmate

Compare Vim VS Textmate and see what are their differences

Vim logo Vim

Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing

Textmate logo Textmate

TextMate brings Apple's approach to operating systems into the world of text editors.
  • Vim Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-23
  • Textmate Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-11

Vim features and specs

  • Efficiency
    Once learned, Vim can significantly speed up text editing with its modal editing, keyboard shortcuts, and commands that allow for quick navigation and manipulation of text.
  • Lightweight
    Vim is a very lightweight editor, consuming minimal system resources, making it highly performant even on systems with lower specifications.
  • Customizability
    Vim is highly configurable and extensible through plugins and user-defined settings, allowing users to tailor the editor to their specific needs.
  • Ubiquity
    Vim is available on almost every Unix-like system and even on Windows, making it a ubiquitous tool that you can rely on being available in most environments.
  • Support for Multiple Programming Languages
    Vim supports a wide range of programming languages out of the box and offers syntax highlighting, which can be enhanced through plugins.
  • Powerful Search and Replace
    Vim offers robust searching and replacing functionalities, including support for regular expressions, which can be a powerful tool for developers.

Possible disadvantages of Vim

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Vim's modal editing and extensive set of commands can be daunting for new users, requiring significant time and effort to master.
  • Minimal Default Config
    The default configuration of Vim is quite minimalistic, which may necessitate additional setup and customization to meet modern development needs.
  • Limited GUI
    Vim primarily operates in a terminal, and while there are graphical variants like GVim, they are not as feature-rich or user-friendly as modern GUI editors.
  • Plugin Management
    While Vim is highly extensible, managing and configuring plugins can be cumbersome compared to more modern editors that offer integrated plugin management.
  • Inconsistent Behavior Across Platforms
    There may be inconsistencies in behavior or available features of Vim across different operating systems, which can complicate its use in certain environments.
  • Lack of Integrated Modern Features
    Vim lacks some modern IDE features like integrated debugging, advanced code introspection, and refined autocompletion, which often require third-party plugins to achieve.

Textmate features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    TextMate offers a clean and intuitive interface that is easy to navigate, making it accessible for both beginners and advanced users.
  • Extensible
    The editor supports a variety of plugins and bundles, allowing users to extend its functionality to meet their specific needs.
  • Snippets and Macros
    TextMate has robust support for snippets and macros, enabling users to automate repetitive tasks and increase productivity.
  • Language Grammars
    It provides excellent syntax highlighting and language grammars for a wide array of programming languages.
  • Multi-File Search and Replace
    TextMate allows for efficient search and replace operations across multiple files, which is useful for large projects.
  • Lightweight
    Despite its powerful features, TextMate is lightweight and does not consume significant system resources.

Possible disadvantages of Textmate

  • MacOS Only
    TextMate is exclusive to MacOS, which means users on other operating systems cannot use it.
  • Not Free
    While it offers a trial period, TextMate is a paid software, which may not be ideal for users looking for free solutions.
  • Limited Collaboration Features
    TextMate does not offer robust built-in collaboration tools, making it less suitable for team-based workflows compared to some other editors.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    Though it has a user-friendly interface, leveraging some of its more advanced features can require a steep learning curve.
  • Limited Debugging Tools
    TextMate lacks comprehensive debugging tools, which might necessitate the use of external software for full-fledged development work.

Analysis of Vim

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Vim is a good text editor, especially for users who invest the time to learn its powerful commands and features. Its steep learning curve may be challenging initially, but once mastered, it significantly enhances productivity.

Why this product is good

  • Vim is considered a powerful text editor because of its efficiency and versatility. It offers extensive features, such as syntax highlighting, a robust plugin system, and support for numerous programming languages. Vim is highly configurable, enabling users to customize its environment to fit their needs. It is particularly appreciated for its speed and the ability to perform complex text manipulations using simple commands.

Recommended for

    Vim is recommended for programmers, developers, and system administrators who require a highly efficient and customizable text editing experience. It is especially useful for those who work extensively in terminal environments or need a quick, resource-light text editor for remote systems.

Analysis of Textmate

Overall verdict

  • TextMate is a great choice for anyone looking for a reliable and highly customizable text editor on macOS. Its balance of simplicity and powerful features makes it an excellent tool for both beginners and experienced developers.

Why this product is good

  • TextMate is a versatile and powerful text editor that is highly regarded for its simplicity and feature-rich environment. It offers a comprehensive suite of features including snippets, macros, a range of plugins, and language grammars that make coding efficient and intuitive. Its lightweight nature and user-friendly interface make it an attractive option for Mac users seeking a reliable coding tool.

Recommended for

  • Web developers
  • Software engineers
  • Programmers who prefer macOS
  • Users who value customization and a lightweight editor

Vim videos

What Vim Is and Why You Should Learn It

More videos:

  • Review - JAC Vapour VIM Review - JAC does a side by side mod...
  • Review - Jac Vapour VIM - Quick Look

Textmate videos

TextMate Review

More videos:

  • Review - Screencast #90: Simple TextMate Tips

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Vim and Textmate)
Text Editors
71 71%
29% 29
IDE
69 69%
31% 31
Software Development
62 62%
38% 38
IDEs And Text Editors
71 71%
29% 29

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Vim and Textmate

Vim Reviews

Boost Your Productivity with These Top Text Editors and IDEs
Vim offers a variety of features like split windows, macros, and extensive customization options. It has a steep learning curve, but once you master it, youโ€™ll be amazed at the speed and productivity it brings to your coding workflow. Vim is a favorite among experienced developers who value speed and efficiency above all else.
Source: convesio.com
13 Best Text Editors to Speed up Your Workflow
Itโ€™s tough to say which developers would enjoy Vim as a text editor. Itโ€™s an old system with an outdated interface. Yet, it still has the charm and powerful feature-set that the average developer needs. I would recommend it to more advanced developers who enjoy using open source software and being a part of a communityโ€“like the one you can find behind Vim.
Source: kinsta.com
12 Best LaTeX Editors You Should Use
The entire installation process is perfectly documented on their Sourceforge page, which you must definitely pay a visit. There is another standalone Vim software, known as the gVim that brings a GUI-based interface to the Vim document editor. Vim-LaTeX has been developed specifically for the programmers and it is so highly configurable that it can function anyway, ranging...
Source: beebom.com
The Top 7 Notepad++ Alternatives for You
Vim is a totally free Notepad++ alternative. It is available to use on Windows, Mac and Linux computers and it is very powerful. I was able to customize Vim to get it to look and function just how I want it. There is really good help support with Vim so if you are new to programming it will get you through most issues.
10 Best Notepad++ Alternatives in 2020
Vim is an advanced text editor open source tool which is also considered to be an IDE in its way. This tool allows managing your text editing activities with vim editors and UNIX System which can be used on-premise or online.
Source: www.guru99.com

Textmate Reviews

Boost Your Productivity with These Top Text Editors and IDEs
TextMate offers powerful features like project organization, instant project-wide search, and code snippets. It supports a wide range of programming languages and offers extensive customization options. With TextMate, you can unleash your creativity and boost your productivity on your Mac.
Source: convesio.com
13 Best Text Editors to Speed up Your Workflow
To get started, TextMate strictly works on the macOS. It seems like a simple editor at first, but it actually has quite a bit of functionality crammed into a small package. Some of the standards you would expect from a text editor include find search and replace tools, autocompletion, and board management. All programming languages are supported by TextMate, and it does have...
Source: kinsta.com
15 Grammarly Alternatives to Fix Your Writing Mistakes in 2021 ( Spelling, Punctuation, and More)
TextMate is a top app that can be used as a Grammarly alternative for Mac. Itโ€™s considered as an open-source platform that assists you in shaping your content into a perfect one. This tool works on macOS 10.12 and in some other versions. You have a file search option in it where you are accessible to anything you look for.
10 Best Notepad++ Alternatives in 2020
TextMate is a versatile plain text editor for mac with unique and innovative features. The tool offers support for many programming languages, writing prose in structured formats such as blogging, running SQL queries, writing screenplays, etc.
Source: www.guru99.com
10 Best Sublime Text Alternatives in 2019
TextMate is a versatile plain text editor for mac with unique and innovative features. The tool offers support for many programming languages, writing prose in structured formats such as blogging, running SQL queries, writing screenplays, etc.
Source: www.guru99.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Textmate should be more popular than Vim. It has been mentiond 16 times since March 2021. 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.

Vim mentions (10)

  • regular Vim has lua?!
    Lua is quite small, encouraging distros to include it. The ubuntu gvim has, and the gvim AppImage linked from vim.org does. The default Makefile from github is set up to not include it, but you can uncomment one line there to get it. Source: over 3 years ago
  • is there a way to make highlighted text persistent after quit when using something like [match Search /\%'.line('.').'l/] ?
    I've not used vimwiki locally (tho I'm old enough to remember the Vim wiki on vim.org :), but I think what you are wanting to do is extend vimwiki's syntax file. I presume it installs one at $VIMRUNTIM/syntax or or ~/.vim/syntax. If this sounds right, then create a ~/.vim/after/syntax/vimwiki.vim file and place your match command in there. Then everytime you open a vimwiki file it should apply your... Source: over 3 years ago
  • vim.org - Is there a reason for this 1800s-esque design?
    Vim.org has 242k total visitors, tailwindcss.com has 4.4m, planetscale.com has 412k, jpl.nasa.gov has 2.6m, all built with Tailwind, all several years younger than Vim's website. Unnecessary comparison, unnecessary defence. It's a valuable tool, fine, but a complete disregard for anyone who doesn't love a crappy website and would like to navigate a website like a normal human is not something to be defended. Maybe... Source: almost 4 years ago
  • What is YOUR process of writing ?
    I write in Vim with some customizations in my vimrc to gear it more towards prose writing than code editing. It's not pretty, but Normal Mode and Ex commands are the most powerful text editing tools out there, so that means I spend less time on making corrections and other edits. Source: over 4 years ago
  • Why developers need to know about Vim
    If you are open minded and would like to try it out, click me for more information! Cheers. - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago
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Textmate mentions (16)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Vim and Textmate, you can also consider the following products

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.

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

GNU Emacs - GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editorโ€”and more.

Microsoft Visual Studio - Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft.

Android Studio - Android development environment based on IntelliJ IDEA

Notepad++ - A free source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment.