Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

VS Code VS CodeMirror

Compare VS Code VS CodeMirror and see what are their differences

VS Code logo VS Code

Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

CodeMirror logo CodeMirror

CodeMirror is a versatile text editor implemented in JavaScript for the browser.
  • VS Code Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-10-09
  • CodeMirror Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-19

VS Code features and specs

  • Cross-platform
    VS Code works on Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing a consistent development experience across different operating systems.
  • Extensibility
    A vast library of extensions allows users to add functionalities like debuggers, linters, and themes, making it highly customizable.
  • Integrated Git
    Built-in Git integration makes it easy to manage version control tasks directly within the editor.
  • Performance
    Lightweight compared to full-fledged IDEs, ensuring good performance even on systems with limited resources.
  • IntelliSense
    Advanced code completion and refactoring tools help improve coding efficiency and reduce errors.
  • Community Support
    A strong and active community provides extensive support, tutorials, and third-party extensions.
  • Debugging
    Robust debugging tools for various languages and frameworks are available out of the box.
  • Free and Open-Source
    VS Code is completely free to use and open-source, which is beneficial for both individual developers and organizations.

Possible disadvantages of VS Code

  • Limited IDE Features
    While extensible, it may lack some advanced features found in dedicated IDEs out of the box.
  • Extension Management
    Managing and configuring a large number of extensions can become cumbersome and sometimes lead to performance issues.
  • Learning Curve
    Although user-friendly, it has a steeper learning curve for beginners due to its numerous features and customization options.
  • Memory Usage
    Despite being lightweight, it can consume a significant amount of memory when multiple extensions are installed.
  • Update Frequency
    Frequent updates may sometimes introduce bugs or require users to adapt to new changes quickly.
  • Internet Dependency
    Some features and extensions may require an internet connection to function optimally.
  • Telemetry
    By default, VS Code collects usage data, which might be a concern for users sensitive about data privacy. However, this can be disabled.

CodeMirror features and specs

  • Extensible
    CodeMirror is highly customizable with a rich API that allows developers to extend its functionality to meet specific needs. It supports a wide variety of languages and can be adapted to different editing scenarios.
  • Lightweight
    CodeMirror is designed to be efficient and lightweight, suitable for integration into web applications without significantly impacting performance.
  • Wide Language Support
    It offers support for many programming languages out of the box, which makes it versatile for different programming tasks.
  • Active Community
    There is an active community of developers contributing to CodeMirror, which ensures regular updates, improvements, and bug fixes.
  • Embeddable
    CodeMirror can be easily embedded into existing web pages or web applications, enabling developers to provide a rich text editor experience.

Possible disadvantages of CodeMirror

  • Complex Configuration
    While CodeMirror is highly customizable, setting it up and configuring it to fit specific requirements can be complex and sometimes overwhelming for new users.
  • Minimal Default Features
    Out of the box, CodeMirror provides a basic editor without many advanced features, requiring extra configuration and plugins to add functionality like autocompletion or linting.
  • Learning Curve
    For developers new to CodeMirror, there may be a learning curve involved in understanding its structure and API, especially when creating custom plugins or features.
  • Performance on Large Files
    CodeMirror can experience performance issues when dealing with very large files or extremely complex documents, which may affect its suitability for all projects.
  • Limited Built-in Mobile Support
    CodeMirror’s default interface is not inherently optimized for touch interactions, making it less ideal for mobile or tablet editing without additional customization.

VS Code videos

My New Favorite Text Editor - Visual Studio Code

More videos:

  • Review - 7 reasons why I switched to Visual Studio Code from Sublime Text

CodeMirror videos

How to get value of CodeMirror text editor - step by step guide | CodeMirror #02

More videos:

  • Review - HTMLHint Linter Codemirror Integration

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to VS Code and CodeMirror)
Text Editors
98 98%
2% 2
IDE
100 100%
0% 0
Rich Text Editor
0 0%
100% 100
Developer Tools
99 99%
1% 1

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare VS Code and CodeMirror

VS Code Reviews

  1. dksinden
    · Working at SpeechKit ·

Boost Your Productivity with These Top Text Editors and IDEs
Visual Studio Code, commonly known as VS Code, is a powerful and extensible code editor developed by Microsoft. With its rich ecosystem of extensions and features like IntelliSense, debugging, and Git integration, VS Code enhances your coding productivity.
Source: convesio.com
13 Best Text Editors to Speed up Your Workflow
Finally, the Visual Studio Code website has numerous tabs for you to learn about the software. The documentation page walks you through steps like the setup and working with different languages. You’re also able to check out some tips and tricks and learn all of the Visual Studio Code keyboard shortcuts. Along with a blog, updates page, extensions library and API...
Source: kinsta.com
Jupyter Notebook & 10 Alternatives: Data Notebook Review [2023]
Previously, VS Code was more suited to developers or engineers due to its lack of data analysis capabilities, but since 2020, the VS Code team has collaborated with the Jupyter team to create an integrated notebook within VS Code. The end result is a fantastic IDE workbook for data analysis.
Source: lakefs.io
The Best IDEs for Java Development: A Comparative Analysis
Overview: Although not a traditional IDE, VS Code has gained popularity as a lightweight code editor.
Source: dev.to
20 Best Diff Tools to Compare File Contents on Linux
Visual studio code is a code editor made by Microsoft. It supports several development operations like debugging, task running, and version control. It works on Linux, macOS and Windows operating systems.
Source: linuxopsys.com

CodeMirror Reviews

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

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, VS Code seems to be a lot more popular than CodeMirror. While we know about 1138 links to VS Code, we've tracked only 45 mentions of CodeMirror. 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.

VS Code mentions (1138)

  • Why Understanding, Not Just Generating Code, Still Matters
    To do this, I used VS Code, an extension called Cline configured in Act mode, and Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 03-25, which is amazing. I made two attempts. The first one using a simple and very generic prompt, and a second one using a more detailed prompt. Let’s talk about them. - Source: dev.to / 3 days ago
  • 🚀 Your First Setup Win: Python and VS Code on Mac (Beginner Friendly)
    I visited code.visualstudio.com and clicked the big, inviting "Download for Mac" button. After downloading, I opened the .zip file, dragged the VS Code app into my Applications folder, and launched it. - Source: dev.to / 7 days ago
  • Vibe coding a GO CLI to extract data from articles
    For this challenge we will use Visual Studio Code and Anthropic Claude (Claude 3.7 Sonnet). Also, Go lang must be installed. I am running Fedora Linux. - Source: dev.to / 9 days ago
  • How to Run and Debug Tests in VS Code (With Keploy Integration)
    VS Code installed on your machine (available from here). - Source: dev.to / 27 days ago
  • Get Started with DeepSeek API for FREE: Guide with Multiple Tools!🔥
    Get your hands on VS Code by downloading it from the official website - your new coding command center. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
View more

CodeMirror mentions (45)

  • 25 Project Ideas from Beginner to Advanced with Open Source Contributions
    NOTE: CodeMirror 6 exists, and is more mobile-friendly, more accessible, better designed, and much more actively maintained. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Integrating the ruff language server
    This post covers some background on the Language Server Protocol and then goes into a demonstration of how to integrate the ruff language server into a simple code editor built using CodeMirror. The code for the demonstration is availiable on github. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Adding a Code Editor to your React App
    From the official CodeMirror documentation:. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Eloquent JavaScript 4th edition (2024)
    For those that don't know the author, Marijn Haverbeke, is the creator of CodeMirror (code editor) and later ProseMirror (text editor). https://codemirror.net/ https://prosemirror.net/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Show HN: Heynote – A Dedicated Scratchpad for Developers
    Performance is mostly handled by CodeMirror (https://codemirror.net/), the underlying editor that Heynote is built upon. It seems to handle quite large buffers well. Where I have seen some minor performance issues is when working with very large blocks in certain language modes. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing VS Code and CodeMirror, 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.

ACE (Ajax Code Editor) - Focused and built towards coders, web designers, and web builders, ACE (Ajax Code Editor) can help...

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

ProseMirror - A toolkit for building rich-text editors on the web

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

Quill - Powerful, API-driven rich text editor