Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

VS Code VS Textmate

Compare VS Code VS Textmate and see what are their differences

VS Code logo VS Code

Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

Textmate logo Textmate

TextMate brings Apple's approach to operating systems into the world of text editors.
  • VS Code Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-10-09
  • Textmate Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-11

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.

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 VS Code

Overall verdict

  • Yes, VS Code is generally considered a good choice for developers due to its flexibility, efficiency, and strong community support. It is lightweight, fast, and user-friendly, catering to both novice and experienced developers.

Why this product is good

  • VS Code, developed by Microsoft, is a widely popular and versatile code editor. It offers a robust extension ecosystem, which allows developers to customize their workflow and coding environment extensively. Additionally, VS Code supports numerous programming languages right out of the box and provides features like IntelliSense, debugging, Git integration, and a built-in terminal, making it a powerful tool for developers.

Recommended for

  • Web developers looking for a comprehensive yet lightweight coding environment.
  • Software developers who need an editor with extensive language support and customization options.
  • Beginner programmers who would benefit from a feature-rich editor that can grow with their skills.
  • Developers interested in an open-source tool with continuous updates and community-driven enhancements.

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

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

Textmate videos

TextMate Review

More videos:

  • Review - Screencast #90: Simple TextMate Tips

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to VS Code and Textmate)
Text Editors
92 92%
8% 8
IDE
90 90%
10% 10
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Software Development
90 90%
10% 10

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 Textmate

VS Code Reviews

  1. dksinden
    ยท Working at SpeechKit ยท

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. Youโ€™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

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, VS Code seems to be a lot more popular than Textmate. While we know about 1177 links to VS Code, we've tracked only 16 mentions of Textmate. 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 (1177)

  • Improve Your Git Commit Messages with GitLens Tips
    To generate the commit messages, first of all, you have to change your codebase ๐Ÿ˜Ž After that, when you are ready to commit, itโ€™s time to generate the message. To do that, you need to go to the Source Control panel in VSCode, and if you have the GitLens extension installed, you can use the โ€œMagicโ€ icon to generate the message. - Source: dev.to / 1 day ago
  • How to upload SDI FatturaPA invoices with C#
    We use the dotnet tool and VS Code as they are available on most systems, but you can follow along with your favourite IDE (Visual Studio, Rider, etc.) if you prefer. - Source: dev.to / 3 days ago
  • An Experiment with AI Assisted Web Development
    As a productive learning exercise, I spent the last couple of evenings taking Cursor (the desktop code editor that is a fork of VS Code) for a spin to build a new web app I needed for a side project โ€“ a system to manage charity raffle tickets at the 2025 Melbourne Pen & Stationery Show I am helping to run soon. - Source: dev.to / 4 days ago
  • Go (Golang) - Environment Setup
    Download: Get it from its official site: code.visualstudio.com. - Source: dev.to / 6 days ago
  • Microsoft: An Open-Source Comedy
    Since the beginning of opensource ideology, Microsoft has been one of those companies that no one ever expected to join the cause. Weirdly enough, They did! By making PowerShell opensource, and more important than that: by introducing Visual Studio Code to the world of programming. Microsoft vscode is one the fastest text editors out there and, thanks to its massive list of extensions, one of the best most-used... - Source: dev.to / 14 days ago
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Textmate mentions (16)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing VS Code 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.

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

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

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

Brackets - A modern, open source text editor that understands web design

Node.js - Node.js is a platform built on Chrome's JavaScript runtime for easily building fast, scalable network applications