11 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 8.5 out of 100
Based on 11 reviews and ratings
6 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 9.3 out of 100
Based on 6 reviews and ratings
Attribute Ratings
- BBEdit is rated higher in 2 areas: Likelihood to Recommend, Support Rating
Likelihood to Recommend
9.5
BBEdit
95%
7 Ratings
8.4
TextPad
84%
2 Ratings
Support Rating
9.7
BBEdit
97%
14 Ratings
8.8
TextPad
88%
4 Ratings
Likelihood to Recommend
BBEdit
I'm primarily a graphic designer who does occasional web development. For me, BBEdit works very well. I use it both for developer projects (editing code, editing system files) and for general text processing (cleaning up, formatting, or extracting text). I like that it offers real-time previews of edits to web project files. It comes with some nice editor themes and supports adding more or customizing them. I expect that for some coders, it will be inadequate. It is not an IDE. On the other end of the spectrum, someone who expects an experience more like Microsoft Word will be very disappointed; or if they wanted something more along the lines of Windows Notepad, they may find it to be overkill. It is an ASCII text editor with many advanced commands and tools built-in.
Creative Director
It Is Written, Inc.Religious Institutions, 11-50 employees
TextPad
I like the macro feature for transforming text. For example, taking a CSV file of data and quickly turning it into a set of SQL "insert" statements. Also, useful for this is the find/replace feature using regular expressions such as taking a URL QueryString and breaking all the parameters into separate lines and perhaps sorting them for review.
Director
Alliance EntertainmentWholesale, 201-500 employees
Pros
BBEdit
- BBEdit remembers what I had open, so I never have to worry about losing work when I accidentally close the software. It will hold onto information almost indefinitely, so that the next time I open a program, I can access the information that I may have forgotten to save. Thankfully, its save function is also very simple to use, so I recommend still saving your work as needed.
- Scripts are the most important aspect of BBEdit for the company I work for. Being able to import scripts and create new ones all in the same location are great.
Senior Publications Specialist
Learfield IMG CollegeMarketing & Advertising, 1001-5000 employees
TextPad
- Quick to load.
- Very fast searching algorithm for finding and replacing text.
- Macros are very useful.

Verified User
Engineer in Engineering
Insurance Company, 501-1000 employeesCons
BBEdit
- The cost of this product has just become too much for the functionality that most people need. You can find free or $10 tools that do what most people need to do.
- The BBEdit program has lots of functionality, but could it be too much? Are there too many options?
- It seems that there are too many upgrades.
Instructional Technologist
Pomona CollegeHigher Education, 201-500 employees
TextPad
- I would like a "delete non-bookmarked lines" so I can skip the "invert bookmarks" step.
- The "Compare Text Files" could be streamlined to compare text in 2 tabs without going through the save steps.
Director
Alliance EntertainmentWholesale, 201-500 employees
Pricing Details
BBEdit
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
—TextPad
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
—Support Rating
BBEdit
BBEdit 9.7
Based on 14 answers
I've been using BBEdit — no joke — for nearly three decades now. Believe it or not, I'm still getting "upgrade pricing" 13 versions later. Bare Bones' support has always been stellar, and pricing continues to be affordable compared to similar tools.
Senior Digital Strategist
LullabotInternet, 51-200 employees
TextPad
TextPad 8.8
Based on 4 answers
I never had to use support, so I can't answer this. I would hope that it is good though.

Verified User
Engineer in Engineering
Insurance Company, 501-1000 employeesAlternatives Considered
BBEdit
BBEdit wins over TextEdit every time. They are as different as chalk and cheese. I am so glad we moved to BBEdit.
Founder
The World of Empowerment OrganizationPublishing, 1-10 employees
TextPad
When you want to quickly edit a file, TextPad starts up quickly and has many features over Microsoft Notepad. Visual Studio Code is an alternative in that it is full-featured and will edit text files but is slower at startup. I prefer the macro feature in TextPad due to its simplicity.
Director
Alliance EntertainmentWholesale, 201-500 employees
Return on Investment
BBEdit
- It saves me time, not only with web projects, but even with design, when I want to strip out formatting in text, I bring it in to BBEdit to clean it up.
Owner, Graphic and Web Designer
617 Graphic DesignDesign, 1-10 employees
TextPad
- Made my job easier, so I would say it had a positive return on investment. Especially for it's overall low cost.

Verified User
Engineer in Engineering
Insurance Company, 501-1000 employees