Brackets vs. GNU Emacs

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Brackets
Score 9.7 out of 10
N/A
Brackets is a free and open source text editor developed at Adobe under the MIT license, featuring inline editing, live preview, and a wide range of extensions.N/A
GNU Emacs
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
GNU Emacs is described as a free extensible and customizable text editor for the Lisp programming language.N/A
Pricing
BracketsGNU Emacs
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BracketsGNU Emacs
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Best Alternatives
BracketsGNU Emacs
Small Businesses
BBEdit
BBEdit
Score 8.5 out of 10
BBEdit
BBEdit
Score 8.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Vim
Vim
Score 9.3 out of 10
Vim
Vim
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Vim
Vim
Score 9.3 out of 10
Vim
Vim
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BracketsGNU Emacs
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(14 ratings)
8.2
(4 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.5
(5 ratings)
8.2
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
BracketsGNU Emacs
Likelihood to Recommend
Open Source
Brackets can handle most text editing problems, at least if you have a file small enough that it opens. But with so many free and open-source editors out there, it is easy to have multiple tools that fit specific niches. If you are editing HTML and CSS, get Brackets.
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Open Source
Emacs is best utilized on a Unix system where it can be easily installed and accessed. It allows for quick editing of files on a system whether you are accessing it locally through the console or remotely via an ssh connection. Once users familiarize themselves with the Emacs shortcuts, it becomes a pretty efficient text manipulation program. On a standard Windows computer, it is less likely to use Emacs for code editing, especially if you have a local repository on your host machine.
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Pros
Open Source
  • The Live Preview feature is extremely helpful. You can make tweaks to your CSS and then see how it affects the pge you're coding.
  • The recently added file tree feature is really a time saver. You can move files with a drop and drag feature without ever minimizing the program.
  • One of my favorite features is the ability to update the core program with extensions. Some of the extensions are simple, like adding themes, while others are a offer a little more assistance like creating Lorem Ipsum text for you.
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Open Source
  • GNU Emacs is a text editor that can do almost anything that you want to do with it. It is fairly easy to extend the functionality using Emacs Lisp with a large library available.
  • It can be easily customized using themes as well as custom code to change the look and feel as well as how everything works.
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Cons
Open Source
  • Can be a little slow to open and render larger files at times relative to a similar application running on the same computer.
  • Some plugins have performance or quality issues (not the fault of Brackets per se, but with the ecosystem of extensions).
  • Color schemes, styling ease of use could be improved. For example, provide out-of-the-box schemes like "high-contrast, night-time, bold."
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Open Source
  • Emacs is old, so it's a little crufty and not too easy to pick up and start using. There is a community package called Spacemacs that simplifies a lot of things that you do with Emacs. It is probably better suited to beginners.
  • Sometimes, the choices that were made to integrate certain functionality change the basic models for that functionality. This is seen primarily in the version control system support, where multiple version control systems are supported and "unified" to a standard Emacs-y way of doing things. This can be confusing to the new user not familiar with the Emacs way.
  • Emacs has, as its foundation, a lisp interpreter. This means that the extension language for Emacs is emacs-lisp. Some people find lisp hard to understand and have difficulties writing Emacs extension code, or understanding existing code.
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Usability
Open Source
As far as usability, text editors are about as simple as you can get in the GUI world. The little features that make Brackets unique are intuitive enough that you don't really need a manual to find them and come to rely on them. If anybody knows enough about coding and markup enough to be looking for different editors, they will be up to speed before the download finishes.
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Open Source
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Open Source
Brackets has a very extensive support site. Everything is organized nicely for easy navigation. If you can't find an answer you can easily file an issue with them and they will be quick to respond. What's cool is you can also message them on Slack, if you request an invite first. Slack is a very popular program right now so it's great having that integration.
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Open Source
Everything that you need to know about Emacs can be found on the internet. There are many Emacs "cheat sheets" that list out all of the shortcuts for Emacs. There are videos on how to use Emacs. Emacs is easily installed using the standard Linux package managers and can also be easily updated through them as well. There are tutorials on how to customize Emacs to your liking.
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Alternatives Considered
Open Source
Brackets can be considered as the barebones version of a more complex piece of software like Dreamweaver. We selected Brackets due to the simplicity of the UI and the ease of use. In our case we do not need all the additional tools and gadgets that other, more complex software packages offer. We need something that's quick, easy, uncluttered and focuses specifically on our needs, which are seeing code and editing code. In this case no frills and complex UIs are required.
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Open Source
Of course, Vim is a good contender for comparison as well, so I'll include it. I find Emacs much easier to learn, which will help speed up productivity for newer users. It seems much faster than VIM and VSCode, especially under load. It's highly highly customizable, in ways other editors don't stack up against. Its lack of bloat also is a nice addition to a great product.
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Return on Investment
Open Source
  • ROI is great. The version of the tool we are using is free so not a whole of lot “investment” went into it. And the work we can accomplish with it more than makes up for the “cost.”
  • The ease of use makes it simple for anyone new to the tool to start using it and contributing to the project.
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Open Source
  • Emacs is free software, there is no cost at all.
  • It has helped tremendously in situations where many, or large, log files need to be searched.
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