Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Notepad++
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Notepad++ is a popular free and open source text editor available under the GPL license, featuring syntax highlighting and folding, auto-complete, multi-document management, and ac customizable GUI.N/A
Sublime Text
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Sublime Text is a highly customizable text editing solution featuring advanced API, Goto functions, and other features, from Sublime HQ in Sydney.
$80
Visual Studio
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Visual Studio (now in the 2022 edition) is a 64-bit IDE that makes it easier to work with bigger projects and complex workloads, boasting a fluid and responsive experience for users. The IDE features IntelliCode, its automatic code completion tools that understand code context and that can complete up to a whole line at once to drive accurate and confident coding.
$45
per month
Pricing
Notepad++Sublime TextMicrosoft Visual Studio
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Business
$80.00
Professional
$45.00
per month
Enterprise
$250.00
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Notepad++Sublime TextVisual Studio
Free Trial
NoNoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Notepad++Sublime TextMicrosoft Visual Studio
Considered Multiple Products
Notepad++
Chose Notepad++
In comparison to applications like Sublime Text or Visual Studio Code, Notepad++ is very limited. But this one has a different use. It's not used to work on projects—more like just editing and converting single files. It's the advanced version of the default Windows notepad. …
Chose Notepad++
I haven't used a lot of other editors that are similar to Notepad++ aside from Sublime Text. Although I do like the interface of Sublime Text, I did not like how it was dependent on learning and memorizing a lot of hotkeys and commands. I like that Notepad++ has a rich, …
Chose Notepad++
I used to use Sublime Text for text editing because at the time I liked the ability to apply themes to the interface and I appreciated the text color coding. However, several years ago something happened one time while I was using Sublime Text (unfortunately, it's been too long …
Chose Notepad++
Atom is a nice little notepad and editor, but it's a bit overkill for a simple note-taking app and doesn't quite compare to Visual Studio Code for more robust tasks like software development. It does have more polish than Notepad++, but the experience is somehow more clumsy. Sub…
Chose Notepad++
Notepad++ has a simple GUI.
I use it when needed to take quick notes or come up with a rough logic to any problem.
Even though Sublime Text is a lot sleekier tha Notepad++, the search capabilities of Notepad++ makes it a winner.
Chose Notepad++
vscode is also a text editor and in many ways is more powerful than Notepad++. Notepad++ is simpler, faster and less busy. vscode is nicer for more complicated things, such as working with multiple files that are related (say a complex set of python scripts) or in a project …
Chose Notepad++
In comparison to vs code, Notepad is less complexed solution with maybe less testing or implementation options but also with better script edition control thanks to the code formatting options. It depends on the task we have but for less complexed scripting that doesn't require …
Chose Notepad++
Notepad++ is easy to use, its simple user interface makes your coding more relaxed and joyful. You can use Notepad++ for many other works like saving text messages or text files or email-related work for a company. Notepad++ is easy to understand, and coding and debugging in …
Chose Notepad++
I didn’t care for the way some things were handled in other programs I tried, and I’ve stuck with Notepad++ since.
Chose Notepad++
I mainly use Notepad++ on windows. EditPlus was very good at regular expressions. I felt it was better than Notepad++. On Mac, sublime is a good tool for the same purpose.
Chose Notepad++
When I have to quickly review code or open a file to review something, opening Visual Studio is overkill. It takes time for the full-fledged IDE to open and initialize. When I need to get something done quickly, I use Notepad++ because nothing can compare to its speed. I also …
Chose Notepad++
It's free. Very easy to use. Can be used for a number of languages.
Chose Notepad++
Notepad++ is much easier to use due to its light UI and gradual learning curve. It also supports third-party plugins using which certain additional features can be added.
Chose Notepad++
Notepad ++ has been easier to use, configure and maintain the other offerings. We prefer the lightweight install and configuration to Office. This is especially helpful on servers where we do not want overhead on. The configuration and ease of use right out of the gate is …
Chose Notepad++
Notepad++ is free, entirely, so you're not going to have to pay for more features (like with Sublime). It's also available offline, so if you're having internet issues you won't lose your data (like with Evernote).
Chose Notepad++
Notepad has competitors like Sublime Text and Atom. It may lack their rich user interface, extensive configurability, and customizability, but it still remains the gold standard when it comes to its core competency which is text analysis and editing. It is extremely fast. Many …
Chose Notepad++
Notepad++ is easy to use. If you have used notepad it's a more advanced version of it. It has a lot of themes and plugins which you can download from the community page and are free. It's easier to build applications in Notepad ++ as it works with various environments. It helps …
Chose Notepad++
We actually don't use Notepad++ over any other software, but in tandem with it. It complements other more advanced, modern text editors and definitely provides a lightweight way to edit code files, especially ones that are interpreted like Python, without having to open a full …
Chose Notepad++
Others in my organization use Sublime and like it. However, it must be purchased. I have not used it enough to have an opinion on which is better. Obviously, I have used Windows Notepad in a pinch, and this is so much better so it's really not even a valid comparison.
Chose Notepad++
Notepad++ is by far the best text editor I have ever tried. You really don't need to look elsewhere as far as functionality and convenience. I wouldn't really write long hand code in it. I'd rather use something like Dreamweaver because it's built just to write code and has …
Sublime Text
Chose Sublime Text
Sublime Text does not provide as comprehensive of a development environment as PhpStorm or Visual Studio IDE. On the other hand, it does not take up nearly as much in system resources, so it is very convenient to use when opening many files or directories for lighter editing. …
Chose Sublime Text
Sublimes text is comparable with the Microsoft Visual Studio Code and NotePad++. However, VS code is far better than [Sublime Text] in terms of the plugins and extensions available in the market. [...] Sublime consumes [...] less memory, compared to the VS code, [which …
Chose Sublime Text
Sublime is more customizable and one can easily modify a lot of its features. On the contrary Visual Studio only has limited customizability features. Sublime text is also very light and not bloated as opposed to Visual Studio IDE. We also chose sublime because it has much …
Chose Sublime Text
Easier to use, runs very solid (especially on Mac OS). Syntax coloring is the best. Possibilities to add plugins and custom things is huge. Connection with Github works great (never tested this with the other tools though).

Also, our company has chosen this tool so at my current …
Chose Sublime Text
Sublime Text is free and offers a cleaner coding interface. Even if I forgot to save updates to a file, the next time I open it, it's still present. Sublime Text boots faster than the other text editors and is also easy to deploy. Memory consumption of Sublime Text is lesser …
Chose Sublime Text
Compared to any other text editor I've used, Sublime Text has the best user interface. On Macs, Windows, and Linux, Sublime Text makes editing easier. When I couldn't use Notepad++ on a Windows machine, I used Sublime Text instead. My colleagues started using Sublime Text, so I …
Chose Sublime Text
We've used both Notepad++ and Atom; both are great but nothing really beats the Sublime Text UI; super intuitive and friendly and does everything you need without overwhelming you with stuff you don't. Other options are free, but for our organization, it was well worth the …
Chose Sublime Text
Sublime Text has a bit more flexibility and doesn't take up as much space or memory as some of the larger IDEs. Notepad++ is customizable too, but Sublime Text is better suited for code editing in my experience.
Chose Sublime Text
While Microsoft Visual Studio Code has a lot more to offer, it can sometimes be a little too much and get too complicated. I like to keep things simple in text editors which makes Sublime Text my preferred editor. There are a lot of packages that can be installed for Sublime …
Chose Sublime Text
The main reason I moved from using Notepad++ to use Sublime Text was that I moved from Windows OS to Mac OS....
Notepad++ is not supported on Windows based systems, so I had no choice.
But my guess is that over the years, I would have probably moved to Sublime Text anyway, since …
Chose Sublime Text
Sublime Text has a better UI compared to any other text editors I have used. Easier to edit text on Sublime Text, even on Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems.
Chose Sublime Text
On certain levels all have certain pros and cons but Sublime has community support and a huge future ahead due to its features, making it lead all the others.
Chose Sublime Text
Sublime Text is powerful, stable, versatile, and lightweight. It's also very affordable, with straightforward licensing terms. Many of the other options that we explored met some of these qualifications, but only Sublime Text checks all of those boxes. For example, NetBeans and …
Chose Sublime Text
I think Sublime Text is more elegant and simple to use.
Chose Sublime Text
Sublime Text rarely has an bugs or updates compared to Notepad++, meaning it is always ready to go. Sublime Text has a smarter file recognition system that helps to correctly target directories for new files and choose the correct color highlighting scheme. Compared to …
Chose Sublime Text
Sublime Text has the cleanest and best UI features such as code snippet window etc.. It has pre-defined intuitive keyboard shortcuts which are easy to understand and use. It also offers support for multiple languages.
Visual Studio
Chose Microsoft Visual Studio
Sublime Text and JetBrains Rider are both great tools, but neither one is developed enough to provide the environment we need right now for software development. Visual Studio IDE lets us debug, create and run unit tests, do performance tweaking and fine-tuning, and program for …
Chose Microsoft Visual Studio
VS is intuitive and easy to understand. The compiling, notes, debugging, and testing make it easy to build your app. With the integrated repository, it makes it a breeze to stage and commit/update your files. You don't have to go to the OS folders to do it.
Chose Microsoft Visual Studio
For beginners, the other tools are easier to set up and run. It is also entirely customizable, but Visual Studio Code has more plugins that allow you to streamline your work.
Chose Microsoft Visual Studio
It's a well [maintained], mature IDE, which has the benefit of being a [software] which only the most skilled developers works on, instead of being open source. It has a lot of very useful features, which most free IDE-s don't. Also, it has many options from commercial …
Chose Microsoft Visual Studio
While I am not a Java developer, I have used NetBeans in the past. I found the NetBeans interface to be more intuitive than the Visual Studio IDE. However, it was also more limited in scope. VS Code, on the other hand, is simplicity itself. It is excellent as just a text …
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User Ratings
Notepad++Sublime TextMicrosoft Visual Studio
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(62 ratings)
9.1
(56 ratings)
9.0
(105 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(4 ratings)
8.9
(4 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.1
(15 ratings)
9.3
(11 ratings)
8.8
(15 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Notepad++Sublime TextMicrosoft Visual Studio
Likelihood to Recommend
Open Source
well suited for 1) Coding and Development - Writing and editing code, Quick prototyping and testing of code snippets, Debugging and inspecting code using syntax highlighting and line numbering, 2) web development - Creating and editing HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other web-related files .Managing and organizing web projects with multiple files and directories. Not suited for - 1) processing huge files 2) graphic designing 3) complex gui designs 3) Data Analysis and Manipulation - Editing and cleaning up text-based data files before importing them into analytical tools. Applying regular expressions to extract, transform, and manipulate data. 4) System Administration and IT - change system configuration file
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Sublime HQ
My CMS has a small window in which I can edit custom HTML/CSS. It can be expanded some, but not as much as I would like. It also displays all code as dark text on a white background. On a page where I am doing extensive custom coding, it is helpful to see it in a larger window and in a color-coded display so that I don't have to strain my eyes as hard. Especially when I'm trying to scan for specific elements and target issues and so that I don't have to scroll endlessly in a tiny window.
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Microsoft
When working with base C# code for desktop and web projects, then Microsoft Visual Studio is ideal as it provides the libraries and interfaces needed to quickly create, test and deploy solutions. It is when slightly more complex scenarios are required that issues can arise. The built-in integration for things like PowerBI Paginated Reports and dashboards is far from ideal.
Read full review
Pros
Open Source
  • Notepad++ allows us to keep open files in tabs. Like in a web browser, these tabs let us access these files quickly and easily. Furthermore, even if we forget to save the files when closing the program or shutting down the PC, Notepad++ retains them in the open tabs when we reopen it.
  • Notepad++ supports many different file types. We usually save our files created in Notepad as normal text files, but sometimes as JSON, PHP, and HTML files.
  • Notepad++ is lightweight and requires little resources. Using it is snappy and responsive.
  • The developer of Notepad++ frequently updates the software with bug fixes, performance improvements and new features.
Read full review
Sublime HQ
  • It is very light and boots up instantaneously.
  • It has tons of plugins that will help you to customize sublime entirely according to your needs and thereby is not bloated
  • Package control is really easy to work with and most plugins can be installed in 2 just clicks.
  • Free version has nearly all the features of the paid version.
  • Its User Interface is simple and makes it easy to located many features.
  • It gives you a ton of control over your ide setting through User-settings where you can customize almost everything.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • I like how the tabs and panels are organized; everything is gathered together so you can find what you're looking for quickly.
  • If you can't find something, there's a thorough search engine that searches all of Visual Studio's features.
  • The Team Foundation Server feature is fantastic since it allows us to easily deploy and roll back changes on the server.
Read full review
Cons
Open Source
  • UI looks a bit dated.
  • Sometimes the number of options are overwhelming and require a quick search to figure out where to locate a particular function.
  • Some way to do a diff between files would be great. Still need to resort to another paid app for that - unless it is a buried function I don't know about or there's a plugin for it.
Read full review
Sublime HQ
  • Plugins are easier to use and less complicated but transferring your license to a new computer isn't as simple as it sounds.
  • Sublime has an automatic file comparison feature, but it's challenging to use and should be improved.
  • Adding the ability to mark or highlight the text with different colors would be an excellent application.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Would be great if there was a better way to save and restore open tabs.
  • The built-in test runner can be improved, for example, by adding the ability to save a set of commonly run tests, etc.
  • Better integration for Microsoft SQL server would be great.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Open Source
I use it every day for 13 years already and it never disappointed me
Read full review
Sublime HQ
I love this application. It has helped to improve my work. Also, I became so used to the shortcuts that It's hard for me to change to another editor.
Read full review
Microsoft
VS is the best and is required for building Microsoft applications. The quality and usefulness of the product far out-weight the licensing costs associated with it.
Read full review
Usability
Open Source
There are lot of features to talk about. Especially the usability is good. Everyone can easily to use and user-friendly. Can also update easily. Can also write and execute the programming languages like C, C++ etc. Encoding is also the major feature that helps me a lot and converter as well.
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Sublime HQ
This is a programmers tool. As such a lot of the features and benefits are lost on a non-technical user. To get the most out of the tool you need to have a basic crash course in how it works and what it can do. The documentation and community are good, but it takes a bit of time to get up to speed.
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Microsoft
I love the overall usability of Microsoft Visual Studio. I’ve been using this IDE for more than 20 years, and I’ve seen it evolve by leaps and bounds. Today, with AI and code-suggestion/completion features, developers no longer need to remember countless libraries, methods, or language syntax, or invest a huge amount of programming effort to complete a project. It truly offers everything a developer needs to program, debug, test, and deploy in a single IDE.
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Performance
Open Source
No answers on this topic
Sublime HQ
It has many handy hacks and shortcuts which enhances its performace.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Open Source
I haven't needed to utilize any support related to Notepad++. I guess this is a good thing because I found it to be quite intuitive. There are almost infinite features you can tweak and plugins you can download but I haven't had to do that because Notepad++ is really good right out of the box.
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Sublime HQ
Never had to use their customer support before. There is ample documentation online so it's straightforward to find a solution to any problem you might encounter. For example, I needed to convert a string of HTML code to a properly formatted HTML file to "modify." Easy to do when there are so many users of the product who have needed to do that same thing before.
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Microsoft
There are many resources available supporting Visual Studio IDE. Microsoft whitepapers, forum posts, and online Visual Studio documentation. There are countless demonstration videos available, as well. If users are having issues, they can call Microsoft Support, but depending on the company's agreement with Microsoft, the number of included support calls will vary from organization to organization. I've found that Microsoft support calls can be hit or miss depending on who you get, but they can usually get you with the right support person for your issue.
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In-Person Training
Open Source
No answers on this topic
Sublime HQ
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
IT is very complicated to understand all the functions that the environment has if you are not familiar with this type of development environments. It is important to select a good in-person training to achieve to understand all the possibilities and the capacity of the application. In this case, you will be able to develop a lot type of different applications.
Read full review
Online Training
Open Source
No answers on this topic
Sublime HQ
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
If you are not accustomed to develop in this type of development environments it would be complicated to follow all the parts of the course because if the course does not include a great tour with all the concepts to develop you will not have the option to understand all the functions.
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Alternatives Considered
Open Source
Notepad for Windows, Microsoft Word...LibreOffice Writer....I have used all of these for code writing and editing. Once again I like the universal feel of Notepad++. Basic Notepad, is just that, basic...and kind of clunky for what it is. This is a cool that I have installed on all my computers and also keep it on a thumb drive if I need it elsewhere.
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Sublime HQ
We've used both Notepad++ and Atom; both are great but nothing really beats the Sublime Text UI; super intuitive and friendly and does everything you need without overwhelming you with stuff you don't. Other options are free, but for our organization, it was well worth the small license cost for the persistent use of a great product.
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Microsoft
I personally feel Visual Studio IDE has [a] better interface and [is more] user friendly than other IDEs. It has better code maintainability and intellisense. Its inbuilt team foundation server help coders to check on their code then and go. Better nugget package management, quality testing and gives features to extract TRX file as result of testing which includes all the summary of each test case.
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Return on Investment
Open Source
  • Productivity has increased for developers.
  • It's free so instead of buying a piece of software, you can use this to replace many of them that may only specialize in one thing.
  • It gives our developers confidence knowing they have such a reliable, free tool at their disposal.
Read full review
Sublime HQ
  • Sublime Text has helped me to focus on specific tasks, cutting out the clutter that many other IDEs have. As such, it has helped me be a more productive employee because I don't get dazed by hundreds of buttons. I can focus on just the code.
  • Sublime Text is so affordable that it's a no-brainer to have an extra tool in your toolset.
  • The Search features of Sublime Text are so useful that it has saved me a great amount of time compared to using Find & Replace menus in Xcode, Android Studio, or Eclipse.
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Microsoft
  • Using the integration between Visual Studio and our source control service, the cost of re-work and losing code is drastically reduced.
  • Paid versions of Visual Studio enable developers to be so much more productive than hacked-together open source solutions that it's hard to imagine developing in Windows without it.
  • When combined with support subscriptions and the vast array of free online help options available, Visual Studio saves our developers time by keeping them coding and testing, not wasting their time trying to guess their way out of problems or spend endless hours online hoping to find answers.
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ScreenShots