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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Vim

    Score9.8 out of 10
    N/AVim (Vi IMproved) is a highly configurable, free to download and use, Modal Text Editor derived from the classic Unix vi editor. It is designed for terminal-based and graphical text manipulation, prioritizing keyboard-centric efficiency and high-fidelity control over source code and configuration files.

    $0

    Pricing
    Vim
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Vim
    Free Trial
    No
    Free/Freemium Version
    Yes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    No
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsVim is available as a free download.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Vim
    Considered Both Products
    Open Source
    Chose Vim
    Notepad++, while being a great editor, is very easy to get familiar with. However, being a serious developer, having the most efficient tool is much more important than having an easy tool. Vim’s speed is very much faster than that of notepad++. Moreover, the amount of plugins …
    Incentivized
    Chose Vim
    I prefer Vim simply because it's as simple as apps like Notepad, Notepad++, or gedit, but as feature rich as Microsoft Visual Studio. The startup time is quick, the response time is quick, it never freezes. Vim always "just works." Vim can be downloaded in a few seconds (if …
    Incentivized
    Chose Vim
    I spent some time learning emacs at one point and found it to have a much larger surface area of required knowledge before being productive. They are similar in that the interface is somewhat "hidden" behind keybindings and commands, but Vim's modal model makes more sense to me …
    Incentivized
    Chose Vim
    I think it comes down to usability (and frankly, just preference). There's an old adage that Emacs is a good Operating System with a poor Text Editor!

    Jokes aside, when looking at different text editors, such as Emacs or Nano, Vim is the one that is usually always preferred …
    Incentivized
    Chose Vim
    It is hard to compare Vim to many other packages in the developer's stack of tools. It mainly does one thing, edit text, and does it better than anything else. For instance, you can't really compare it to Visual Studio Code because VS actually has a Vim plug-in so you can …
    Incentivized
    Chose Vim
    Vim is a text editor that strives for simplicity. It does that well, but when you need something at the next level, take a look at the above two. Visual Studio Code is a fantastic, free code editor that makes most of my workflow easy.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vim
    Vim's keybindings are a lot more complex than Notepad++. With that, comes a whole bunch of capability that Notepad++ just can't match. Emacs is comparable, in terms of capabilities--because Vim is built into so many unix systems, I chose to learn it instead of Emacs. Knowing …
    Incentivized
    Chose Vim
    I use Vim for specific use cases and others for their own purposes but all of them are being used at my work every day. Vim has its pros like it's free/open source, has a mouse free interface, is lightweight and fast, and once learned is hard to forget.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Vim
    Small Businesses
    BBEdit
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Notepad++
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Sublime Text
    Score8.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Vim
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (9 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    6.0
    (5 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Vim
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Open Source
    I would recommend Vim in any scenario where text files have to be viewed, created, or edited on GNU/Linux computers. Regardless if you need to quickly change a few things in a configuration file, or you need to write up a full document, Vim is great. I wouldn't use Vim to view, edit, or create anything that requires "rich-text". In other words, if you need to format the text (bolding, font colours, word-art, etc), then Vim isn't the tool to use.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Open Source
    • The efficient modal editing makes it very fast to write/edit code as I think of it.
    • The customization and wide range of plugins let me do very specific things and automate parts of my workflow.
    • The fact that it runs inside a terminal simplifies my window management and just becomes another Tmux window in my workflow.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Open Source
    • Without a doubt the hardest program to learn. It is a completely different paradigm of thinking compared to other editors
    • By default it doesn't have lots of fancy features you would find in larger IDE programs like code completion and linking
    • It lives in the command line so a user has to be comfortable with this interface
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Open Source
    I don't consider the steep learning curve to be a hinderance on the overall usability. I would rate this a ten, but to be honest a lot of people do get hung up at the beginning and just abandon it. However, for people who have made the moderate effort to get over the hump, nothing can be more usable.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Open Source
    There is no commercial support for Vim. Thus, it will not get a mark beyond 5. However, community support is very good. You can easily find solutions for most of the problems in the community.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Open Source
    Vim's keybindings are a lot more complex than Notepad++. With that, comes a whole bunch of capability that Notepad++ just can't match. Emacs is comparable, in terms of capabilities--because Vim is built into so many unix systems, I chose to learn it instead of Emacs. Knowing both probably isn't a bad idea, but there's enough to learn in either camp to keep you busy
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Open Source
    • It always increases productivity.
    • Sometimes feature discovery is not easy. It could be documented well like how to install a plugin and if it supported well or not.
    Incentivized
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