Skip to main content
TrustRadius
Brackets

Brackets

Overview

What is Brackets?

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.

Read more
Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Brackets, a popular code editor, has gained a loyal following among users who appreciate its reliability and versatility. It is often …
Continue reading

Brackets Rules

10 out of 10
April 23, 2020
Incentivized
I currently use Brackets as a way to edit XML files. We have a client that submits XML files to our production team. Brackets is a simple …
Continue reading

Brackets for the win

9 out of 10
February 25, 2019
Incentivized
Currently, we use Brackets as the tool of choice for editing CSS and HTML classes for our various web applications. It’s mainly used by …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons
Return to navigation

Pricing

View all pricing
N/A
Unavailable

What is Brackets?

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.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?

8 people also want pricing

Alternatives Pricing

What is Sublime Text?

Sublime Text is a highly customizable text editing solution featuring advanced API, Goto functions, and other features, from Sublime HQ in Sydney.

Return to navigation

Product Details

What is Brackets?

Brackets Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 9.5.

The most common users of Brackets are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(32)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Brackets, a popular code editor, has gained a loyal following among users who appreciate its reliability and versatility. It is often chosen as a reliable alternative to other code editors offered by the company. With its lightweight design and support for multiple programming languages, Brackets proves to be a valuable tool for software code writing. Users primarily utilize Brackets for editing HTML, CSS, JS, and PHP files. The live preview feature in Brackets allows developers to quickly view the results of their web application development, saving time and effort. Additionally, Brackets' extendable and customizable nature makes it an ideal choice for developers working with JavaScript, HTML, XML, and Java.

Web designers find Brackets particularly useful for creating new web pages or sites, simplifying the management of multiple pages. The image hover info and live updating browser view features are highly appreciated as they enhance productivity in web development tasks. Moreover, Brackets is a suitable option for managing codebases of company websites and developing browser extensions. Its ability to handle XML files with a simple and user-friendly interface makes it accessible even to non-coders. CSS and HTML classes in various web applications can also be efficiently edited using Brackets. Overall, users rely on Brackets for quick and easy code editing across a range of languages including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, PHP, and MySQL.

Live Preview Feature: Many users have found the Live Preview feature extremely helpful, as it has allowed them to make real-time adjustments to their CSS and instantly see the effects on the page they are coding. This feature has been praised for its convenience and efficiency in streamlining the coding process.

File Tree Tool: The recently added file tree feature has been widely praised as a time-saving tool by users. They appreciate being able to drag and drop files without needing to minimize the program, which enhances productivity and makes organizing files much easier.

Extensibility: Users have consistently mentioned that one of their favorite features of Brackets is its ability to update the core program with extensions. These extensions range from simple ones like themes to more advanced ones that offer assistance in coding tasks such as generating Lorem Ipsum text. The availability of these extensions has greatly enhanced users' experience with Brackets, making it a versatile tool for various coding needs.

Live Preview Issues: Some users have reported that Live Preview in Brackets occasionally fails to work when they need it the most, leading to frustration and inefficiency while working on projects.

Performance and Quality Problems with Plugins: Several reviewers have mentioned that some plugins in Brackets have performance or quality issues. While this is not directly the fault of Brackets itself, it can be a drawback for users who rely heavily on extensions to enhance their coding experience.

Slow Opening and Rendering of Larger Files: According to user feedback, Brackets can sometimes be slow to open and render larger files compared to similar applications. This can cause delays and hinder productivity for those working with complex projects or extensive code bases.

Users highly recommend Brackets for its simplicity and ease of use. They mention that it is a good text editor for web development projects, especially for beginners. Users suggest trying Brackets even if you already use another editor.

The interface of Brackets is clean and customizable, with an excellent dark theme. Users appreciate the live preview feature, which is beneficial for front-end web development using HTML/CSS. Additionally, users recommend checking out the free extensions available for Brackets.

However, some users note that Brackets may not be suitable for more advanced tasks or server-side work. Overall, users highly recommend Brackets for its simplicity, ease of use, and affordability.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-13 of 13)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Edit code directly
  • Color-code code snippets for an easy overview
  • Clean interface for distraction-free editing
  • Lightweight application with fast loading speeds
  • Showing hints for potential coding or syntax errors
  • Having descriptions for the working files list (especially when working on multiple index.php files at once)
  • Easier preference settings
April 23, 2020

Brackets Rules

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Easy coding
  • Simple interface
  • Only need a basic understanding of code to use
  • Without being a coder and never having used other html software, I can't say I have any cons of Brackets. Brackets was recommended to me and that's all I've used. It works for my purposes.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Highlighting code
  • Code indenting with a hotkey (if you enable the feature).
  • Fast and easy setup.
  • Managing projects, such as opening files from a repo. It can be done, but it is pretty much file by file instead of accessing a project or folder.
  • Working with repos (see the previous answer).
Jeff Hanson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Javascript auto minification
  • Code auto-completion
  • Extensibility (custom add-ons) is easy to configure. Many are available for code beautification, formatting, syntax checking.
  • 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."
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Image hover info. If you hover your mouse over an image link in the code, you get specific file information that is useful for the HTML, image size and dimensions, etc. ...as well as a preview.
  • Live browser preview. You can open your working files in a browser and all saved changes are automatically updated. It doesn't seem like a big deal to go over to the browser and refresh, but once you get used to it, it is a pain when missing in other browsers.
  • Brackets is still fairly small in the text editor arena, but there is already a rich ecosystem of plugins and customizations.
  • It is actually fairly easy to create your own custom themes.
  • Multiple cursors!! It is amazing to be able to insert multiple cursors and type the same thing in multiple places.
  • As it is a javascript based program it can have some performance issues, especially with larger files (too large and it can't even open them).
  • Themes are limited to the editor area, but it would be nice to be able to customize the file-tree and gutter areas.
  • And the smallest quibble of all, make the open files area resizable. It's a little annoying to have to scroll up and down when you have plenty of screen space to see all the open files.
February 25, 2019

Brackets for the win

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Editing CSS classes are done particularly well. It’s very simple and straightforward. Brackets will throw errors while editing so you know where you may have made a wrong turn. Very helpful
  • The simple UI is refreshing. Often times code editors throw too much on the screen. Brackets keeps it simple and it’s appreciated!
  • Would be nice if Brackets had an easy way to export and share code between users. Would help on projects you are working on together.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Code-writing.
  • Code-editing.
  • General and advanced coding.
  • It doesn’t allow you to view multiple browsers, only Google Chrome.
  • The shortcuts aren’t robust.
  • Some ‘suggestions’ aren’t robust.
James Pautz II | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • A clean simple UI with an excellent dark theme
  • There are plenty of customization options and extensibility via plugins
  • It is pretty fast and very smart when working with front-end website files
  • The live preview mode is a nice feature when coding as part of a presentation
  • The implementation of code-completion feels natural and effortless
  • It has some readability issues with the fonts being too small on my personal laptop.
  • It isn't as powerful as some new competitors.
William Ruthrauff | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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.
  • Since Brackets is an open source software, it is always improving. So if you feel it is lacking something, shortly thereafter it almost always appears in the next software release.
  • While using extensions are at your own risk, I have sometimes found an extension that caused a problem. It was easily resolved by deleting the software and then reinstalling.
  • Live Preview sometimes doesn't work for me. While most of the time it does, it almost always seems to not work when I need it to work the most.
Return to navigation