# BBEdit Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/bbedit/ 41 people recommended BBEdit in Hacker News comments, 6 had mixed feelings and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 12 months, in 18 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. 21 of the 41 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “BBEdit 16”. **Verdict:** Native Mac text editor trusted for regex, text manipulation and quick edits, with a free version. Critics say the UI feels dated and recent updates are thin. Summary written by Claude from 49 comments. ## Why people recommend it - Reliable and long-lived on Mac (4 comments in the sample): "BBEdit will survive the heat death of the universe and has made it through every Apple transition since at least System 7 in 1992." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45999688)) "It's been great software: reliably native, promptly releases updates with macOS changes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48230466)) "They’ve been at this since 1992, 34 years ago. I think they know their business." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48228348)) - Polished, well-built native app (4 comments in the sample): "BBEdit has a heritage and extremely well rounded and polished codebase." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48229159)) "One of the sanest text editors ever written and fits Mac well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48019735)) "Bbedit is better than Sublime and is arguably more refined." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47948565)) - Powerful regex and text manipulation (3 comments in the sample): "I have such a fondness for BBEdit, and still drop into it for regex stuff enough, that I'm buying the update." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48237976)) "it's kind of a multitool for text manipulation that, unlike Emacs, exposes its power very easily" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48229076)) "The app is most useful, when you can point it at any file in the system" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48234365)) - Fair pricing, no subscriptions (3 comments in the sample): "doing right by their customers and not rocking the boat through profit maximization strategies" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48229054)) "good on bare bones for staying away from subscription pricing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48227921)) "it's still a solid editor at a good price" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48227110)) ## What people warn about - Lacks features such as multiple cursors (4 comments in the sample): "the major revision feels a little flat with features" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48228916)) "I would have preferred the ability to search within PDF files." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48235945)) "And still no multiple cursor support" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48233806)) - Subscriptions and loss of choice (3 comments in the sample): "It puts the incentives on the wrong spot too. They are no longer incentivized to make shit appealing enough to upgrade." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48230142)) "Remember 12 years ago when BBEdit left the Mac App Store only later to come back with subscriptions? Boo." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48228560)) "As a customer, so many frustrating things boil down to not being given a choice." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48230309)) ## Other text editors people recommend - [GNU Emacs](https://hackerapproved.com/p/emacs/): 463 recommend, 122 mixed, 162 criticize - [Zed](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zed/): 450 recommend, 193 mixed, 376 criticize - [Vim](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vim/): 412 recommend, 80 mixed, 107 criticize - [Visual Studio Code](https://hackerapproved.com/p/visual-studio-code/): 332 recommend, 112 mixed, 509 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "BBEdit", https://hackerapproved.com/p/bbedit/ (41 recommend, 6 mixed, 6 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.