BBEdit
Shares rank 13 of 42 text editors by recommenders
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.
41 people recommended BBEdit in Hacker News comments, 6 had mixed feelings and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
21 of the 41 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “BBEdit 16”.
Summary written by Claude from 49 comments.
53 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 41
- mixed feelings
- 6
- warn against or regret it
- 6
The record
Recommended in 9 of 12 months
In 18 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 41 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 6.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 18 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- 21 of its 41 recommenders came from one threadNeeds half or less, not met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 40 of the 69 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reliable and long-lived on Mac
“BBEdit will survive the heat death of the universe and has made it through every Apple transition since at least System 7 in 1992.”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “New OS aims to provide (some) compatibility with macOS” “It's been great software: reliably native, promptly releases updates with macOS changes”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “They’ve been at this since 1992, 34 years ago. I think they know their business.”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” - Comment from 21 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16”
Polished, well-built native app
“BBEdit has a heritage and extremely well rounded and polished codebase.”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “One of the sanest text editors ever written and fits Mac well”
Comment from 5 May 2026 in “Native Notepad++ Port for macOS” “Bbedit is better than Sublime and is arguably more refined.”
Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Notepad++ Code Editor Comes to Mac After 20-Year Wait” - Comment from 21 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16”
Powerful regex and text manipulation
“I have such a fondness for BBEdit, and still drop into it for regex stuff enough, that I'm buying the update.”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “it's kind of a multitool for text manipulation that, unlike Emacs, exposes its power very easily”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “The app is most useful, when you can point it at any file in the system”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” Fair pricing, no subscriptions
“doing right by their customers and not rocking the boat through profit maximization strategies”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “good on bare bones for staying away from subscription pricing”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “it's still a solid editor at a good price”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Lacks features such as multiple cursors
“the major revision feels a little flat with features”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “I would have preferred the ability to search within PDF files.”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “And still no multiple cursor support”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” - Comment from 26 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16”
Subscriptions and loss of choice
“It puts the incentives on the wrong spot too. They are no longer incentivized to make shit appealing enough to upgrade.”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “Remember 12 years ago when BBEdit left the Mac App Store only later to come back with subscriptions? Boo.”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “As a customer, so many frustrating things boil down to not being given a choice.”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16”
Other text editors people recommend
The four most recommended other text editors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GNU Emacs | 463 | 122 | 162 | 74% | 12 | 20 yrs117 people | Approved |
| Zed | 450 | 193 | 376 | 54% | 12 | 6 mo54 people | — |
| Vim | 412 | 80 | 107 | 79% | 12 | 20 yrs53 people | Approved |
| Visual Studio Code | 332 | 112 | 509 | 39% | 12 | 2 yrs13 people | — |
| BBEditThis page | 41 | 6 | 6 | 87% | 9 | — | — |
Also compared with Neovim, VS Code, Sublime Text and Helix.
What people said
40 of the 69 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“look at a product like BBEdit and adopt their freemium model”
“at least there’s rectangular selection I suppose”
“an excellent middle ground between TextEdit and a full-fat IDE”
“I have such a fondness for BBEdit, and still drop into it for regex stuff enough, that I'm buying the update.”
“I would have preferred the ability to search within PDF files.”
“The app is most useful, when you can point it at any file in the system”
“And still no multiple cursor support”
“this alone might be worth the upgrade price”
“Shell Worksheets are enough of a game changer that it justifies the whole price.”
“It's been great software: reliably native, promptly releases updates with macOS changes”
“As a customer, so many frustrating things boil down to not being given a choice.”
“It puts the incentives on the wrong spot too. They are no longer incentivized to make shit appealing enough to upgrade.”
“BBEdit has been my never-fail backup editor, especially for Mac-specific tasks.”
“That's the category BBEdit's in for me and why I buy their apps.”
“A shitty compromise, but i don’t blame them for making”
“BBEdit has a heritage and extremely well rounded and polished codebase.”
“it's kind of a multitool for text manipulation that, unlike Emacs, exposes its power very easily”
“doing right by their customers and not rocking the boat through profit maximization strategies”
“the major revision feels a little flat with features”
“If I've bought BBEdit 13 for 60 USD three years ago and I'm still happy with it”
“And amazingly free version is very usable as well.”
“that was a fine thing to offer for people who wanted it”
“Remember 12 years ago when BBEdit left the Mac App Store only later to come back with subscriptions? Boo.”
“BBEdit makes it flat out pleasant though.”
“They’ve been at this since 1992, 34 years ago. I think they know their business.”
“i still use it as a quick and dirty text editor for things like my .bashrc”
“Happily paid for every update for years, even when I used Emacs, I kept BBedit in reach.”
“good on bare bones for staying away from subscription pricing”
“the last version of BBedit I paid for is the gold standard for me”
“it's still a solid editor at a good price”
“One of the sanest text editors ever written and fits Mac well”
“settled on BBEdit (which is awesome and funny I forgot about it all these years”
“I LOVED BBedit! I purchased the full-blown package.”
“Bbedit is better than Sublime and is arguably more refined.”
“KATE/BBEdit + Gopls is a pretty nifty combo on Linux/macOS”
“A nice balance between GUI and keyboard-focussed IMO.”
“there isn't really any alternative to BBEdit. Anywhere but the Mac.”
“It's incredibly configurable, AI features are entirely opt-in, and it supports LSPs now.”
“BBEdit will survive the heat death of the universe and has made it through every Apple transition since at least System 7 in 1992.”
“I could get close to 6 hours in BBedit or WriteNow”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.