CotEditor
Shares rank 38 of 56 text editors by recommenders
People recommend CotEditor as a simple, Mac-native text editor that is not built on Electron and handles basic syntax, pretty printing and RTL or vertical text.
People recommend CotEditor as a simple, Mac-native text editor that is not built on Electron and handles basic syntax, pretty printing and RTL or vertical text.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Simple, lightweight editor
“Mac-assed simple editor for those scenarios where I just want basic syntax support for a random text file. CotEditor is perfect!”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “CotEditor on Mac is the closest to Notepad I’ve felt in years.”
Comment from 18 Nov 2025 in “Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders” “The simple in Cot editor on Mac although I now run Linux”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “Kakoune Code Editor” Native Mac app
“Mac-assed simple editor for those scenarios where I just want basic syntax support for a random text file. CotEditor is perfect!”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “It's Mac native, not Electron, and supports both RTL and vertical text.”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “CotEditor on Mac is the closest to Notepad I’ve felt in years.”
Comment from 18 Nov 2025 in “Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders” Basic syntax and pretty printing
“Mac-assed simple editor for those scenarios where I just want basic syntax support for a random text file. CotEditor is perfect!”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “BBEdit 16” “For “looking at a text file with pretty print”, try CotEditor.”
Comment from 4 Feb 2026 in “Xcode 26.3 unlocks the power of agentic coding”
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 | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zed | 700 | 430 | 62% | 13 | 6 mo57 owners | — |
| GNU Emacs | 648 | 207 | 76% | 13 | 20 yrs158 owners | Approved |
| Vim | 513 | 127 | 80% | 13 | 20 yrs55 owners | Approved |
| Visual Studio Code | 485 | 547 | 47% | 12 | 2 yrs13 owners | — |
| CotEditorThis page | 9 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
5 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The simple in Cot editor on Mac although I now run Linux”
“Mac-assed simple editor for those scenarios where I just want basic syntax support for a random text file. CotEditor is perfect!”
“It's Mac native, not Electron, and supports both RTL and vertical text.”
“For “looking at a text file with pretty print”, try CotEditor.”
“CotEditor on Mac is the closest to Notepad I’ve felt in years.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.