micro text editor
Hacker ApprovedRanked 20 of 56 text editors by recommenders
Lightweight terminal editor with familiar GUI-style keybindings that is easy to install and runs almost anywhere, including phones through Termux.
Lightweight terminal editor with familiar GUI-style keybindings that is easy to install and runs almost anywhere, including phones through Termux.
21 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 9.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 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
Familiar GUI-style keybindings and defaults
“For most people though, I think micro is a better fit than nano if you want a terminal CUA-style editor.”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “NetBSD adds a new text editor called atto” “these editors feel more like using GUI editor like sublime text for example. And that's nice.”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “Txt: A fast, keyboard-driven terminal text editor for engineers” “comes with really lovely defaults and keybindings that are a bit more familiar”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 on Hacker News - Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “Txt: A fast, keyboard-driven terminal text editor for engineers”
- Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “VS Code deactivates IntelliCode in favor of the paid Copilot”
Light, fast, easy to install
“Micro is included in most repos, so if you rent a new VPS you can immidiately dnf install it.”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Fresh – A new terminal editor built in Rust” “lighter, faster to install, do not require updates, and often as capable as native apps”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: Micro – apps without ads, algorithms or tracking” “no separate frontend, single Go binary”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you working on? (September 2026)” Works without a GUI, over SSH or Termux
“Micro is included in most repos, so if you rent a new VPS you can immidiately dnf install it.”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Fresh – A new terminal editor built in Rust” “When I don't have a GUI available, I use micro, nano, joe.”
Comment from 14 May 2026 in “The vi family” “I use this through Termux when coding on my phone.”
Comment from 27 Aug 2026 in “Micro Editor” - Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “Why Nextcloud feels slow to use”
Polished user experience
“micro is really just such a great thing overall, it fit so perfectly”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “Why Nextcloud feels slow to use” “Micro editor is a great choice as well imo”
Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Deff – side-by-side Git diff review in your terminal” “micro has hit the nail on quality UX”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Claude Code Is Being Dumbed Down” - Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “NetBSD adds a new text editor called atto”
- Comment from 11 Mar 2026 in “Writing my own text editor, and daily-driving it”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Users outgrow it and want more
“There is micro which is already good, but I wanted something more”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Fresh – A new terminal editor built in Rust” “Flow is a much nicer product than those 3”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Flow – A Programmer's Text Editor” “Im looking to migrate off of Micro”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: TTT – A terminal IDE with standard keybindings, no modal editing”
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 | — |
| micro text editorThis page | 19 | 2 | 90% | 10 | — | Approved |
What people said
24 of the 30 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“For most people though, I think micro is a better fit than nano if you want a terminal CUA-style editor.”
“I do think Micro is a nice editor”
“Micro is MIT licensed, so it should be shippable in NetBSD base.”
“no separate frontend, single Go binary”
“these editors feel more like using GUI editor like sublime text for example. And that's nice.”
“the best without a hassle to re-learn the shortcuts”
“I use this through Termux when coding on my phone.”
“Im looking to migrate off of Micro”
“I'm more of a micro person”
“When I don't have a GUI available, I use micro, nano, joe.”
“In modern TUI editors, scrolling and select-all don't seem to be issues at all.”
“Ok, that seems like a viable model.”
“lighter, faster to install, do not require updates, and often as capable as native apps”
“Both have great user experience”
“Micro editor is a great choice as well imo”
“micro has hit the nail on quality UX”
“Flow is a much nicer product than those 3”
“micro is nice if you're used to GUI editors”
“Micro is included in most repos, so if you rent a new VPS you can immidiately dnf install it.”
“I use https://github.com/zyedidia/micro as my main editor in terminal”
“There is micro which is already good, but I wanted something more”
“I'm using micro in termux on my android.”
“comes with really lovely defaults and keybindings that are a bit more familiar”
“micro is really just such a great thing overall, it fit so perfectly”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.