# Textadept

13 Hacker News commenters recommended Textadept and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** A lightweight, mature text editor that is small and highly extensible in Lua, and a simpler option than Notepad++. Some users note friction from its platform-specific backends.

## Why people recommend it

- Extensible with Lua modules (4 comments): "The great thing about Textadept's extensibility (and use of Lua specifically) is that it's easy to pull in other Lua modules" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47249732)) "it's intentionally kept very small, which means it's very easy to understand and extend" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47251515)) "fast and lightweight and highly customizable with Lua" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47240720))
- Lightweight and fast (4 comments): "It's very lightweight and mature, but its dependence on different backends on different platforms introduced some frictions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47247254)) "I downloaded it recently and found it to be quite useful for quick notes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47242184)) "fast and lightweight and highly customizable with Lua" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47240720))
- Small, easy to understand codebase (3 comments): "it's intentionally kept very small, which means it's very easy to understand and extend" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47251515)) "keeping the LOC count really low (2000 lines of C, 4000 lines of Lua)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47242801)) "Textadept's codebase is a fine example." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47241359))
- Simpler alternative to Notepad++ (2 comments): "If you want an editor with the same core as Notepad++, but fewer batteries included and more extensibility, Textadept is worth a look." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48011669)) "Searching for alternatives, Textadept seemed to fill the gap between features, speed and simplicity." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47248550))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Zed](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zed.md): 700 recommend
- [GNU Emacs](https://hackerapproved.com/p/emacs.md): 648 recommend
- [Vim](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vim.md): 513 recommend
- [Visual Studio Code](https://hackerapproved.com/p/visual-studio-code.md): 485 recommend
- [Neovim](https://hackerapproved.com/p/neovim.md): 295 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Textadept", https://hackerapproved.com/p/textadept/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).