Textadept
Hacker ApprovedRanked 28 of 56 text editors by recommenders
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.
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.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 93%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 13 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 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
Extensible with Lua modules
“The great thing about Textadept's extensibility (and use of Lua specifically) is that it's easy to pull in other Lua modules”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Textadept” “it's intentionally kept very small, which means it's very easy to understand and extend”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Textadept” “fast and lightweight and highly customizable with Lua”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Textadept” - Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Textadept”
Lightweight and fast
“It's very lightweight and mature, but its dependence on different backends on different platforms introduced some frictions”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Textadept” “I downloaded it recently and found it to be quite useful for quick notes.”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Textadept” “fast and lightweight and highly customizable with Lua”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Textadept” - Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown”
Small, easy to understand codebase
“it's intentionally kept very small, which means it's very easy to understand and extend”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Textadept” “keeping the LOC count really low (2000 lines of C, 4000 lines of Lua)”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Textadept” “Textadept's codebase is a fine example.”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Textadept” Simpler alternative to Notepad++
“If you want an editor with the same core as Notepad++, but fewer batteries included and more extensibility, Textadept is worth a look.”
Comment from 4 May 2026 in “Trademark Violation: Fake Notepad++ for Mac” “Searching for alternatives, Textadept seemed to fill the gap between features, speed and simplicity.”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Textadept”
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 | — |
| TextadeptThis page | 13 | 1 | 93% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
17 of the 18 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Then I switched to textadept.”
“If you want an editor with the same core as Notepad++, but fewer batteries included and more extensibility, Textadept is worth a look.”
“I prefer to use TextAdept on Linux and Mac for notes anyway”
“it's intentionally kept very small, which means it's very easy to understand and extend”
“The great thing about Textadept's extensibility (and use of Lua specifically) is that it's easy to pull in other Lua modules”
“Searching for alternatives, Textadept seemed to fill the gap between features, speed and simplicity.”
“having another option to demonstrate is excellent”
“It's very lightweight and mature, but its dependence on different backends on different platforms introduced some frictions”
“probably same reasons lots of people ditch sublime after trying it for a day”
“Apparent very high extensibility using lua”
“Nice. Im looking for such projects.”
“The splits functionality is one of its weaknesses right now IMO”
“keeping the LOC count really low (2000 lines of C, 4000 lines of Lua)”
“I downloaded it recently and found it to be quite useful for quick notes.”
“Textadept's codebase is a fine example.”
“fast and lightweight and highly customizable with Lua”
“Textadept is lightweight, and more...”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.