# vi text editor 67 Hacker News commenters recommended vi text editor and 34 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 34 years (16 owners). **Verdict:** Preinstalled on nearly every Unix system, so people rely on it for quick edits over ssh; the steep learning curve and modal commands are the common caveat. ## Why people recommend it - Present on nearly every Unix system (3 comments): "One advantage of vi is that even though emacs is available on all those systems, vi is actually installed on all of those" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591554)) "vi is part of every standard Unix install, so when you ssh into a box, you'll always have your editor" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49432808)) "It is perfect for this, as is tiny, present out of the box on many distros" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46957582)) - Powerful bulk editing commands (3 comments): "I use it to "massage" data in all sorts of files, with thousands to millions of lines, in no time at all." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48123288)) "My favorite features are the ranges on the commands (like substitute or delete)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48647352)) "The "dot" command alone has saved years of work" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45877634)) - Muscle memory pays off over time (4 comments): "Vi is more efficient for him every hour every day because he has been able to learn it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48119191)) "I figured out that I had just learned the editor I would want to stick with for years" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48117845)) "Once you get used to it, it is painful to go back." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47528170)) - Quick edits on remote servers (3 comments): "These days I use vi for quick edits like someone above mentioned and like it more than any later replacement" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46957910)) "as I ssh to the server anyway to run commands, I'm editing the files with vi there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48118165)) "Gotten me out of many a pickle being able to reliably edit a file quickly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48117830)) ## What people warn about - Steep learning curve and modal design (2 comments): "Tough learning curve! Seemed ridiculous at first, then I developed a mini set of editing skills and got used to it!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48118208)) "And even Emacs is more intuitive compared to the modal-nature of Vi." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46698206)) - Hard to exit or recover from (3 comments): "The hoops you hav to jump through to get vi to switch into a blank screen and then drop back and re-render your previous terminal." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46352033)) "I'd just hang up the modem because I never could figure out how to get out of it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45827739)) "First time I opened vi I had to power cycle the computer to get out of it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50293668)) - No mouse, so many commands (2 comments): "The fundamental problem with vi is that it doesn't have a mouse and therefore you've got all these commands." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48118790)) "even ancient editors like vi it means printing out or having the commands listed in a window to reference" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48191623)) - Dated and bloated next to Vim (3 comments): "vi meanwhile is pretty bloated though has ex filters which are a huge step up from the standard editor" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47049036)) "Which is like some super old version of it that can't do like anything you'd be used to from a VIM." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46284904)) "Vi is primitive and clunky not because it's a bad design, but because it's from 1976" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46957501)) ## 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, "vi text editor", https://hackerapproved.com/p/vi/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).