CudaText

I work a lot with raw files like text files (creating quick notes, opening READMEs), code files (Python, Java, Rust), config files (Git, built apps' configs), typesetting files (TeX, ConTeXt), etc. But I don't want to use an environment (or IDE) for every task (Editor for text files, Eclipse for Java, TeXstudio for typesetting, etc.). What I need instead, is a simple editor for everything. I tried several freeware editors and always there was a lack of something. Never did I have the feeling, that the editor worked without too much effort or having to rethink my habits. And even then it didn't feel complete. Also I don't want to study the code of an editor, just so I can use it for other tasks. Vim, Notepad++ or Visual Studio Code are good candidates. But they all are overblown with ideas, experience and/or content. CudaText, on the other hand, is free and it has all I need, plus all of the following at lightweight: it has an addon manager, a spell-checker, themes, can change fonts for every part of the GUI, has line numbers and code folding with colored highlighting, project-tree, code-tree, snippet panel, minimap, uncountable lexers (coloring of code), linters (analysis of code), an extension to run command line parameters depending on the lexer (i.e. build PDFs, test, run code, scripts)... And if you're not satisfied still, it's fully customizable (per user, per lexer, ...), you can edit existing or add your own themes, addons... The negative and four-star reviews to date in no way reflect how compact, fast, stable, and useful CudaText actually is. As for updating: I am using Windows explorer to simply extract new releases into the existing folder, overwriting the old files. No problem with lost settings, snippets, build scripts or anything so far. It's just advisable to use the Addons Manager to not only install but also to update addons regularly. Also the developer is helpful and thankful for feedback (yet I didn't even have to contact support of any kind so far anyway). CudaText is one of my basic tools, that I even use from portable devices on other machines. So, from an experienced user of text editor's perspective, I fully recommend to give CudaText a try (and/or feedback if you're in lack of anything).

Liked it okay at first, however after changing the themes, font sizes, downloading bigger icons for the left sidebar. Cudatext became genuinely really good for me. It is way better than many other text editor/IDE. I mainly used Notepad++ for everything, but afte notepad++ was hacked in february 2026, i slowly started using it less and less. Then i looked up simple IDE/Text editors, tried out a lot of them, some of them had complicated UI, some of them had built-in chatbot, which i hated. After like a month, i finally found Cudatext, i loved it. Also the creator Alexey is a nice person

A convenient text editor for everyday use that can be customized to your needs via flexible settings and plugins.

I'm a newbie programmer and I love testing out new editors/IDEs. At first, this one seemed boring to me. Then I realized you just need to put in a tiny bit of effort to really get it "going" (like I said, I'm a newb so I am used to editors hand-holding or coming fully-equipped, but I like this approach as well, as it keeps the download lean and allows customization to YOUR needs). After just 30min or so I have a really gorgeous and FAST editor. The fonts look amazing in this editor, and what they did to enable FAST resizing of the IDE even though it's written in OP must have taken a LOT of work -- very impressive. I don't know what dude below is talking about with not being able to find the release/.exe for windows -- it's right in the "release" folder, man... What's so hard about that? Guy downvotes the entire project due to his own "user error". The one complaint I have with this project is that there's no simple instructions on how to preserve settings when "updating", as every release seems to be portable. (EDIT: There's a forum post on the github repo where dev gives instructions for Windows10 -> all you need to do is copy EVERYTHING from inside the NEW main cudatext folder and paste it into the old/current cudatext directory, and all your settings will remain intact. :) (To Dev Reply: Yes....I agree. Immediately after the part you quote it says as much, and also goes on to mention where to find update instructions...)

This project is promising, but the UI is too sluggish. For example, after you toggle an option it takes like a second for the checkmark to show up. Also, when you put the caret on a bracket, it takes another split second for the bracket highlight to trigger. I admire the program for taking magnitudes less memory than VS Code, but VS Code feels a lot faster to work in. When you work in code at least eight hours a day, all that speed adds up.