This article was written by Sergio Tapia Gutierrez. If you're after another opinion by Jason Fruit, checkout our other IDE article Comparison of Python IDEs for Development. We also have a Review of Python's Best Text Editors.

An IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is one of the best tools a programmer can wield. It allows developers to work efficiently and forget about the boilerplate.

Python IDEs, which stands for Integrated Development Environment is a software suite which helps the coders to write and test softwares. IDE consists of all the basic tools needed to make a glitch-free software. Best Video Software for the Mac How To Run MacOS High Sierra or Another OS on Your Mac Best Graphic Design Software the Mac Stay Safe with Best Free Password Managers.

While some programmers scoff at the idea of using anything more than a text editor, when you are working on a very big project consisting of many files, an IDE will have features that will make your life as a developer much easier.

Some features you can expect a good IDE to have are:

  • Code completion
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Templates for common code
  • Source Control support (eg. Subversion, Mercurial or Git)

Let's see which Python IDE's are the best and how they stack up against each other.

Eclipse with PyDev

PyDev's Official Site: http://pydev.org/

Eclipse is a very versatile IDE that's been around for a very long time. It's a time tested offering and is very solid all around. Eclipse is like a sandbox IDE; it can support any language as long as somebody has baked in the support through a package. Such is the case with PyDev, a package that allows you to turn Eclipse into a very useful Python IDE.

It's a completely free IDE that offer a wide array of features such as:

  • Django integration
  • Code completion
  • Code completion with auto import
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Code analysis
  • Go to definition
  • Refactoring
  • Mark occurrences
  • Debugger
  • Remote Debugger
  • Tokens browser
  • Interactive browser
  • Unit test integration
  • Code coverage
  • and many many more

I use this when coding in Python on my Windows machine, it just works with minimal configuration.

Komodo Edit

Komodo Edit's Official site: http://www.activestate.com/komodo-edit

Komodo Edit is a very clean, professional Python IDE. It doesn't have fluff and instead focuses on putting the thing you need right in front of you. No digging through random submenus looking for an option. It's code completion is very good and fast; it pops up as you type with minimal loading time.

ActiveState offers a commercial version of their IDE, called Komodo IDE.

The differences between the two version are as follows:

PyCharm

PyCharm's Official Site: http://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/

PyCharm is an IDE created by JetBrains. You might remember these guys as the authors of ReSharper, one of the best investments a .NET developer can make. Well PyCharm is no exception, and continuing with their outstanding pedigree, JetBrains has released another excellent tool to the developer ecosystem.

Said to have the absolute best code completion technology, this one is worth at least a trial on your part.

  • Cross Platfom
  • Commercial
  • Automatic Code-completion
  • Integrated Python Debugging
  • Error Markup
  • Source Control integration
  • Smart Indent
  • Bracket Matching
  • Line Numbering
  • Code Folding
  • Unit Testing

Best Text Editors for Mac – In comes the evolution of Computing, from desktop to remote – mainframes have been converted to smart watches. Even the ambiguity of desktop computing from Microsoft is shifted to its hardcore competitor Apple. Personal Computers vs. MAC have had always been a scenario of competition. And in the recent times, usage of MAC have had comparatively increased; you will need some working applications in it. And the first thing that comes and pops in mind is Text Editors for MAC. If you are a hardcore user of computers or Mac, then definitely the need of text editor is something which would be inevitable for you. The functions these text editors for MAC play for you are universally needed for every Mac user. Whether it is a note taking or doing programming and coding, such kinds of functions are what a text editor does for you.

What you need is a good laptop that comes with Best Text Editors, which is a free writing tool that offers no distraction. Hence owning best text editors will do half of your work. Every operating system has in built text editor like for Windows OS it is Notepad; OS X has Text Edit whereas in iOS you have Notes. And when we talk about Mac, then we have huge options of Best Text Editors for MAC to choose from. The Best Free and Paid Text Editors for Mac are the ones that serve basic purpose or goal that is writing of codes and designing your own websites making our text editing work easy for us.

What exactly is a Text Editor?

If we have to define a text editor, then it can be regarded as a program that basically serves the purpose of editing the plain text files usually. Apart from a normal text editor which normally is used for just for text editing and formatting, you will find another sort of text editors too and that is “Programming Text Editor” as well that are used for writing the codes and help an individual to develop their tasks of designing that includes indentation or code formatting. So in comes the Text Editors for Programming in MAC, which is used not only write and edit codes but are specialized in editing any programming languages that may even extend to debugging.

Best text editor for mac 2018

However you can go back to this preference window and select Rich Text instead if you want to go with mac default text editor. Of note, you can also use this preference window to set other default options like Mac built in text editor. If you ever make too many changes and want to revert to the original settings like mac textedit, just click Restore All Defaults settings. There are many 3rd party text editor mac download available dedicated to plain text and coding like BBEdit, TextWrangler, TextMate, Sublime Text and more. These are listed as best text editor for mac 2018.

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So, it becomes even more important to choose for text editors that are more capable and have a better potential for editing text. The best text editors are the ones which come with features like more and exceeded number of plug-ins that could increase productivity and speed as well, the ones that are fast, and portable and are extendable. So let’s pick up for you some out of the box 15 Best and Versatile Text Editors for Mac which are actually powerful. Follow this guide for text editor mac download for free,

Best Text Editors for Mac OS 2018

1 : BRACKETS

Bracket is one of the most commonly used text editor for Mac that comes for free, looks like mac default text editor. It is also simple text editor mac. It is an open source text editor which has till date maintained its big name in tech industry and amongst the users of MAC. The feature that makes this editor distinguished from others is its elegant interface with which it comes by default. Apart from that, it has a unique feature called as “Extract” that allows one to grab different fonts along with measurements, colors and gradients. This selection can be made from a PSD file into a clean CSS file that is already ready to use for web page. Some of the other features that Brackets are used for are the extension support that includes huge library, inline editors, and also gives preview option to view your texts and codes.

text editor for mac free download – To get this versatile text editor now, follow the link- http://brackets.io/

2 : Text Wrangler

After Brackets if there is a text editor which almost every MAC user know is -Text Wrangler. This text editor for MAC can be considered as the second most popular text editor that has come from the stores of Bare Bones. Though second popular in MAC, this text editor is comparatively more famous text editor for OS X. This text editor can be considered as the light weight version of BBEdit. Text wrangler stands apart from the other text editors as, instead of being a hardcore programming tool and editor that is needed by most of the developers, it focuses more on the people who would need general editing like to change the order of text to columns in a CSV.

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It is mostly used by a server admin that requires writing the script comes with the same features you find in mac built in text editor. Also if you are one of the geek who recently shifted from Windows PC to make, I will suggest you to go ahead with Text Wrangler. Now this is because of the similarities Text Wrangler shares in its functionalities with Notepad. This too like Bracket is a free tool and is a must try and a must have editor that serves basic function of text editing and manipulating of text. You can download this text editor from the link below- Get Text Wrangler

3 : BBEdit 11

How many times have you thought of a material or a product to be called as a Holy Grail? Well here it is! Geeks call this text editor – BBEdit 11 as the Holy Grail for Mac. It is designed by the same company Bare Bones and claims this text editor as the most potential one. This comes with extremely rich and powerful text and HTML editor and is specially developed for web developers. This tool offers features like editing at advanced level, searching, manipulation of text etc. Using this tool the user can command files, folders and other text from just single software. This tool has special feature of boasting the largest syntax text support and you can even provide color to your coding for easy doing of your work.

BBEdit 11 comes with various packages versions and you can pick one according to your needs. As just said, it’s one of those text editors for MAC which is treated as a programming virtue too along with a normal text editing sequence. You can get this product from- Get BBEdit

4 : Text Mate Editor

Text Mate is another great tool for People using text editors in MAC systems that actually bring approach of Apple towards operating system into the advanced world of text editors. This tool is more powerful for UNIX command and comes with neat and easy to use GUI. Text Mate editor tool is designed for both programmers and amateurs code users. It includes features like search and replace within your task or project, allows auto-indentation, column selection, word completion from recent documents, dynamic completion, along with regular expression support. With use of this text editor one can incorporate Xcode support and can even build complete Xcode projects. You can also select from various themes available which give this text editor a visual look. Don’t forget, if you need integration of UNIX commands along with MAC this tool can be just everything that you want.

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You can get this unique text editor from following link- Get Text mate

5 : Sublime Text Editor

Sublime Text Editor is another extremely powerful text editor that comes with one of the best and impressive interface. If you want a simple and easy to use Tet Editor which looks clean and simple, sublime is the one for you. It is included in those few text editors that support prose equally as codes and mark up. A sublime text editor comes with the fastest search engine and has many short cuts through which this software can be operated. This tool also has powerful plug in known as API, the plug in that is customized according to needs of user. If you want to use its full version you will have to pay a certain amount but still you can utilize its most of the features with its free version. Sublime is also one of the best text editor for mac programming.

You can get this tool from the link below- SubLime Download

6 : Atom Text Editor

This text editor named as Atom is one the newest one in the business and can be counted in as the most advanced text editor in recent times. Atom Text Editor has joined the list of best text editors for Mac and has already left its mark in being quite capable and powerful tool. Atom too is a free and open source text editing tool and is maintained through one of the well-known repository – GitHub. It also includes the huge and massive user submitted package library. Its main specs include file system browser, fuzzy search of text, provides multiple panes to do editing, can do code folding. It also allows multiple selection of quick editing and supports many themes that are built in with extension library. Atom is good for best text editor for mac python.

You can get this free text editing tool from following link- Get Atom

7 : Textastic

We were talking of Text editor being versatile is also something which is required. Well if you are looking versatility, for all the Apple users, this text editor has got some good news for you as this is not available only for Mac but is also available for iPhone and iPad. One of the most important feature of Textastic is, it is a cross platform code editor that comes for free. It has bunch of features in it for programmers like you can do cloud syncing for all your tasks, so that even if you are working on Mac you can easily switch to your other Apple devices and continue from exactly where you left off. If you want to perform on-the-go edits then this is the excellent tool for this purpose and even fixes your texts very quickly. It is a versatile tool that supports about 80 coding and mark up languages. Textastic is best web text editors for mac.

You can get this tool of text editor from the link below- Get Textastic

8 : Ultra Edit Text Editor

This text editor is designed by IDM Computer Solutions, the company which has already established its name when it comes for developing user friendly software. Its main highlighting feature lies in its capability of supporting HTML, PHP, JavaScript, C and C++, Perl, Python and many more other programming and coding language. This editing tool features syntax code, both column and block editing, and file or data storage as well. Not just this, you also get an Ultra edit tool that comes with an integrated ftp client and also supports SSH or telnet. Quite advanced no? Well if this is that advanced, you won’t get it for free and that is a normal virtue.

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You will have to pay some buck to use its features but trust me that would be worth paying. So to get this editing tool click the link below- Get Ultra Edit

9 : Code Runner 2

Well, let me tell you upfront that this text editor tool is not free for use but is a good looking editing tool that comes with a little amount to pay. If you are a dedicated code editor or programmer, then you must not look for something else but go for Code Runner Text Editor that is provided by Mac at its best. It offers feature like versatile themes to choose from like in Text mate, so that you can customize your text in best possible way. Its other specs include- navigation symbols, auto complete words, and if SQL is what you are working for then it gives you bracket matching, argument execution with in-built input texts, and lastly an interactive console to make your text editing work easy going. CodeRunner 2 is good programming text editors for mac.

You can get this tool from following link below- Get Code Runner 2

10 : Mac Vim Text Editor

It is a version of Vim text editor only that is now listed for Mac users especially for OS X. Though it comes with primitive graphical interface when compared to others but still is a tool with full package. Well, what will excite you more about this text editor is its unique thing of bringing standard shortcuts of OS X keyboard and hence lessens the learning curve. You can choose from any transparent background themes available and also supports screen mode for full free distraction coding and editing. Mac Vim is one such tool that supports multiple windows and tabs and comes with fully loaded ODB too.

You can get this tool for free and to own it download it from the following link- Get VIM

11 : Coda 2

Till now we have discussed very nicely about all the text editors that are free as well as paid, few were core text editors and few were programming and scripting oriented. And not just this, we have a further list to go. But let me make an addition in between and introduce you to another versatile Text Editor for MAC which can be used for websites development and provides you with a command line terminal as well. And the name is, Coda 2.

Well, in the list mentioned above were the editors that can be used for general purpose but if we talk about Coda 2, it is a hard core tool used by developers to develop their websites. This one is famous as horse of a different color tool that is specifically designed for website designers and ones who are involved in programming, hence cannot be used by amateur. It offers you with simplified way to write and edit your codes as it comes with combined features like FTP client, web preview of your engine and even access to command line terminal. Its other features include code folding, advanced UI, source code that is manageable with Git or SVN. This editor also has MySQL available within it. This is an easy to use interface tool that will make your web editing work easy.

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This is a paid text editing tool but if you want your website designing done in best way possible, you can get this tool from- Get Code 2

12 : Smultron 8

From creating quick notes to edit any text document or designing of web page, a single tool that allows you to access to all its features is Smultron. Smultron 8 is the most advanced in series of Smultron and is easy to use, powerful and quick text editor. Using this tool will save your time and get your task done fast as it is very intuitive. It has many in-built tools, through which you can edit your text, get access to your documents, and even write codes in your own language along with available translations. You can also store your work in iCloud and sync to your Mac. It comes with syntax colors that offers 120 different coding language, regular expressions, and text snippets and supports commands and line numbers. Though it is not that famous and is still in more or less in its beta stage, but for me it is worth a use, so don’t wait up. Do try it once.

You can download this tool from- Get Smultron

13 : Emacs

A text editor, which is self-documenting and contains a powerful file manager and entirely keyboard customizable, this one can actually be something you were looking for so long. Emacs, the extensible and customizable text editor is a self-documenting and real time editor is made for all the Windows and OSX users. It comes with a wide variety of specifications with Emacs Lisp as its extension language. It has a powerful file manager that allows it to differentiate between two records. After its striking property of being customizable, one of its main pros is that it can be controlled entirely by keyboard. Even if you are a Vim user, Emacs allows you to move in its universe, with a thorough documentation and built in extensive support. It also provides its users with text objects and Visual selection, a feature of Vim. Emacs thus is a perfect combination of some great features of different text editors, and total customizability tops it all.

You can get Emacs from the blow link, and make changes according to your wish. Get Emacs

14 : Spacemacs

You are now familiar with Emacs, but a rather polished and sophisticated form of Emacs is Spacemacs, which focuses on mnemonics, ergonomics and consistency. Its cross editor platform allows it to run on Windows, Mac OS X and Gnu/Linux. Since space bar is by default used as the leader key over here, it is named as Spacemac. The responsive and user friendly community of Spacemacs allows usage by the users of both Vim and Emacs, while the two editing styles can also be mixed. Spacemacs is an awesome tool for pair programming as it can switch easily between two input styles. Its documentation is not only comprehensive but can also be accessed directly in Org format in this text editor, as it is arranged in various configuration layers.

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You can experience this new version of Emacs aka Spacemac by downloading it from the following link: Get Spacemacs

15 : Notepad++ – Best Open Source Text Editor for Mac OS

Notepad++ is an open source text editor, and comes for free for Windows Users. It is a powerful and extensive alternative of Notepad. But the features of the light and fast text editor can be enjoyed by only Windows user. For those who cannot even wait for a minute to start with the program, the GPL licensed Notepad++ is the best option. With syntax highlight it can select a wide range of programming language. The editor also proves to be helpful when you have to edit more than one line at a time; yes it comes with multi-line editing feature. Notepad++ can be configured at any computer and the way you want it to be, since its portable version is also available. For this you should need to have the editor in your drop box account or on your flash drive.

If you are looking for higher execution speed, then download Notepad++ from the below link: Get Notepad++

There is no lack of options for texteditors geared towards developers on the Mac, but TextMate is our top pick. It wins out because of its massive programming language syntax support, beneficial code snippets, expandability, and integration using the OS X terminal.

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Conclusion: So here were the all-time-favorites, must use, versatile and powerful text editors available for your Mac Machine. You may get a bundle of such tools but these are our best picks and highly recommended Text Editors for Mac, that one must try for to fulfill their purpose of programming, web designing or another general purpose. Go on, try them, you will not be disappointed rather will have a smooth experience of text editing is your MAC device. Write to us if you need any further recommendation or any other info.

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