Download Notepad++ (free) for Windows | Gizmodo (2025)

If you need a basic text editing tool with no special formatting, NotePad++ will do just fine, but its real power lies in the features that are especially useful and appreciated by developers. Based on C++, this tool can work with even large files and remain quick and efficient when you work on big projects and need to switch between documents.

You can choose to work with over 20 programming languages that include: ASP, BaanC, C, C++, COBOL, Diff, ESCRIPT, Freebasic, Gui4Cli, HTML, Intel Hex, Java, JavaScript, JSON, KiXtart, LaTeX, Matlab, MS-DOS Style, Nimrod, Normal Text, OScript, Pascal, PHP, Perl, PostScript, Python, REBOL, Ruby, Shell, Spice, SQL, TCL, TeX, Visual Basic (VBA), Verilog, XML, YAML. You can even specify your own syntax, but no matter which language you choose, the syntax highlighting feature will adjust to it. Thanks to color-coding, you can easily recognize different parts of code, like keywords and variables.

When you download NotePad++ and open documents for editing, you will quickly realize that the tool supports opening multiple documents, each visible in a separate tab. You can also place two of them side by side or open the same document twice if you need to reference different parts of it simultaneously.

Developers working on large projects will also appreciate the possibility of collapsing parts of the file thanks to code folding. Other valuable features include auto-completing your code, for example, by suggesting code snippets or functions, as well as closing tags so that you can save time, be more productive, and make fewer errors. You can also search through your files with regular expressions (based on PCRE) and utilize the search and replace function that NotePad++ offers.

Thanks to the great and vibrant community, you can download NotePad++ plugins, which can expand the tool with such features as FTP integrations, code improvement, version control, or even connecting to remote servers. Because this utility is available on the GNU General Public License, all of its users can download, use, and modify it as they want and then distribute their own versions. The levels of customization and flexibility of NotePad++ make sure that you can adjust the interface and functionalities as you need and work in an environment that is best for your flow. With how reliable and quick the software is, even on older machines, this utility has become a trusted solution for multiple users who work on it daily.

While highly popular and extremely useful, one issue is that users can only download NotePad++ if they're running their PC on Windows, whether the full version or a portable one that can be launched from a USB memory stick. Though it supports Windows versions from XP all the way to 10 and 11 in both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures, NotePad++ is not available on MacOS or Linux.

There might be some compatibility layers you could use to run it on different systems, there is no native solution.

One option is to use Sublime Text, a text editor with advanced features, a modern interface, and outstanding performance. In addition to highlights and color-coding parts of code, you can enable a distraction-free mode, open a command palette for accessing features faster, or even work with multiple cursors. Currently available on Windows, macOS, and Linux, Sublime Text has an everlasting trial period, even though the tool suggests upgrading to its paid version, which is technically available.

Another tool that is available on macOS, Windows, and Linux, as well as a huge library of over 37,000 addons, is VSCODE (Visual Studio Code). Created by Microsoft, this utility can handle multiple programming languages, versioning, and debugging, as well as have an integration with a Commit system and Git interface. It can be linked with a variety of different tools for different purposes, like graphical design, translation, or office software. Thanks to its IntelliSense feature, It can intelligently complete your code based on variables, functions, and even imported modules.

If you need a utility that will be able to handle large-scale projects without compromising performance, UltraEdit is the best solution. Explicitly developed with this use case in mind, you can download it on Windows, macOS, and Linux computers and enjoy features such as advanced search and replace, built-in FTP, and editing in column mode. If you're not sure if that's the right solution, you can download UltraEdit and use it for a trial period before you decide to upgrade to the paid version.

For Linux users who just want software that is really similar to NotePad++, there's also Notepadqq, which tries to be a faithful replica of the Windows software. While it doesn't have such an extensive library of addons, it remains free and open-source and offers a similar set of features, including color coding, highlighting, collapsing parts of code, and opening and working on documents in multiple tabs.