What is the best alternative to CotEditor on Mac?

BBEdit is our top pick. It shares Developer tools and Writing & notes with CotEditor and has 25 upvotes from the community. Bear and Craft are close behind.

What is the best free alternative to CotEditor on Mac?

Pages is the best-ranked free alternative to CotEditor. 6 of the alternatives listed here are completely free.

Is there an open-source alternative to CotEditor?

Yes. 5 alternatives are open source, including Zed, MarkEdit and Logseq.

How many alternatives to CotEditor are there for Mac?

Mac App Index lists 24 apps that share a category with CotEditor: 6 completely free, 11 free to start and 5 open source.

Best CotEditor alternatives for Mac

CotEditor is a free app in Developer tools and Writing & notes. We found 24 Mac apps that cover the same ground. Of those, 6 are completely free, 11 are free to start and 5 are open source. BBEdit leads on overlap and community votes, followed by Bear and Craft.

The app you want to replace

CotEditor

Plain-text editor built for macOS

Free · Open source · Developer tools and Writing & notes

View CotEditor

24 alternatives to CotEditor

How we picked: every app here shares at least one category with CotEditor. Apps that also share features rank higher, and community upvotes break ties. Price and licence never buy a better spot. How we rank apps

1
BBEdit
Professional text and code editor
25Free + in-appDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
- Also in Writing & notes
2
Bear
Markdown notes that feel effortless
178Free + in-appWriting & notes
- Also in Writing & notes
3
Featured
Craft
Docs and notes with beautiful structure
163Free + in-appProductivity
- Also in Writing & notes
4
Hot
Raycast
A faster launcher with superpowers
140Free + in-appDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
5
Pages
Apple's word processor
103FreeWriting & notes
- Also in Writing & notes
6
Typora
Markdown editor with live preview
103$14.99Writing & notes
- Also in Writing & notes
- One-time purchase
7
Postico 2
PostgreSQL client for Mac
85$69.99Developer tools
- Also in Developer tools
- One-time purchase
8
Transmit 5
File transfer for servers and cloud storage
84SubscriptionDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
9
Zed
Code editor built for speed and collaboration
83Free + in-appDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
10
Proxyman
Inspect and debug HTTP traffic
82Free + in-appDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
11
MarkEdit
Lightweight Markdown editor
78FreeWriting & notes
- Also in Writing & notes
12
Day One
Private journal with photos and places
74Free + in-appLifestyle
- Also in Writing & notes
13
Ulysses
Distraction-free writing, synced
66SubscriptionWriting & notes
- Also in Writing & notes
14
Sublime Text
Fast text editor for code and prose
54$99Developer tools
- Also in Developer tools
- One-time purchase
15
Logseq
Outliner for linked notes
54FreeProductivity
- Also in Writing & notes
16
NotePlan
Markdown notes, tasks and calendar together
49SubscriptionProductivity
- Also in Writing & notes
17
Xcode
Apple's IDE for every Apple platform
43FreeDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
18
Agenda
Date-focused notes
42Free + in-appProductivity
- Also in Writing & notes
19
Tot
Seven tiny notes, always at hand
41FreeMenu bar
- Also in Writing & notes
20
Drafts
Capture text first, decide later
38Free + in-appProductivity
- Also in Writing & notes
21
Tailscale
Private network across your devices
38Free + in-appDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
22
iTerm2
Terminal replacement for macOS
38FreeDeveloper tools
- Also in Developer tools
23
Notion
Docs, wikis and projects in one workspace
35Free + in-appProductivity
- Also in Writing & notes
24
Cyberduck
Open-source browser for servers and cloud storage
28$23.99Developer tools
- Also in Developer tools
- One-time purchase

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to CotEditor on Mac?: BBEdit is our top pick. It shares Developer tools and Writing & notes with CotEditor and has 25 upvotes from the community. Bear and Craft are close behind.
What is the best free alternative to CotEditor on Mac?: Pages is the best-ranked free alternative to CotEditor. 6 of the alternatives listed here are completely free.
Is there an open-source alternative to CotEditor?: Yes. 5 alternatives are open source, including Zed, MarkEdit and Logseq.
How many alternatives to CotEditor are there for Mac?: Mac App Index lists 24 apps that share a category with CotEditor: 6 completely free, 11 free to start and 5 open source.