Notepad++ for Mac – Independent community port

This is not an official Notepad++ release. It’s an unauthorized project misusing the Notepad++ trademark

Why? I get it’s popular on Windows. But it’s so incredibly Windows-y, not Mac like at all. And we already have BBEdit and Nova.

Perhaps the site answers past “you like it here it is”, but at the moment we appear to have slashdotted them.

Don't forget TextMate, CotEditor, Chocolat. There are so many mac-native text editors that it's a crowded space for a new entrant sporting a distinctively un-mac-like UX.

Smultron is a good one that I’ve been using for over a decade alongside BBEdit. The developer offers versions for 10.10 Yosemite and newer.

https://www.peterborgapps.com/smultron/

New switcher on his brand new MacBook Neo who doesn't want to learn Mac apps and conventions? Guaranteed this person uses a Windows "Alt-tab" style switcher app too.

It doesn’t have to be for everyone.

Lots of people use both operating systems, or stretched from one to the other.

Socrates is about choice, just because I might not see the understanding in something doesn’t mean there isn’t any understanding in it.

Why do anything?

First I've heard of Nova. I have used Transmit--also made by Panic--and was impressed with the UX there. I'll have to give Nova a spin.

Notepad++ has incredibly easy to use macros with the record/play buttons in the toolbar. It is my preferred tool for quickly munging text files especially ones where you want to change formatting through the file.

Yeah this feels similar to PowerShell on Linux.

Is it possible? Sure.

Does it make sense? Not really.

Note how noone clones bbedit for other oses.

It's FREEEEEE!

I know that the original Notepad++ is under GPLv2 so creating an open-source port is perfectly acceptable, but the Notepad++ name itself is trademarked by Don Ho, so calling itself "Notepad++" (for Mac) along with using an almost identical icon feels like it's crossing some boundaries.

>Notepad++ name itself is trademarked by Don Ho

Is it? I can't find a trademark registration on the USPTO site.

https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/npp-trademark-infringemen... Don Ho (original author of Notepad++) is not happy.

> This project is an independent open-source community port of Notepad++ to macOS

Import note.

My "Notepad++ for Mac" so far has been NotepadNext (https://github.com/dail8859/NotepadNext). I will give this one a try as well, and wish them best of luck. I hope they release the Linux version as well.

There is a crippling lack of note on the fact this is unofficial

https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/npp-trademark-infringemen... Don Ho (original author of Notepad++) is not happy.

Same logo too is misleading.

I like how it's a native Mac app and looks 0% like a Mac app whatsoever. Also the scaling is off on my Macbook Pro. Everything looks half as big as it should be. Tiny fonts, tiny tiny icon bar.

Wow.

Well TBF, the original Notepad++ isn't too good in this regard either.

Whenever I opened a N++ window in a remote desktop session and leave it open, and then use the same computer in-person, the whole UI of that window becomes a blurry mess and the boundary of the window is off (as in, if you maximize the window, moving the cursor to the top-right will actually not land on X.), which I assume it because of changing resolution/scaling between remote and in-person use.

I’ve been using Notepad Next on Mac: https://github.com/dail8859/NotepadNext

That's the "true"/original version; for Notepad++-like experience on macOS.

This was definitely vibe coded, even the landing page.

Oh for sure. Just look at the "Author" page. It says he started in March 2026 on this. Which means last month he pointed Claude to the Notepad++ repo and said "make a native port of this to macOS".

that's lazy commentary. prove it. and prove why that matters in this specific context. If you're going to shit on someone's work, have a good reason.

It is kind of ironic that the two Windows applications I missed the most in both Linux and Mac are good text editor and terminal emulator: Notepad++ and MobaXTerm

Love me some WinSCP too.

Wish there was a Linux port too

Look at https://github.com/dail8859/NotepadNext

After seeing how quickly those hooligans re-wrote Claude Code in Rust from the leaked sourcemap, I actually made a spec-driven Linux port using Claude Code, Kimi, and Codex just to see if it was possible.

Frankly, I thought I was the only human being on earth who used Arch but missed the comforting embrace of Notepad++, so I'm happy to share the fruits of my ~$200 worth of tokens if there's interest!

I thought it runs well in WINE? Not that a native port wouldn't be better, but that's pretty good.

I used to use something called “notepadqq”. Not sure if it’s still around but it was a Linux port.

There's an official Notepad next, as others noted

At home I have a MacBook, but everything else I use is Linux. At work, I am stuck on windows 99% of the time for most work. I manage Linux systems, but mostly through the windows desktop. I use notepad++ every single day. I lamented not having it on my Mac, but every replacement is not... right? comfortable? implemented right? I don't know. Still haven't found something that does what little I use in notepad++ and I can tell you now this app's ui is not what I am looking for.

I installed it . But for me I’m used to things looking like macOS native so I was very confused about it and eventually uninstalled and returned to coteditor , I know it’s a awesome project and windows users will enjoy it

We can ask the guy to fix the toolbar icons which I'm sure he can easily do but then it may loose the authentic look. Need to vote.

I think there are like 4 or 5 apps like this but only 2 or 3 are using a fork

Not really understanding the negative trend of comments. As someone who accesses multiple Windows machines on a LAN via a MacBook Air, I'm glad to have as many common GUIs as possible. I found it a bit hard to get used to BBEdit when I started using a Mac again, and have been a Notepad++ lover for many years. So, thanks to the dev for this.

As of writing, the top comment is "Why?" like the project has to defend itself, on a website that's notionally about curious, interesting, and insightful discussions.</meta>

I used Notepad++ way back when, sort of before I "graduated" to Emacs and the like. I don't know how it's evolved over the past two decades (I presume, intentionally, not much) or what attracts its fanbase anymore. I know I liked it because it felt like a substantial jump from notepad.exe without feeling bloated and slow. At the time, some of the competition felt sluggish while Notepad++ felt nimble.

What do people love about Notepad++ that still isn't really addressed by the "less humble" editors out there?

have you heard of TextEdit

the ui is fugly

that's the point, people like it this way. Unless you're saying it looked better on the Windows version.

Thaks I am glad you agree. I guess the port is done then. Is there anything else I can help you with? Marketing?

I guess it's a successful port then.

Those icons… I just, I can’t

great! now do paint dot net (i know, i know)