70 of the Best HTML Editors for Web Developers

POSTED 08/26/2013 9 minutes

By Brad Zomick

We at Skilledup are a bunch of techies at heart, and as such we regularly research ways to improve our website’s design and workflow. Thus, we’ve taken a deep dive into the world of web development, coding HTML, and different apps that help developers. Our last two articles focused on the best web development extensions for Firefox and Chrome. This week we are broadening our focus to encompass any environment in which developers can write HTML code, and the applications and services that facilitate this process. In the past few years, web development like many other processes has started moving “into the cloud,” so we have literally searched high and low to bring you 70 of the Best HTML editors for Web Developers.

Simple Desktop Application Editors

Notepad++ is a simple yet incredibly effective code editor.

Notepad++ is a notepad replacement with the ability to highlight and check code syntax. It also supports tabbed file editing. A great first choice for programmers. Windows, free.
ConTEXT is a simple yet powerful notepad replacement. It has most of the same functionalities as Notepad++, and a few additional features like the ability to record macros. Windows, free.
Coffeecup HTML Editor is a fully-fledged web code editor with some unique functionalities like the ability to take any website and edit its code in your own test environment. Windows/Mac, $69 w/free trial.
Emacs is a Linux specific text editor with a high degree of extensibility and customizability. It is one of the best known Linux text editors. Linux, free.
UltraEdit is another code-geared text editor. It supports extremely large files and even hex files. Windows/Mac/Linux, $59.95 w/ 30-day free trial.
EditPlus is a text/code editor with built-in FTP functionality. Windows, $35 per single user license; group discounts available.
Coda 2 is a Mac-based editor that allows code-folding, has auto-complete and an in-built SWL editor. Mac, $75 w/7-day free trial.
Espresso is another Mac-based editor with real-time preview functionality and code-folding. Mac, $75 w/ 15-day free trial.
Sublime Text is an advanced text editor that has a slick interface with advanced search functionality and advanced viewing modes. Windows/Mac/Linux, $70 per single user license w/free trial.
Topstyle 5 is an HTML5 and CSS3 focused editor with syntax highlighting, auto completion, and a nifty feature that allows you to click on classes and find styles defined for the classes. Windows, Demo version has limited functionality, $79.95.
TextWrangler is a general purpose text editor for Mac with enhanced functionality for different programming languages. Mac, free.
BBEdit is a text editor with powerful code editing features like the ability to search and replace text from multiple files. Mac, $49.95.
Chocolat is an editor that boasts split editing, code completion and a Vim mode that lets you edit text in a shell-style environment. Mac, $49.95.
Textmate brings a unique approach to text editors by combining unix-style functionality into an editor. It allows you to write and edit code Emacs-style and even lets you run shell code within the editor. Mac, single user license, $54.

WYSIWYG Editors

Artisteer is known for creating impressive visual themes with just a few clicks of your mouse.

Adobe Dreamweaver is one of the most well-known WYSIWYG editors around. It is a staple of many web development firms around the world and for some can be considered almost an industry-standard for WYSIWYGS. Windows/Mac, $19.99/month.
Artisteer is a powerful and unique editor known for its ability to generate very aesthetically pleasing templates in only a few minutes. It does not require any formal coding knowledge to operate. Windows, starts at $49.95.
Kompozer. Similar to Dreamweaver, Kompozer is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for people without technical computer skills who want to create an attractive professional-looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding. Windows/Mac/Linux, free.
Weebly is a WYSIWYG website builder that allows you to create simple sites using a drag-and-drop interface. Broswer-based, free.
Microsoft Expression Web is Microsoft’s offering to the world of web design. While it is no longer actively supported, it is still known as a capable competitor to Dreamweaver. Windows, Free.
Flux is a powerful editor available only for Mac computers, and it contains graphic editing capabilities. Mac, $89.99.
SnapEditor is a unique browser-based editor that lets you edit in real-time inside of the web page you are editing. It was created with the aim of using clean code. All (Server-based), Site License $99, Developer’s License $299.
Amaya is an open-source editor that aims to integrate as many W3C technologies as possible. Windows/Mac/Linux, Free.
Wix Website Builder is a web application that delivers a full WYSIWYG web development environment that is completely code-newbie friendly. You don’t need to know how to code to create a WIX site. All Browsers, Free.
Web Studio is a powerful MS Office-like environment for creating and editing web pages. It caters to both the professional coders and to those who have no experience in writing HTML/CSS. Windows, 30-day free trial, full version $159.99.
BestAddress HTML Editor has multiple editing modes, from WYSIWYG to simple code to shared view. Also allows you to edit sites directly from your server. Windows, limited trial, full version $54.95
BlueGriffon is a neat WYSIWYG editor that is both free and uses the same rendering engine that Firefox uses, meaning that your pages will come out looking exactly like it’s preview in Firefox. Windows/Mac/Linux, free.
Aloha Editor is a very interesting visual editor that allows you to edit directly from the front end of your site; meaning no coding experience necessary. WordPress or Drupal (CMS based), Free.
Net Objects Fusion is a powerful web-building software that uses an intuitive interface and has interesting capabilities like Google Analytics and shopping cart integration. Windows, $129.95.
Trellian Webpage is an interesting editor that has a drag and drop interface and supports Photoshop plugins. Windows, free.

Browser-Based Extension

Firebug is one of the most popular brower-based editors known, with a reported 17 million downloads worldwide.

Firebug is known as one of the world’s most popular web-development extensions. It has many powerful and useful features, one of the most noticeable is it’s real-time development environment. As soon as you edit code, Firebug reflects the changes in your browser. Firefox, free.
Easy JsBin is a real-time editing and coding environment that you can access directly from a toolbar tab. Firefox, free.
Phoenix is an editor with real-time syntax highlighting which allows edit, run and test CSS, HTML and JavaScript code. Firefox, free.
Coding the Web lets you preview, edit, save your HTML, CSS and Javascript right in your browser, and has syntax highlighting and autocompletion features. Chrome, free.
Sourcekit is a lightweight programmer’s text editor right inside of Chrome. It saves files directly to Dropbox, so you never have to worry about losing your code in the event of a crash. Chrome, free.
Web Developer is an extension that adds a great of functionality to the bare-bones html editor inside of Firefox. This is a very popular addon for Firefox. Firefox, free.
Firebug Lite is a Chrome version of the popular Firefox debugging tool. It has slightly less functionality than its Firefox counterpart but is still one of the best tools you can use for Chrome. Chrome, free.
HTML Instant lets you edit your HTML in real-time and see the results in a side-pane view. Chrome, free.
Slim Text is a light text editor that runs inside of your Chrome browser. Chrome, free.
Vimperator adds powerful Vim editor-like functionality to Firefox. Firefox, free.

Cloud Based Editors

Cloud9 combines a powerful online code editor with a full Ubuntu workspace in the cloud

CodeRun Studio is a free cross-platform Integrated Development Environment (IDE), designed for the cloud. It enables you to easily develop, debug and deploy web applications using your browser. IE,Firefox,Chrome and Safari, free.
TinyMCE is a very popular CMS based editor. It has a clean look and feel and is very easy to both use and implement. All CMS, free.
CKEditor is another very popular CMS based WYSIWYG editor that is both customizable and open-source. It aims to bring word-processor functionality and ease to webpage development. All CMS, free.
Collide is an open-source collaborative IDE that grants program teams real-time interactivity.
Cloud IDE is a browser-based editor supporting syntax highlighting, code completion, refactoring and more. Supports multiple development frameworks and collaborative editing. All Browsers, $79/year.
Kodingen is a free social coding environment utilizing GitHub where you can write code, collaborate and share it with people all over the world. All Browsers, free.
ShiftEdit is an online IDE that syncs and backs up your code revisions. It supports syntax checking, autocompletion, and real-time validation. All Browsers, free for 1 project.
Compilr another online IDE which supports a wide variety of programming languages. Has user-friendly coding tutorials as well as having useful features like auto-completion and syntax highlighting. All Browsers, starts at $10/month, w/ 14-day free trial.
Neutron Drive auto-saves your code to Google Drive, supports revision control, allows real-time collaboration, and has a nifty tabbed interface. All Browsers, $8/year w/ 45-day free trial.
Orion is another cloud IDE, which allows you to download a client that gives you the ability to host the Orion IDE on your own server instead of using their own servers. All, free.
Cloud9 IDE lets you code and chat together with your fellow developers, share your workspaces or keep them private. Supports node.js. All, free for 1 private workspace, premium plan starts at $12/month.
Codio is a web-based IDE that boasts pure speed and the ability to move your code to any numbers of production and test environments. All (Web-based), free; currently in public beta.

Tablet Editors

These days you can edit HTML anywhere you can surf the web.

Textastic is a fast and versatile text, code, and markup editor supporting syntax highlighting of over 80 programming and markup languages. Has FTP and DropBox syncing abilities. iOS, $8.99.
Buffer Editor allows you to chain commands in Vim-like text editor environment, with DropBox integration and Bluetooth keyboard support. iOS, $3.99.
Byword is a simple and efficient text editor with Dropbox and iCloud support. iOS, $4.99.
Diet Coda is a code editor with syntax highlighting and SSH capabilities. iOS, $19.99.
Editorial text editor with syntax highlighting and markdown features, syncs with DropBox. iOS, $4.99.
Deuter IDE is an IDE for the mobile phone and tablets that aims at being fast and efficient. Android, $2.99.
DroidEdit Pro is a source code editor with syntax highlighting and infinite undo/redo capabilities. Syncs with DropBox, and SSH and FTP capable. Android,$1.05.
Code Anywhere This is the Android version of the Code Anywhere code editor. Lets you FTP and sync with your Code Anywhere account across all your devices and computers. Android, free.
Syntax Highlighted Code Editor is a syntax highlighted HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP editor. Android, free.
WebMaster’s HTML Editor is a code editor with code-completion, syntax highlighting and supports Japanese, Chinese, Cyrillic and other character sets. Android, $4.99.

More Complex IDEs

Jetbrains’ PHPStorm is a respected and highly configurable multi-platform IDE.

PHPEdit is an IDE geared for web development with multiple extensions and supports several frameworks. Windows, starts at $100+ w/ 30-day free trial.
PHPStorm is a very popular IDE that supports all of the latest web technologies. It sports a dark interface and multi-user functionality. Windows/Mac/Linux, Starts at $99 w/ 30-day free trial.
WebStorm IDE is from the same company as PHPstorm, but this IDE has an emphasis on Javascript integration and functionality. Starts at $49 w/ 30-day free trial..
Komodo IDE is a popular IDE that supports most web programming languages and has a plethora of useful features including syntax checking, dozens of add-ons and a team-friendly environment. Windows/Mac/Linux, $295.
HTML-Kit is a well-known and trusted web development IDE. It lets you preview results split-screen or in different devices in real-time. Windows, old version free, new version starts at $39.
Aptana Studio is a very customizable IDE with a deployment wizard, built-in terminal, and GIT integration. Windows, Mac, Linux, free.
NetBeans IDE is a free and open source IDE with a large community of users and developers. You can choose to download different programming bundles to save disk space or the whole package. Windows/Linux, feature limited OS independent version available, free.
Mirabyte Web Architect supports most web programming languages and lets you work side-by-side with your website preview. Windows, Trial-version free; full version $69.95.
PHPDesigner is a full-featured HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript editor that also has support for object-oriented coding. Windows, licenses start at $39; w/ 21-day free trial.

HTML-70 of the Best HTML Editors for Web Developers By Brad Zomick