Comparison of TeX editors

The following is a comparison of TeX editors.

Table of editors

Properties of TeX editors 1
Name	Editing style^{[Note 1]}	Native operating systems	Latest stable version	Costs	License	Configurable	Integrated viewer
AUCTeX	Source	Linux, macOS, Windows	(2023-04-23) 13.2	Free	GPL	Yes	Yes
Authorea	Source / partial-WYSIWYG	Online	—	Free	Proprietary	Yes	Yes
CoCalc	Source	Online	—	Free	AGPL + Commons Clause	Yes	Yes
GNOME LaTeX	Source	Linux	(2023-06-25) 3.46.0	Free	GPL	Yes	No
Gummi	Source	Linux	(2022-04-29) 0.8.3	Free	MIT	Yes	Yes (Live update)
Kile	Source	Linux (macOS, Windows)^{[Note 2]}	(2012-09-23) 2.1.3	Free	GPL	Yes	Yes (Quick preview)
LyX	WYSIWYM	Linux, macOS, Windows	(2023-01-07) 2.3.7	Free	GPL	Yes	Yes
Notepad++	Source	Windows	(2024-02-20) 8.6.4	Free	GPL	Yes	No, but can be integrated ^{[Note 3]}
Overleaf	Source	Online	—	Free	Unclear	Yes	Yes
Scientific WorkPlace	WYSIWYM	Windows	(2016-02-23) 6.0.12	Non-free	Proprietary	Yes	Yes
TeXmacs^{[Note 4]}	WYSIWYG	Linux, macOS, Windows	(2024-03-11) 2.1.4	Free	GPL	Yes	Partial (preview using system Pdf viewer)
Texmaker	Source	Linux, macOS, Windows	(2023-04-29) 5.1.4	Free	GPL2	Yes	Yes
TeXnicCenter	Source	Windows	(2013-09-29) 2.02 Stable	Free	GPL	Yes	No
TeXShop	Source	macOS	(2023-07-21) 5.15	Free	GPL	Yes	Yes
TeXstudio	Source	Linux, macOS, Windows	(2024-06-07) 4.8.1	Free	GPL2	Yes	Yes (pdf, selection with dvi2png)
TeXworks	Source	Linux, macOS, Windows	(2024-02-12) 0.6.9	Free	GPL	No	Yes (pdf)
Verbosus	Source	Online, Android, iOS	(2016-05-06) 4.1.3	Free	Proprietary	Yes	Yes (pdf)
Vim	Source	Linux, macOS, Windows	(2024-01-02) 9.1.0	Free	Vim	Yes	No
Visual Studio Code	Source	Linux, macOS, Windows	(2024-06-19) 1.90.2	Free	Source code: MIT Microsoft-built binaries: Proprietary	Yes	Yes (pdf) ^{[Note 5]}
WinEdt	Source	Windows	(2023-05-16) 11.1	Non-free	Proprietary	Yes	Yes
WinShell	Source	Windows	(2013-02-10) 3.3.2.6	Free	Proprietary	Yes	No
Name	Editing Style	Native Operating Systems	Latest stable version	Costs	License	Configurable	Integrated viewer

Properties of TeX editors 2
Name	Inverse search^{[Note 6]}	DDE support^{[Note 7]}	Organises Projects	Menu for inserting symbols	Document comparison	Spell-checking	Multiple undo-redo
AUCTeX	Yes	No	Partial (master file)	Yes	Yes	Yes^{[Note 8]}	Yes
Authorea	Yes	—	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
CoCalc	Yes	—	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
GNOME LaTeX	Yes	—	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Gummi	Yes	—	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Kile	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
LyX	Yes	?	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Notepad++	Yes, with SumatraPDF	Yes, with a DDE client	Yes	Partial^{[Note 9]}	Yes	Yes	Yes
Overleaf	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Scientific WorkPlace	—	?	?	Yes	No	Yes	No (one level)
TeXmacs	—	Yes	Partial (shows document parts)	Yes	Partial (for own format only)	Yes	Yes
Texmaker	Yes	No	Partial (master file)	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
TeXnicCenter	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
TeXShop	Yes	No	No	Yes^{[Note 10]}	No	Yes	Yes
TeXstudio	Yes	Yes	Partial (master file)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
TeXworks	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes^{[Note 11]}	Yes
Verbosus	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Vim	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Visual Studio Code	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
WinEdt	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
WinShell	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Name	Inverse search	DDE Support	Organises Projects	Menu for inserting symbols	Document comparison	Spell-checking	Multiple undo-redo

Properties of TeX editors 3
Name	Collapsible sections	Find and replace using RegEx	Intelligent error handling	Autocompletion of LaTeX commands	Parenthesis matching	Starts up to previous state^{[Note 12]}	Unicode support	RTL Support^{[Note 13]}
AUCTeX	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes^{[Note 14]}	Yes	Yes
Authorea	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
CoCalc	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
GNOME LaTeX	Planned	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	(just same files)	Yes	Yes
Gummi	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	?
Kile	Yes^{[Note 15]}	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
LyX	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Notepad++	Yes	Yes	No	Partial^{[Note 16]}	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Overleaf	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
Scientific WorkPlace	No	?	?	—	Yes	No	Yes	?
TeXmacs	No	Yes	—	—	—	—	Yes	?
Texmaker	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
TeXnicCenter	since v2.0	since v2.0	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	since v2.0	?
TeXShop	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
TeXstudio	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
TeXworks	No	Yes^{[Note 17]}	No	Yes^{[Note 18]}	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Verbosus	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	?
Vim	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Visual Studio Code	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
WinEdt	Yes	Yes (modified)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
WinShell	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No (just same files)	Yes	?
Name	Collapsible sections	Find and replace using RegEx	Intelligent error handling	Autocompletion of LaTeX commands	Parenthesis matching	Starts up to previous state^{[Note 19]}	Unicode support	RTL Support^{[Note 20]}

Screenshots and Video Tutorials of TeX editors
Editor	Screenshot
LyX	Screenshot
Texmaker	Screenshot of Texmaker version 4.5
TeXmacs	The TeXmacs editor
TeXstudio	Screenshot of TeXstudio (2.12.6)
Visual Studio Code	The LaTex Workshop extension for Visual Studio Code
Editor	Screenshot

Notes and references

^ "Source" means you see and edit the TeX source files. "WYSIWYM" = What You See Is What You Mean, i.e. you see and edit formatted text. WYSIWYG means that see the output file automatically updated during the edit. Note that some PDF viewers (e.g. evince) automatically reload the PDF document when it is updated on the disk. So, any "source" TeX editor can be turned into partial WYSIWYG editor by opening such a reader in an adjacent window.
^ Support for non-Linux systems considered experimental.
^ Notepad++ can execute Tex viewers
^ TeXmacs is an original document preparation system, with own syntax and own algorithms, but can be used to obtain TeX files through its LaTeX export capability.
^ Requires installation of LaTeX Workshop extension.
^ Inverse search means that one can locate the relevant part of the source code from the viewer (e.g., double-clicking in dvi or pdf file brings up the appropriate line/paragraph in the latex code)
^ On Windows some pdf viewers like Sumatra PDF or Adobe Reader don't use command line arguments for forward search, but the editor sends the document position to them using Dynamic Data Exchange
^ Requires installation of extra package.
^ A plug-in is required.
^ LaTeX panel & Matrix panel
^ Requires installation of extra package
^ Starts up to previous state including the current editing point.
^ RTL support means Right to Left language support.
^ configurable as an option of the Emacs editor
^ With usual \section{} notation, Kile collapses equations and figures, but not sections. Collapsing of sections is possible with non-standard notation \begin{section}{}...\end{section}{}, but it eliminates sections from Structure View. An alternative possibility is bracketing sections with comments %BEGIN and %END.
^ This will have to be set up manually.
^ Provides a subset of the regular expression syntax implemented in the Perl scripting language, but fully supports Unicode ( Issue 194: Add advanced regexp options to Find/Replace )
^ Template file in resource directory ( Documentation of the code completion feature )
^ Starts up to previous state including the current editing point.
^ RTL support means Right to Left language support.

[editStyle-1] "Source" means you see and edit the TeX source files. "WYSIWYM" = What You See Is What You Mean, i.e. you see and edit formatted text. WYSIWYG means that see the output file automatically updated during the edit. Note that some PDF viewers (e.g. evince) automatically reload the PDF document when it is updated on the disk. So, any "source" TeX editor can be turned into partial WYSIWYG editor by opening such a reader in an adjacent window.

[2] Support for non-Linux systems considered experimental.

[3] Notepad++ can execute Tex viewers

[4] TeXmacs is an original document preparation system, with own syntax and own algorithms, but can be used to obtain TeX files through its LaTeX export capability.

[5] Requires installation of LaTeX Workshop extension.

[6] Inverse search means that one can locate the relevant part of the source code from the viewer (e.g., double-clicking in dvi or pdf file brings up the appropriate line/paragraph in the latex code)

[7] On Windows some pdf viewers like Sumatra PDF or Adobe Reader don't use command line arguments for forward search, but the editor sends the document position to them using Dynamic Data Exchange

[8] Requires installation of extra package.

[9] A plug-in is required.

[10] LaTeX panel & Matrix panel

[11] Requires installation of extra package

[12] Starts up to previous state including the current editing point.

[13] RTL support means Right to Left language support.

[14] urable as an option of the Emacs editor

[15] With usual \section{} notation, Kile collapses equations and figures, but not sections. Collapsing of sections is possible with non-standard notation \begin{section}{}...\end{section}{}, but it eliminates sections from Structure View. An alternative possibility is bracketing sections with comments %BEGIN and %END.

[16] This will have to be set up manually.

[17] Provides a subset of the regular expression syntax implemented in the Perl scripting language, but fully supports Unicode ( Issue 194: Add advanced regexp options to Find/Replace )

[18] Template file in resource directory ( Documentation of the code completion feature )

[19] Starts up to previous state including the current editing point.

[20] RTL support means Right to Left language support.

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[Note 3]

[Note 4]

[Note 5]

[Note 6]

[Note 7]

[Note 8]

[Note 9]

[Note 10]

[Note 11]

[Note 12]

[Note 13]

[Note 14]

[Note 15]

[Note 16]

[Note 17]

[Note 18]

[Note 19]

[Note 20]

Comparison of TeX editors

Table of editors

See also

Notes and references