10 Best Free Lightweight Code Editor Software For Windows

Here is a list of best free lightweight code editor software for Windows. In these code editors, you can write and edit codes of various programming languages just like any standard code editor software. However, unlike standard code editors, they are pretty small in size and don’t put too much stress on the system. Most of these editors only take around 50 MB or less storage space.

These code editors are optimized for various programming languages such as CPP, C, PHP, HTML, Pearl, Python, etc. Plus, according to the programming language, they highlight different elements of the code with distinct colors. Due to syntax highlighting, it is much easier for programmers to identify elements of a code. Besides this, some of these code editors also support syntax folding that lets programmers collapse or expand the code from a node or function to reduce clutter. Macros is another important feature that some code editors offer. Using macros, you can record multiple code segments that you can later recall and include in code when needed. Through some of these lightweight code editors, you can also design webpages by working on languages like HTML, XHTML, PHP, CSS, etc.

In some of these code editors, you can also run programs by connecting them with external code compilers or CMD. Plus, they offer a good set of additional features such as WordCounter, Search, Hex Editor, and more. Go through the list to know more about these software.

My Favorite Lightweight Code Editor Software For Windows:

BowPad is my favorite software because it offers all the necessary features to facilitate programmers. Plus, it offers syntax highlighting support for more than 100 programming languages.

NotePad++ is another good lightweight code editor that you can try as it also offers all the necessary code editing features and is quite popular too.

You can also check out lists of best free Open Source Code Editor, Lightweight Video Editor, and Lightweight Android Emulator software for Windows.

BowPad

BowPad is a free open source and lightweight code editor software. It works on Windows. It is a simple to use code editor in which you can open up and work on multiple code files at a time due to its multi-tab interface. Plus, many dedicated code editing features such as Functions, Run, Auto Braces, File Tree, Folding, etc., are present in it. This editor also offers standard text editing features such as cut, copy, select, search, etc. Let’s take a brief look at the main features of this lightweight code editor.

Main Features:

• Language Lexer: This feature helps this software determine which language is being used by the programmer. According to the detected language, it highlights elements of syntax with very specific colors. Some of the programming languages that this feature supports are CPP, C, C Sharp, CSS, COBOL, Abaqus, JSON, and Java.
• Functions: This feature helps you directly jump from one function to another function in the code.
• Syntax Highlighting: This feature automatically highlights different elements of the code with different colors.
• Run: After configuring this editor with an external compiler, you can use this Run feature to execute commands from its main interface.
• File Tree: It helps you arrange all the associated files in the form of tree structure from where you can quickly access them.
• Auto Braces: It is another handy feature that automatically enters a closing brace when an opening brace is entered.
• Folding: This feature lets you collapse the code from their functions to reduce the visual clutter. You can also easily expand collapsed functions by pressing the (+) button.
• Comment and Uncomment: Use these features to quickly add or remove comments in code lines.

Additional Features:

• Go to Symbol: Use it to find a specific symbol in the code and move the cursor to the symbol position.
• Plugins Support: This software also supports third-party plugins that allow you to add more features to this code editor.

Final Thoughts:

It is one of the best free lightweight code editor software as it offers almost all the essential features to help programmers write and edit code.

Notepad++

Notepad++ is another free open source and lightweight code editor software for Windows. In this software, you can easily write and edit programs of various different languages like Java, C, C++, C#, Python, etc. The good thing about this editor is its ability to automatically detect the programming language that you are using and make changes according to it. Although, you can also manually specify the language in which you are writing by going to the Language menu. Like most other lightweight code editors, it also offers a multi-tab interface.

In it, you can also add paths of different code compilers by using its Run menu. After adding the path of a code compiler, you can directly compile code from this software. After making the necessary changes to the code, you can save it in TXT, RTF, ASM, CPP, etc., file formats. Now, check out the main features of this code editor.

Main Features:

• Macro Recording: Using it, you can record repetitive coding steps so that you can later recall during the coding process when needed.
• Syntax Highlighting: This feature helps you easily distinguish different elements of code by highlighting each element with a specific color.
• Fold and Collapse: It is another handy feature through which you can collapse or expand a function, node, class, etc., with ease.
• Find and Replace: Use it to quickly find and replace a piece of code with another code.

Additional Features:

• ASCII-> HEX: Use it to quickly convert ASCII code to HEX code format.
• MD5 and SHA-256: Using it, you can generate MD5 and SHA-256 based hexadecimal codes from a text file to check the integrity of the text.

Final Thoughts:

It is another good lightweight code editor that offers various important features to help you write and edit code.

jEdit

jEdit is a free open source and lightweight code editor software for Windows, macOS, and Unix. It is a text editor for programmers in which they can write and edit code of various languages such as C#, C, Java, PHP, Python, etc. In it, you can also load code in the form of RTF, TXT, HTML, and other file formats. It also comes with a multi-tab interface that lets you open up and work on multiple code projects at a time. Now, check out some of the main features of this software.

Main Features:

• Syntax Highlighting: This feature helps you improve the readability and context of the text by highlighting different sections (tags, identifies, text, etc.) of the code with different colors.
• Markers: Using it, you can mark important line numbers that help you quickly find important lines of code when needed.
• Edit: It offers multiple code editing features such as multiple selections, invert selection, go to matching bracket, go to previous bracket, undo, redo, etc.
• Folding: It is another important feature through which you can collapse or expand a piece of code.
• Macros: Using it, you can record multiple sections of code that you can use or insert multiple times in your project.

Additional Features:

• Word Counter: Use it to find out the total number of words, lines, and characters present in a project.
• Hypersearch: Using it, you can extract the distinct lines from the code.

Final Thoughts:

It is one of the simplest lightweight code editor software that provides all the standard code editing features.

DesyEdit

DesyEdit is another free lightweight code editor software for Windows. It is a multi-window code editor software in which you can open up multiple code files in separate windows. In it, you can directly load TXT, HTML, CPP, Java, etc., files and start editing their codes. A handy Tree view to arrange all the associated files in the tree view format is also present in it. Now, check out some of the primary features of this software.

Main Features:

• Syntax Highlighting: After determining the code language, it automatically highlights elements (functions, braces, text, etc.) of the code in distinct colors.
• Run Windows Program: Use it to connect this editor with a code compiler and execute commands directly from its interface.
• Function List: It automatically creates a function list after fetching information from the current code file. This list helps you directly jump from one function to another function present in the program.
• Syntax Menu: If this editor failed to determine the programming language, then you can use the Syntax menu to manually specify the programming language. According to the selected language, this software will apply appropriate colors to the elements of the syntax.
• Macro: Use it to record a piece of the program so that you can later recall the recorded program and add it to the code when needed.

Additional Features:

• Format Tab: It offers many format adjustment features through which you can convert tabs to spaces, spaces to tabs, lower case characters to upper case characters, insert a page break, and more.
• Hex Edit: It converts your code to hexadecimal code and lets you manually edit it.

Final Thoughts:

It is another easy to use lightweight code editor software in which you can write and edit codes of various languages.

CudaText

CudaText is yet another free open source and lightweight code editor software for Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Polaris. It is a dedicated code editor software that optimizes its features for various languages such as JavaScript, HTML, PHP, Python, CSS, C, C++, and more. Plus, for HTML and CSS languages, it offers features like auto-completion, HTML tags completion with Tab-key, HTML color codes, etc. Now, check out the main features of this lightweight code editor.

Main Features:

• Syntax Highlighting: Like most other similar code editors, it can also highlight different elements of code in different colors for better separation of elements.
• Code Tree: This feature automatically shifts the code towards the right when you move from one function to another.
• Multi Selection: Use it to quickly select all the instances of a tag or function.
• Selection: Through this feature, you can quickly split a selected part of code into lines and you can also invert selection when needed.

Additional Features:

• This software offers a multi-tab interface that lets you work on multiple projects at a time.
• It also provides inbuilt Binary/Hex viewer to view binary and hexadecimal data of large sizes.

Final Thoughts:

It is another simple lightweight code editor that you can use to write and edit codes of various programming languages.

Light Table

Light Table is the next free open source and lightweight code editor software for Windows, Linux, and macOS. It is a minimalistic and distraction-free code editor software. In it, you can write an edit code of different programming languages namely C, C#, Java, and Python. Although, you can add support for more languages by going to its Plugins section that offers multiple plugins that you can enable to add support for more languages such as HTML, Javascript, Rainbow, and more. Let’s take a brief look at some of the main features of this code editor.

Main Features:

• Syntax Highlighting: It offers syntax highlighting for many supported programming languages that highlight different elements of code with different colors.
• Commands: It offers multiple hotkeys that you can use to execute commands such as set current syntax, save all, unwrap parent, and more.
• WorkSpace Tree: It is a handy feature that lets you attach all the required files and folders for the programming in the side workspace area.
• Connections: Using it, you can connect this software with a client to perform live language operations.

Final Thoughts:

This lightweight code editor is built for those programmers who want a distraction-free code editor with advanced workspace and connection features.

Arachnophilia

Arachnophilia is another free open source lightweight code editor software for Windows. It is a Java-based code editor that needs Java to run. This editor can be used for both web page development and general programming. Let’s take a brief look at the main features of this software.

Main Features:

• Programming: It is a dedicated section carrying multiple code specific features like Beautify (to beautify the code by arranging the code and adjusting its font), Left Flush lines (by enabling this feature you can start each line of the code from the extreme left without leaving any gap), and Base Calculator (use it to convert binary values to octal, decimal, and hexadecimal values). Besides this, it also lets you connect external compilers of Java, CPP, C Sharp, etc., languages.
• Syntax Highlighting: Like most other similar software it also highlights elements of code in distinct colors.
• XHTML: It offers tools to facilitate HTML, XML, XHTML, etc., web page designing languages. Using it, you can validate HTML file, beautify HTML code, run FTP services, replace tags, escape tags delimiters, jump to opposite tags, and more.
• Lists: On the main interface of this editor, you also get many list features to convert selected lines of code to order list, unordered list, letter list, roman list, and more.
• Edit: It provides standard editing tools such as cut, copy, paste, find first, replace, select all, etc.

After editing a code file, you can save it in its native format or in some other code file formats such as Java, SH, PL, PHP, etc.

Additional Features:

• Set Syntax Colors: Using it, you can manually specify the colors of each element of the code.
• Assemble Lines: It lets you join multiple lines to form a paragraph.

Final Thoughts:

It is a basic lightweight code editing software that offers a decent code editing environment.

ZionEdit

ZionEdit is one more free lightweight code editor software for Windows. This editor supports various programming languages and offers prebuilt function structures that you can directly import to your code without manually writing it.  Some of the programming languages that it supports are CPP, CSS, Java, Python, Pearl, ASM, and more. According to the programming language, it highlights code elements with different colors. Plus, it can also execute programs and capture their outputs. Now, check out the main features of this lightweight code editor software.

Main Features:

• Language Detection: It automatically detects programming language and offers a dedicated tab for the detected language that carries various prebuilt functions such as if () {}, else if () {}, for (;;) {}, Insert //, and more.
• Syntax Highlighting: To help you quickly distinguish elements of a code, it assigns distinct colors to each element like text with white color, arguments with green color, brackets with orange color, etc.
• Matching Braces: It is another useful feature through which you can quickly find out the matching brace by selecting a closing or opening brace.
• Actions: It provides multiple features using which you can duplicate a line, copy a line, convert a line to uppercase format, capitalize the selected part of the line, and more.
• Edit: It offers all the standard editing tools like cut, copy, paste, search, search & replace, find next, etc.
• Run Command: Use it to run the written or edited program in the command prompt.

Final Thoughts:

It is a straightforward lightweight code editor that offers a good set of code editing features.

KompoZer

KompoZer is yet another free open source and lightweight code editor software for Windows. This editor follows the WYSIWYG or what you see what you get approach to write and edit codes of HTML and PHP languages. In it, you can create both static and dynamic webpages from scratch. To create a web page, you don’t need to write code as you can just use inbuilt tags and text to add and arrange page elements. Now, check out the main features of this lightweight code editor.

Main Features:

• Insert: It offers all the necessary tags and elements through which you can insert images, table, form, PHP code, etc., to your the code.
• Edit: It offers all the text and HTML editing tools such as select, cut, paste, paste without formatting, find & replace, etc.
• Source tab: In this tab, you can view and edit the actual HTML and PHP code behind a web page.
• CSS Editor: As its name suggests it is used to edit the design elements (layout, color, and fonts) of a webpage.

After creating or editing a webpage, you can use the Publish feature to publish the created webpage to a website.

Limitation:

• This software can only be used to edit HTML, PHP, and CSS codes.

Final Thoughts:

It is a decent lightweight code editor through which you can create and edit webpages.

Araneae

Araneae is another free lightweight code editor software for Windows. This code editor is mainly designed to work with HTML, CSS, XHTML, PHP, and XML languages. You can also write and edit programs of other languages in it but it is not optimized for that. Plus, it lacks the basic syntax highlighting feature. Although for supported languages, it does offer some supporting features. Let’s take a look at some of the main features of this lightweight code editor.

Main Features:

• Code Shortcuts: For supported programming languages it offers many shortcuts on the side panel through which you can directly import code for actions like paragraph, underline, convert to lowercase, link, span, etc.
• Edit: It offers basic editing functions like Cut, Copy, Select All, Paste, Undo, Redo, etc.
• Multi-Tab Interface: It enables you to open and work on multiple programming projects at a time.

Additional Feature:

• Save: Use it to save the final code in one of the supported programming file formats namely CSS, HTML, PHP, and XML.

Final Thoughts:

It is one of the simplest lightweight code editors to work with languages like HTML, PHP, XML, CSS, etc.