The Best Notepad Alternative

On February 17th I did a review of Notepad2, and titled the post “The Best Notepad Replacement“.

On March 15th, Craig Baker recommended TextPad.

After downloading and installing it, I must say, I am impressed. I am a “multiple tabs” person. I always have 5 to 10 apps open in Windows, and at least 15-20 tabs open in Firefox, on a slow day. Any application that allows me to have multiple tabs wins points right off the bat. Notepad2 does not (and according to it’s author, will not) support multiple documents being open at the same time.

From a functionality point of view, I didn’t notice too many things that “stood out”, except the compare files tool, which has already come in handy, as I had to find some changes which were made in a file. Textpad took care of that task within seconds of opening the two documents.

I have titled this post, “The Best Notepad Alternative” for a couple of reasons.

#1 - Textpad is not free. You can evaluate it, but then you must register it, for $30. Notepad is free, and the best replacement would also be free.

#2 - Textpad feels “geekier”. The average notepad user would probably prefer the look and feel of Notepad2.

As a code junkie, I must say that I found myself preferring to open Textpad rather than Notepad2.

If you prefer the ability to open multiple documents, and you don’t mind the small price tag, then I highly recommend Textpad. It’s a great alternative, and to some, a great replacement.