The following is a comparison of TeX editors .
Table of editors
Properties of TeX editors 1
Name
Editing style [ a]
Native operating systems
Latest release
Costs
License
Configurable
Integrated viewer
Version
Date
AUCTeX
Source
Linux, macOS, Windows
14.0.8[ 1]
2024-12-12
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
3.47.0[ 2]
2024-09-14
Free
GPL
Yes
No
Gummi
Source
Linux
0.8.3[ 3]
2022-04-29
Free
MIT
Yes
Yes (Live update)
Kile
Source
Linux (macOS, Windows)[ b]
2.1.3[ 4] [ 5]
2012-09-23
Free
GPL
Yes
Yes (Quick preview)
LyX
WYSIWYM
Linux, macOS, Windows
2.4.3[ 6]
2025-01-16
Free
GPL
Yes
Yes
Notepad++
Source
Windows
8.7.8[ 7]
2025-03-08
Free
GPL
Yes
No, but can be integrated [ c]
Overleaf
Source
Online
—
—
Free
AGPLv3
Yes
Yes
Scientific WorkPlace
WYSIWYM
Windows
6.1.2[ 8]
2021-07-01
Non-free
Proprietary
Yes
Yes
TeXmacs [ d] WYSIWYG
Linux, macOS, Windows
2.1.4[ 9]
2024-03-11
Free
GPL
Yes
Partial (preview using system Pdf viewer)
Texmaker
Source
Linux, macOS, Windows
6.0.0[ 10]
2024-08-16
Free
GPL2
Yes
Yes
TeXnicCenter
Source
Windows
2.02[ 11]
2013-09-29
Free
GPL
Yes
No
TeXShop
Source
macOS
5.49[ 12]
2025-01-28
Free
GPL
Yes
Yes
TeXstudio
Source
Linux, macOS, Windows
4.8.6[ 13]
2025-02-07
Free
GPL2
Yes
Yes (pdf, selection with dvi2png)
TeXworks
Source
Linux, macOS, Windows
0.6.10[ 14]
2025-02-13
Free
GPL
No
Yes (pdf)
Verbosus
Source
Online, Android, iOS, Windows
—
—
Free
Proprietary
Yes
Yes (pdf)
Vim
Source
Linux, macOS, Windows
9.1[ 15] [ 16]
2024-01-02
Free
Vim
Yes
No
Visual Studio Code
Source
Linux, macOS, Windows
1.98.2[ 17]
2025-03-13
Free
Source code: MIT Proprietary
Yes
Yes (pdf) [ e]
WinEdt
Source
Windows
11.1[ 18]
2023-05-19
Non-free
Proprietary
Yes
Yes
WinShell
Source
Windows
4.0.0.6[ 19]
2023-05-27
Free
Proprietary
Yes
No
Name
Editing style
Native operating systems
Version
Date
Costs
License
Configurable
Integrated viewer
Latest release
Properties of TeX editors 2
Name
Inverse search[ f]
DDE support[ g] Organises Projects
Menu for inserting symbols
Document comparison
Spell-checking
Multiple undo-redo
AUCTeX
Yes
No
Partial (master file)
Yes
Yes
Yes[ h]
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[ i]
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[ j]
No
Yes
Yes
TeXstudio
Yes
Yes
Partial (master file)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
TeXworks
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes [ k]
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[ l]
Unicode support
RTL Support[ m]
AUCTeX
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes[ n]
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 [ o]
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
LyX
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Notepad++
Yes
Yes
No
Partial [ p]
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[ q]
No
Yes[ r]
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[ s]
Unicode support
RTL Support[ t]
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
See also
Notes
^ "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
^ 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.
References
