Notepad++
FreeA free, open source source code and text editor for Windows with tabs, syntax highlighting and plugins.
About Notepad++
Notepad++ is a free text and source code editor for Windows, created by Don Ho. It supports syntax highlighting and folding for many programming languages, tabbed editing, multi-document view, regular expression search and replace, macros and a plugin system.
It is known for being lightweight and quick to start compared with full IDEs, which makes it a common replacement for the built-in Windows Notepad when editing code, logs, configuration files and plain text. The editor is open source under the GPL and entirely free, with no account or subscription. It is built on the Scintilla editing component.
It suits developers, sysadmins and anyone who regularly handles large text files on Windows. It runs on Windows only, so Mac and Linux users need a different editor. Because it supports third party plugins, install them from trusted sources. For more advanced code intelligence you may prefer a full editor or IDE. Its search in files feature and session snapshots make it handy for quickly working through many documents without a heavy setup.
Download only from the official site or a trusted package source, as the name is often abused by fake download pages.
Version history
1 release tracked- Windows: Bug fixes and performance improvements
Frequently asked
Is Notepad++ free?
Yes. It is free and open source.
Does it need an account?
No. There is no sign-in.
Which platforms does it run on?
Windows only.
Where does the download link go?
Directly to notepad-plus-plus.org or the official app store for your platform. PlanetSofts never rehosts installers or adds wrappers, and these links were last verified Oct 6, 2026.