Comparison of TeX editors

The following is a comparison of TeX editors.

Table of editors

Properties of TeX editors 1
Name Editing style Native operating systems Latest release Costs License Configurable Integrated viewer
Version Date
AUCTeX Source Linux, macOS, Windows 14.1.2 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-01-14 Free GPL Yes Yes
  Authorea Source / partial-WYSIWYG Online N/a N/a Free Proprietary Yes Yes
Bibby AI Source / partial-WYSIWYM Online N/a N/a Freemium Proprietary ? Yes
CoCalc Source Online N/a N/a Free AGPL + Commons Clause Yes Yes
GNOME LaTeX Source Linux 3.49.0 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-01-03 Free GPL Yes No
Gummi Source Linux 0.8.3 Edit this on Wikidata 2022-04-29 Free MIT Yes Yes (Live update)
Kile Source Linux (macOS, Windows) 2.1.3 Edit this on Wikidata 2012-09-23 Free GPL Yes Yes (Quick preview)
LyX WYSIWYM Linux, macOS, Windows 2.5.3 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-09-17 Free GPL Yes Yes
Notepad++ Source Windows 8.9.8.1 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-09-24 Free GPL Yes No, but can be integrated
Overleaf Source Online N/a N/a Free AGPLv3 Yes Yes
Prism Source Online N/a N/a Free Proprietary ? Yes
Scientific WorkPlace WYSIWYM Windows 6.1.2 Edit this on Wikidata 2021-07-01 Free Proprietary Yes Yes
Sublime Text Source Linux, macOS, Windows N/a N/a Non-free Proprietary Yes No, but can be integrated
TeX Live Source FreeBSD, Linux, macOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows N/a 2025-3-8 Free LaTeX Project Public License Yes No (used by other editors/tools)
TeXmacs WYSIWYG Linux, macOS, Windows 2.1.5 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-03-12 Free GPL Yes Partial (preview using system Pdf viewer)
Texmaker Source Linux, macOS, Windows 6.0.2 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-08-11 Free GPL2 Yes Yes
TeXnicCenter Source Windows 2.02 Edit this on Wikidata 2013-09-29 Free GPL Yes No
TeXShop Source macOS 5.57 Edit this on Wikidata 2025-10-03 Free GPL Yes Yes
TeXstudio Source Linux, macOS, Windows 4.9.9 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-10-23 Free GPL2 Yes Yes (pdf, selection with dvi2png)
TeXworks Source Linux, macOS, Windows 0.6.11 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-02-10 Free GPL No Yes (pdf)
Verbosus Source Online, Android, iOS, Windows N/a N/a Free Proprietary Yes Yes (pdf)
Vim Source Linux, macOS, Windows 9.2 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-02-14 Free Vim Yes No
Visual Studio Code Source Linux, macOS, Windows 1.142.0 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-10-14 Free Source code: MIT
Microsoft-built binaries: Proprietary		 Yes Yes (pdf)
WinEdt Source Windows 11.1 Edit this on Wikidata 2023-05-19 Non-free Proprietary Yes Yes
WinShell Source Windows 4.0.0.6 Edit this on Wikidata 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 DDE support Organises Projects Menu for inserting symbols Document comparison Spell-checking Multiple undo-redo
AUCTeX Yes No Partial (master file) Yes Yes Yes Yes
  Authorea  Yes N/a Yes No No Yes Yes
Bibby AI ? N/a Yes ? ? ? ?
CoCalc Yes N/a No No No Yes Yes
GNOME LaTeX Yes N/a Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Gummi Yes N/a Yes No No Yes Yes
Kile Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
LyX Yes ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes
latexwriter Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Notepad++ Yes, with SumatraPDF Yes, with a DDE client Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes
Overleaf Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Prism ? N/a Yes ? ? ? ?
Scientific WorkPlace N/a ? ? Yes No Yes No (one level)
Sublime Text Yes ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes
TeXmacs N/a 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 No Yes Yes
TeXstudio Yes Yes Partial (master file) Yes Yes Yes Yes
TeXworks Yes No No No No Yes Yes
Verbosus Yes 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 Unicode support RTL Support
AUCTeX Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
  Authorea  No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes ?
Bibby AI ? ? ? ? ? ? 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 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
LatexWriter No Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes
LyX No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Notepad++ Yes Yes No Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes
Overleaf Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Prism ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ?
Scientific WorkPlace No ? ? N/a Yes No Yes ?
Sublime Text Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes No
TeXmacs No Yes N/a N/a N/a N/a 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 No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Verbosus No Yes 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 Unicode support RTL Support
Screenshots and Video Tutorials of TeX editors
Editor Screenshot
CoCalc
CoCalc LaTeX white paper in dark mode
LyX
LyX main window
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

Scientific WYSIWYG editors

Notes

  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. ↑ Offers a rich-text mode alongside LaTeX source.
  3. ↑ Support for non-Linux systems considered experimental.
  4. ↑ Notepad++ can execute Tex viewers
  5. ↑ Formerly Crixet, a cloud LaTeX platform acquired by OpenAI and relaunched as Prism in January 2026. Crixet is no longer offered separately.
  6. ↑ Requires a ChatGPT account.
  7. ↑ Via the LaTeXTools package.
  8. ↑ 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.
  9. ↑ Requires installation of LaTeX Workshop extension.
  10. ↑ 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)
  11. ↑ 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
  12. ↑ Requires installation of extra package.
  13. ↑ A plug-in is required.
  14. ↑ Via the LaTeXTools package.
  15. ↑ LaTeX panel & Matrix panel
  16. ↑ Requires installation of extra package
  17. ↑ Starts up to previous state including the current editing point.
  18. ↑ RTL support means Right to Left language support.
  19. ↑ configurable as an option of the Emacs editor
  20. ↑ 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.
  21. ↑ This will have to be set up manually.
  22. ↑ Via the LaTeXTools package.
  23. ↑ Provides a subset of the regular expression syntax implemented in the Perl scripting language, but fully supports Unicode
  24. ↑ Template file in resource directory ( Documentation of the code completion feature )
  25. ↑ Starts up to previous state including the current editing point.
  26. ↑ RTL support means Right to Left language support.

References

  1. ↑ "[GNU ELPA] Auctex version 14.1.2". 14 January 2026. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
  2. ↑ "Release 3.49.0". 3 January 2026. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  3. ↑ "Release 0.8.3". 29 April 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  4. ↑ "Latest news". Archived from the original on 6 May 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  5. ↑ "Release 2.1.3". 23 September 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  6. ↑ "[lyx-announce] LyX 2.5.3 Released". 17 September 2026. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  7. ↑ "Release 8.9.8.1". 24 September 2026. Retrieved 25 September 2026.
  8. ↑ "OpenAI releases Prism, a Claude Code-like app for scientific research". Engadget.
  9. ↑ "Version 6.1.2 (07/01/2021)". 1 July 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  10. ↑ "TeXmacs 2.1.5 has been released!". 13 March 2026. Retrieved 15 March 2026.
  11. ↑ "Texmaker (@texmaker.bsky.social)". 11 August 2026. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
  12. ↑ "TeXnicCenter - Small Fixes-". 29 September 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  13. ↑ "TeXShop (v 5.57) Release 10/03/2025 (for Intel and Arm, High Sierra through Tahoe)". Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  14. ↑ "Release 4.9.9". 23 October 2026. Retrieved 24 October 2026.
  15. ↑ "Release 0.6.11". 10 February 2026. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
  16. ↑ Christian Brabandt (14 February 2026). "Vim 9.2 has been released!". Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  17. ↑ "Visual Studio Code 1.142". Retrieved 15 October 2026.
  18. ↑ "Release 1.142.0". Retrieved 15 October 2026.
  19. ↑ "WinEdt Downloads".
  20. ↑ "WinShell 4.0 File Version: 4.0.0.6, 2023-05-27; Contains: Scintilla 5.3.4, Hunspell 1.7.2". 27 May 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  21. ↑ "Get latex from equation in sympy". YouTube. 20 January 2020.