Sublime Text vs. Vim

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Sublime Text
Score 9.7 out of 10
N/A
Sublime Text is a highly customizable text editing solution featuring advanced API, Goto functions, and other features, from Sublime HQ in Sydney.
$80
Vim
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Vim is an open source configurable text editor.N/A
Pricing
Sublime TextVim
Editions & Modules
Business
$80.00
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Sublime TextVim
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Sublime TextVim
Best Alternatives
Sublime TextVim
Small Businesses
BBEdit
BBEdit
Score 9.1 out of 10
BBEdit
BBEdit
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Vim
Vim
Score 8.3 out of 10
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Vim
Vim
Score 8.3 out of 10
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Sublime TextVim
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.9
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.3
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Sublime TextVim
Likelihood to Recommend
My CMS has a small window in which I can edit custom HTML/CSS. It can be expanded some, but not as much as I would like. It also displays all code as dark text on a white background. On a page where I am doing extensive custom coding, it is helpful to see it in a larger window and in a color-coded display so that I don't have to strain my eyes as hard. Especially when I'm trying to scan for specific elements and target issues and so that I don't have to scroll endlessly in a tiny window.
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If you're doing any sort of text editing, you should consider Vim--once you climb the learning curve, you'll be faster and more efficient at everything you do. Also, Vim is my default search/replace tool--whenever I need to make changes throughout a document, most often, I'll copy and paste into a Vim window so that I can take advantage of regexp-based replacements. Vim isn't for the faint of heart, though--it's hard to learn and super complex. If you use a text editor once or twice a month, or just need a simple way to strip out formatting, Notepad will get you where you want to go without all the confusion.
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Pros
  • Sublime Text does an incredible job with appropriate color coding and syntax definitions; makes code extremely readable
  • Tab selection is very well done; easy to see which files have been changed and to compare across multiple files
  • Auto-complete is surprisingly effective and accurate
  • Support for Apple M1 processors already
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  • The efficient modal editing makes it very fast to write/edit code as I think of it.
  • The customization and wide range of plugins let me do very specific things and automate parts of my workflow.
  • The fact that it runs inside a terminal simplifies my window management and just becomes another Tmux window in my workflow.
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Cons
  • In a world of free and open text editors, Sublime Text does ask for donations. You can use the product freely with only a very infrequent popup asking for donations. You can use it however long you like without paying, but it is well worth it to donate to.
  • People not used to the functionality may need a bit of time to get up to speed using the documentation.
  • An integrated terminal would be nice, but that is just a quibble. It's hard to find many cons with Sublime Text.
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  • Without a doubt the hardest program to learn. It is a completely different paradigm of thinking compared to other editors
  • By default it doesn't have lots of fancy features you would find in larger IDE programs like code completion and linking
  • It lives in the command line so a user has to be comfortable with this interface
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Likelihood to Renew
I love this application. It has helped to improve my work. Also, I became so used to the shortcuts that It's hard for me to change to another editor.
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No answers on this topic
Usability
This is a programmers tool. As such a lot of the features and benefits are lost on a non-technical user. To get the most out of the tool you need to have a basic crash course in how it works and what it can do. The documentation and community are good, but it takes a bit of time to get up to speed.
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I don't consider the steep learning curve to be a hinderance on the overall usability. I would rate this a ten, but to be honest a lot of people do get hung up at the beginning and just abandon it. However, for people who have made the moderate effort to get over the hump, nothing can be more usable.
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Performance
It has many handy hacks and shortcuts which enhances its performace.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Never had to use their customer support before. There is ample documentation online so it's straightforward to find a solution to any problem you might encounter. For example, I needed to convert a string of HTML code to a properly formatted HTML file to "modify." Easy to do when there are so many users of the product who have needed to do that same thing before.
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The support is somewhat lacking; Vim doesn't really have support outside of its forums. The forums, while notably good, aren't equal to real support though, and the steep learning curve makes you wish there was a help desk that would assist with all of the basic questions. There are several handy books and guides that can be found, and most implementations of the product come with "vitutor" which walks you through its usage.
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Alternatives Considered
Sublime is more customizable and one can easily modify a lot of its features. On the contrary Visual Studio only has limited customizability features. Sublime text is also very light and not bloated as opposed to Visual Studio IDE. We also chose sublime because it has much better support for the majority of languages(especially Python) and I primarily work with python.
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I think it comes down to usability (and frankly, just preference). There's an old adage that Emacs is a good Operating System with a poor Text Editor! Jokes aside, when looking at different text editors, such as Emacs or Nano, Vim is the one that is usually always preferred because of how simple it is to learn. The learning curve of Vim compared to other text editors just makes it such a natural choice.
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Return on Investment
  • Sublime is a cost-effective option for the company, as it isn't prohibitively expensive, and our team prefers it to other options.
  • Speed, customization, and scalability are just some of the advantages of using Sublime Text in our IT department.
  • Our work has been slowed down by faster coding and more accessible debugging apps, both good and bad.
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  • Steep learning curve means lower than average efficiency at the beginning.
  • After getting familiar, it is so efficient that you will never want to use other editors.
  • Good return on investment for serious editor/developers, may not be good for casual ones.
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ScreenShots