Best Code Editors for JSON

Visual Studio Code is a highly extensible AI-powered code editor built for developers who demand flexibility and performance. It combines intelligent coding assistance, modern debugging tools, and collaboration features in one lightweight package. With Agent Mode, VS Code reads your codebase, runs terminal commands, and edits across files automatically until tasks are complete. Its Next Edit Suggestions feature predicts and completes your next move as you type, enhancing speed and code accuracy. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) enables developers to connect their favorite AI models—from OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, or Google—and extend functionality through custom servers. Developers can work in any language, from JavaScript and Python to C#, Java, and Go, while leveraging over 75,000 extensions for added productivity. Seamless integration with GitHub Codespaces, cloud storage, and CI/CD tools allows teams to code, collaborate, and deploy anywhere. Open-source at its core, VS Code empowers both individuals and enterprises to innovate without limits.

IntelliJ IDEA is a powerful and versatile IDE tailored for professional Java and Kotlin developers who want to maximize their productivity and code quality. It provides comprehensive support across the entire development process, including design, coding, debugging, testing, and deployment. With smart code analysis, safe refactoring, and error detection, IntelliJ IDEA minimizes bugs and technical debt so developers can focus on innovation. The latest version adds full support for Java 24 features and enables Kotlin’s K2 mode by default, improving performance and memory efficiency. New interactive Kotlin notebooks allow real-time prototyping and data visualization within the IDE. IntelliJ IDEA also includes advanced debugging tools like the Spring Debugger for managing dynamic database connections. JetBrains prioritizes developer comfort with an intuitive interface and customizable settings. The IDE adheres to strict privacy and security standards, ensuring developers’ data remains protected.

Apache NetBeans is a dynamic, open-source Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that supports the development of applications in various programming languages, such as Java, JavaScript, PHP, HTML5, and C/C++. Renowned for its modular framework, NetBeans equips developers with a comprehensive suite of tools and features tailored for creating desktop, mobile, and web applications. It boasts advanced code editing, debugging, and profiling functionalities, as well as an integrated visual GUI builder for crafting user interfaces in Java. Additionally, NetBeans provides support for multiple version control systems like Git, SVN, and Mercurial, enhancing collaborative efforts among teams. As a project under the Apache Software Foundation, NetBeans is continually refined by a vibrant community dedicated to expanding its capabilities, ensuring it remains a dependable and adaptable option for developers in numerous fields. Furthermore, its extensive documentation and tutorials make it accessible for both novice and experienced programmers alike.

Atom is a modern text editor tailored for the 21st century, developed on the Electron framework, and inspired by the features that we cherish in our preferred editing tools. It has been crafted to offer extensive customization options while remaining user-friendly with its default settings. As a vital component of a developer's toolkit, a text editor often collaborates with other tools rather than functioning in isolation. With the integrated GitHub package, you can seamlessly manage your Git and GitHub workflows directly in Atom—creating branches, staging and committing changes, pushing and pulling updates, resolving merge conflicts, and reviewing pull requests, all from within the editor. This package comes pre-installed with Atom, meaning you can start right away! Atom is compatible with various operating systems, including OS X, Windows, and Linux, ensuring a wide accessibility. You can easily search for and install new packages or even develop your own straight from the editor. Additionally, Atom enhances your coding efficiency with its intelligent and adaptable autocomplete feature, and it allows you to conveniently browse and open individual files, entire projects, or multiple projects simultaneously within a single window, making it a versatile choice for developers. Overall, Atom is designed to make coding smoother and more efficient, catering to both novice and experienced developers alike.

Visual Studio by Microsoft is a complete ecosystem for professional developers, combining robust coding environments, integrated AI capabilities, and advanced collaboration tools. The flagship Visual Studio 2022 IDE delivers an all-in-one workspace with compilers, debuggers, designers, and performance profilers for .NET, C++, C#, and Azure development. Meanwhile, Visual Studio Code (VS Code) offers a lightweight yet powerful editor that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, ideal for web, JavaScript, Python, and container-based workflows. With GitHub Copilot integration, developers receive intelligent code completions, automated refactoring, and natural language explanations of complex logic. Agent Mode introduces an AI-driven assistant that can edit across files, execute builds, and resolve compile or test errors autonomously. Built-in tools like unit test generators, CI-aware policy enforcement, and style validation help ensure clean, testable, and secure code. Thousands of extensions from the Visual Studio Marketplace expand functionality for database, cloud, and DevOps workflows. Together, these platforms redefine productivity, helping teams code smarter and deliver innovation faster.

Geany stands out as a robust, efficient, and lightweight text editor designed specifically for programmers, offering a wealth of features that enhance productivity without slowing down the user experience. It is compatible with Linux, Windows, and MacOS, supports over 40 languages, and accommodates more than 50 programming languages natively. One of the main motivations behind creating Geany was the demand for a versatile, user-friendly, and cross-platform IDE/editor that combines flexibility with power. While various editors fulfill some of these criteria, many fail to adequately address others. Geany is distributed under the GPL v2 license, ensuring that users have the freedom to modify and improve the software, while also allowing the entire community to benefit from those enhancements. Its highly customizable components, such as color themes (known as Geany Themes) and the ability to add new file types, cater to diverse user preferences. Additionally, Geany is equipped with numerous settings that allow for extensive personalization, ensuring it meets the unique needs of its users, including support for popular programming languages like C, Java, PHP, HTML, and JavaScript. Ultimately, Geany appeals to developers looking for a reliable tool that combines simplicity with comprehensive functionality.

Caret introduces top-tier text editing capabilities to Chrome OS, leveraging the remarkable Ace editing component. This means you can skip the hassle of installing an alternative operating system just to access a robust editor designed for local file management, specifically tailored for developers. With Caret, you'll benefit from syntax highlighting across numerous programming languages and a range of standard themes derived from Ace, including visual styles reminiscent of popular editors like Eclipse, XCode, and Chrome Dev Tools. Once you experience the efficiency of making various changes with just a couple of keystrokes, returning to a single cursor setup feels nearly impossible. The application supports multiple cursors and selections, along with familiar Sublime keybindings such as Ctrl-D for selecting the next match. Why invest time in memorizing keyboard shortcuts? The command palette (Ctrl-Shift-P) allows you to simply start typing your desired command, enabling Caret to perform a fuzzy search through the menu options, locate the command, and execute it seamlessly for you. This means you can fully immerse yourself in your coding without ever needing to reach for the mouse, enhancing your overall productivity.

Zed is an advanced code editor crafted for seamless collaboration between humans and AI, emphasizing high performance. Developed entirely in Rust to maximize the efficiency of multiple CPU cores and GPU resources, it allows for the integration of emerging LLMs into your coding workflow for tasks such as code generation, transformation, and analysis. The platform facilitates real-time communication with team members, enabling collaborative note-taking, screen sharing, and project management. With its multibuffer system, users can edit selected excerpts from the entire codebase on a single interface. It also supports inline code evaluation through Jupyter runtimes, allowing for joint notebook editing. Zed is compatible with numerous programming languages, thanks to Tree-sitter, WebAssembly, and the Language Server Protocol. Its quick native terminal is integrated with Zed's language-aware task runner and AI features, enhancing productivity. The editor offers first-class modal editing through Vim bindings, incorporating functionalities such as text objects and marks for efficient navigation. Built by a diverse global community of thousands of developers, Zed encourages users to enhance their experience with a wide array of extensions that expand language capabilities, provide various themes, and more. Furthermore, its user-friendly design aims to streamline development workflows, making it an ideal choice for programmers looking to elevate their coding efficiency.

WebStorm is JetBrains’ comprehensive IDE focused on JavaScript and TypeScript development, offering a rich set of features to streamline coding, debugging, and version control. It supports all modern web technologies and frameworks including HTML, CSS, React, Angular, Vue, Node.js, SQL, and MongoDB, providing a seamless development experience. WebStorm understands your entire codebase, enabling fast navigation and smart refactoring even in large projects. Developers can rely on its built-in tools for Git operations, test running, and resolving merge conflicts with ease. The IDE now incorporates JetBrains AI, delivering free, advanced code completions, multi-file edits, and contextual assistance powered by the latest AI models. WebStorm’s support for collaborative remote development allows teams to work together in real time and access remote environments like GitHub Codespaces. With extensive customization options through themes, fonts, keymaps, and plugins, WebStorm adapts perfectly to individual preferences. It’s trusted worldwide for making complex web development tasks more manageable and enjoyable.

Void is a fork of VS Code that serves as an open-source AI code editor and an alternative to Cursor, designed to give developers enhanced AI support while ensuring complete data control. It facilitates smooth integration with various large language models, including DeepSeek, Llama, Qwen, Gemini, Claude, and Grok, allowing direct connections without relying on a private backend. Among its core functionalities are tab-triggered autocomplete, an inline quick edit feature, and a dynamic AI chat interface that supports standard chat, a restricted gather mode for read/search-only tasks, and an agent mode that automates operations involving files, folders, terminal commands, and MCP tools. Furthermore, Void provides exceptional performance capabilities, including rapid file application for documents containing thousands of lines, comprehensive checkpoint management for model updates, native tool execution, and the detection of lint errors. Developers can effortlessly migrate their themes, keybindings, and settings from VS Code with a single click and choose to host models either locally or in the cloud. This unique combination of features makes Void an attractive option for developers seeking powerful coding tools while maintaining data sovereignty.

Eclipse Theia allows you to create multi-language Cloud & Desktop IDEs using state-of-the art web technologies. Are you unsure whether you need a desktop or web version? Theia allows you to create one IDE and have it run in browsers or native desktop applications from a single source. The Eclipse Foundation hosts the Theia project. It is a non-profit corporation and is developed by a diverse group. Projects hosted at an Open-Source Foundation, unlike other open-source projects, are protected from single-vendor decisions that would be detrimental to the interests of the diverse community. Theia is modularly designed to allow users and extenders to customize and extend every aspect of the system. It is easy to create a custom IDE-like product by simply listing all required extensions in a package.json. It is simple to add new functionality by implementing your extensions. This gives you all the flexibility that you need.

StackBlitz WebContainers deliver a browser-based Node.js environment that fundamentally changes what's possible in interactive developer experiences. They allow applications to run native package managers, build tools, and full-stack frameworks fully client-side with no server infrastructure required. Using the WebContainer API, teams can programmatically boot a container, populate its filesystem, install packages, and start dev servers inside the browser. This unlocks advanced use cases like interactive tutorials, live coding courses, in-app IDEs, low-code editors, and AI-powered tooling with runtime awareness. WebContainers work across major browsers, support Wasm out of the box, and provide strong security through sandboxed execution. Developers can offer disposable, fast, and isolated workspaces that scale instantly without backend costs. The technology already powers leading frameworks and education platforms, validating its stability and performance. With WebContainers, any app can embed a complete development environment to increase engagement, accelerate learning, and reduce friction in product workflows.

Quiver is an innovative notebook designed specifically for developers, allowing for seamless integration of text, code, Markdown, and LaTeX all within a single note. Users can edit their code using a powerful code editor, enjoy live previews of their Markdown and LaTeX, and quickly locate any note through comprehensive full-text search capabilities. Each note in Quiver consists of various cells that can contain snippets of text, code, Markdown, LaTeX (utilizing MathJax), or diagrams, such as flowcharts and sequence diagrams, enabling a flexible approach to note-taking. Notably, you can incorporate multiple types of cells within one note and assign different programming languages to various code cells as needed. The notebook is engineered to simplify code editing, featuring the remarkable ACE code editor in its code cells, which supports syntax highlighting for over 120 programming languages, boasts more than 20 themes, and includes automatic indenting and outdenting functionalities. Quiver also allows users to format their Markdown with inline options and apply custom CSS styles, while a live preview window displays the rendered Markdown in real-time as you type. Additionally, Quiver employs MathJax to effectively typeset complex mathematical equations written in LaTeX, enhancing its utility for technical documentation. Overall, Quiver stands out as a versatile tool for programmers who desire an efficient and organized way to manage their notes and code snippets.

Developed entirely from the ground up, JetBrains Fleet draws on two decades of experience in creating integrated development environments (IDEs). It utilizes the robust IntelliJ code-processing engine, featuring a distributed architecture and a fresh user interface designed for modern developers. Our aim with Fleet was to create a swift and efficient text editor that allows for quick code browsing and editing. It launches almost instantaneously, enabling you to start your work without delay, and has the capability to seamlessly evolve into a full-fledged IDE, with the IntelliJ engine operating independently from the editing interface. Fleet encompasses all the beloved features of IntelliJ-based IDEs, such as code completion tailored to your project context, easy navigation to definitions and usages, real-time code quality assessments, and convenient quick-fixes. The architecture of Fleet is thoughtfully designed to accommodate various configurations and workflows, allowing it to run locally on your machine or to offload some processes to the cloud, showcasing its versatility and adaptability for different development needs. This flexibility ensures that developers can choose the setup that best fits their workflow requirements.

Helix Editor stands out as an advanced, contemporary text editor tailored for developers who desire a swift, customizable, and effective editing experience. Emphasizing productivity, Helix employs a modal editing approach reminiscent of Vim, enabling users to effortlessly navigate, select, and alter text through user-friendly keyboard shortcuts. Its extensive feature set encompasses syntax highlighting, multi-caret editing, and compatibility with programming languages such as Rust, Python, and JavaScript. Furthermore, Helix leverages the Tree-sitter parsing library to deliver precise syntax-aware editing, facilitating the management of intricate code structures. The editor's streamlined interface, combined with its strong emphasis on performance, makes Helix Editor an exceptional choice for programmers who value both speed and adaptability in their development processes. Overall, this editor fosters an efficient coding environment, empowering developers to focus on their projects with minimal distractions.

To be candid, Mac applications seem to be fading into obscurity. While there are valid motivations for developing cross-platform applications — primarily their versatility — it doesn't align with our core identity. Established as a Mac software developer in 1997, the team at Panic finds joy in creating products that embody the essence of Mac. Many years ago, we introduced Coda, a groundbreaking all-in-one web editor specifically for Mac users. However, as we began developing Nova, we reassessed the current landscape of the web and recognized the need for a new beginning. Hence, our journey commenced with a top-tier text editor that is not only brand new but also incredibly fast and adaptable, packed with all the essential features like intelligent autocomplete, multiple cursors, a Minimap, editor overscroll, and tag pairs and brackets, among many others. For those interested, Nova offers integrated support for a variety of languages including CoffeeScript, CSS, Diff, ERB, Haml, HTML, INI, JavaScript, JSON, JSX, Less, Lua, Markdown, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Sass, SCSS, Smarty, SQL, TSX, TypeScript, XML, and YAML. This extensive support ensures that developers have the tools they need to work efficiently and effectively across multiple programming languages.

At its foundation lies an interpreter dedicated to Emacs Lisp, a variant of the Lisp programming language enhanced for text editing tasks. It offers content-aware editing modes that feature syntax highlighting for a variety of file formats. The platform includes comprehensive built-in documentation, complete with a tutorial aimed at newcomers. Users benefit from extensive Unicode support accommodating nearly all human scripts. It is highly customizable, allowing modifications through Emacs Lisp code or via a graphical interface. Beyond mere text editing, it encompasses a diverse array of functionalities, such as a project planner, email and news reader, debugging interface, calendar, IRC client, and much more. The presence of a packaging system enables users to download and install various extensions seamlessly. Additionally, it provides built-in support for arbitrary-size integers and utilizes HarfBuzz for effective text shaping. There is also native functionality for JSON parsing, improved support for Cairo drawing, and the adoption of portable dumping in lieu of unexec. The system adheres to XDG conventions for initialization files and includes an additional early-init file for enhanced customization. Furthermore, it supports built-in tab bar and tab-line features, as well as the ability to resize and rotate images without relying on ImageMagick, making it a versatile tool for a wide range of tasks. Overall, it stands out as a powerful platform that caters to a multitude of user needs beyond simple text manipulation.

GNU nano was created as a free alternative to the Pico text editor, which is part of the Pine email suite developed by the University of Washington. Its goal was to closely mimic Pico while incorporating additional features. The Debian GNU/Linux distribution, recognized for its commitment to distributing genuinely "free" software (meaning software that has no limitations on redistribution), chose not to include binary packages for Pine or Pico. This decision left many users in a difficult position: while they appreciated these applications, the available versions did not align with the GNU definition of free software. GNU nano serves as a compact and user-friendly text editor. In addition to standard text editing capabilities, nano provides features such as undo/redo, syntax highlighting, interactive search-and-replace, automatic indentation, line numbering, word completion, file locking, backup files, and support for internationalization. Notably, with the release of version 4.0, nano ceased to automatically wrap overly long lines by default, enhancing user control over text formatting. This change reflects the continuous evolution of the software to better meet user needs.

jEdit stands out as a well-established text editor for programmers, boasting a development history that spans hundreds of person-years, especially when factoring in the creation of plugins. This robust editor surpasses many costly alternatives in terms of functionality and user-friendliness, all while being offered as free software with complete source code under the GPL 2.0 license. It includes a built-in macro language and an extensible architecture for plugins, with a vast selection of macros and plugins readily available. Users can easily download and install these plugins directly from jEdit through the convenient "plugin manager" feature. Additionally, jEdit supports a wide variety of character encodings, such as UTF-8 and Unicode, making it highly versatile. It is designed to be configurable and customizable, encompassing all the essential and advanced features one would anticipate in a modern text editor, ensuring it meets the diverse needs of its users. As a result, jEdit remains a compelling choice for developers seeking a powerful yet accessible tool for their coding tasks.

RunCode offers online workspaces that allow you to work in a web browser on code projects. These workspaces offer a complete development environment that includes a code editor, a terminal and access to a variety of tools and libraries. These workspaces are easy to use and can be set up on your own computer.

CudaText is a versatile text editor that operates across multiple platforms and is developed using Object Pascal. As an open-source initiative, it provides users the freedom to utilize its features at no cost, including for commercial purposes. On an Intel Core i3 3GHz processor running Linux, the application launches quickly and efficiently. Users can enhance its functionality through Python-based add-ons, plugins, linters, and external tools, making it highly adaptable. The syntax parser, powered by the EControl engine, is robust and supports over 270 languages with rich syntax highlighting. It also enables the visualization of code structures, such as functions and classes, contingent on the capabilities of the lexer. Additional features include code folding, the ability to use multiple carets and selections, as well as advanced find and replace options that utilize regular expressions. Configuration files are conveniently stored in JSON format, allowing for lexer-specific settings. The interface is tabbed and includes options for split views and windows, accommodating up to six groups of tabs. A command palette with fuzzy matching enhances navigation, while a minimap and micromap aid in text editing. CudaText also displays unprinted whitespace and supports a wide array of encodings, catering to diverse user needs. Furthermore, it allows for customizable hotkeys and includes a binary/hex viewer capable of handling files of virtually any size, which is particularly useful for analyzing large log files up to 10 GB. The combination of these features makes CudaText a powerful tool for programmers and writers alike.