--- title: Bluefish Reviews meta\_title: 'Bluefish Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta\_description: Filter 51 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Bluefish works for a business like yours. aggregate\_rating: rating\_value: 4.1 review\_count: 51 scale: '5' date\_modified: '2026-08-07' parent\_category: name: Software Design url: https://www.g2.com/categories/software-design --- # Bluefish Reviews & Product Details Bluefish is a robust, open-source text editor tailored for programmers and web developers, offering a versatile platform for creating websites, scripts, and code across various programming and markup languages. Designed to bridge the gap between simple text editors and full-fledged integrated development environments (IDEs), Bluefish provides a lightweight yet feature-rich environment that is both fast and easy to learn. Key Features and Functionality: - Multi-Language Support: Bluefish offers syntax highlighting and auto-completion for 47 different programming and markup languages, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Python, and C. - Advanced Editing Tools: Features such as code folding, auto-recovery, and a code-aware spell-checker enhance the coding experience. - Project Management: Supports multiple projects with the ability to open multiple files simultaneously, facilitating efficient workflow management. - Remote File Access: Integrates with GNOME Virtual File System (GVfs) to enable seamless editing of files over FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, and more. - Customizable Interface: Offers a user-friendly interface with configurable toolbars and dialogs, allowing users to tailor the environment to their preferences. Primary Value and User Solutions: Bluefish addresses the needs of developers seeking a powerful yet lightweight editor that supports a wide range of programming and markup languages. Its extensive feature set, including advanced editing tools and project management capabilities, streamlines the development process, enhancing productivity. The ability to access and edit remote files directly within the editor simplifies workflows for developers working on web projects. By providing a customizable and efficient coding environment, Bluefish empowers developers to focus on writing quality code without the overhead of more complex IDEs. * * * Seller [Bluefish Editor](https://www.g2.com/sellers/bluefish-editor) Discussions [Bluefish Community](https://www.g2.com/products/bluefish/discuss) Solution Type Best-of-Breed Show More ## Value at a Glance Averages based on real user reviews. ### Perceived Cost $$$$$ [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/bluefish/pricing) ## Top-Rated Alternatives [ ![Adobe Dreamweaver](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Adobe Dreamweaver") Adobe Dreamweaver 4.1/5(2,846) ](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-dreamweaver/reviews) [ ![Visual Studio Code](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Visual Studio Code") Visual Studio Code 4.7/5(2,732) ](https://www.g2.com/products/visual-studio-code/reviews) [ ![Notepad++](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Notepad++") Notepad++ 4.6/5(2,475) ](https://www.g2.com/products/notepad/reviews) [ View All Alternatives ](https://www.g2.com/products/bluefish/competitors/alternatives) ## User Insights Average based on 51 real user reviews. Perceived Cost $$$$$ [Log in to unlock pricing and user insights](/login) ![Harshal P.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Harshal P.") HP Harshal P. Software Engineer Defense & Space Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 11/21/2017 "Bluefish focuses on editing HTML code for dynamic and interactive websites." 5/5 What do you like best about Bluefish? Bluefish is very powerful editor for experienced web designers . But this doesn't mean that noob users shouldn't at least try it; they could really be impressed with it.The autocomplete is much better, and it doesn't add in as much garbage code when using the wizards or quick buttons. I know someone may not choose this very first time but seeing it's functionality and services provided , they can not deny to use it . At least I am very much satisfied by using it .I like it's clean and nice interface . Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Bluefish? It should be nice if there were an 'Upload to FTP site' button . Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Bluefish solving and how is that benefiting you? We were given one project 2-3 months ago . It was about to creating a web application using JSP,Servlet . Bluefish helped us a lot as it doesn't add in as much garbage code when using the wizards or quick buttons.The best thing is it is WYSIWYG so each and every time you will get expected output unless you have made some mistakes in writing the cosd . Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Transportation/Trucking/Railroad](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Transportation/Trucking/Railroad") CT Verified User in Transportation/Trucking/Railroad Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 7/24/2018 Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores. "Gerat little PHP editor" 4/5 What do you like best about Bluefish? Fast and easy to use. Able to create projects. Very easy to edit documents. Frequently updated. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Bluefish? The interface or skin could be better looking Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Bluefish: Try it out. There'a a slight learning curve but give it a chance Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Bluefish solving and how is that benefiting you? I use it for development of my web applications using PHP, CSS, and JS. Bluefish organizes my projects for easy access and distribution Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Sports](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Sports") US Verified User in Sports Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 9/4/2018 "Good but nothing more" 2.5/5 What do you like best about Bluefish? I liked the unlimited redo/undo function offered in the Blue fish editor. I also liked the search and replace feature offered. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Bluefish? I disliked the limited features I would get on my PC than compared to MAC. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Bluefish solving and how is that benefiting you? I am solving efficiency problems and time management. Some benefits I have realized are the quick and necessary work-ethic and results in a business professional environment. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Fredrick M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Fredrick M.") FM Fredrick M. Information Technology Supervisor Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 12/14/2017 "Great Editor" 5/5 What do you like best about Bluefish? Bluefish is one of the best editor when it comes to web development.what i love most about bluefish is the hustle free file management, i dont have struggle with looking for a file and by just clicking a folder, all the files are automatically availed to me which i can just open buy a simple click.i also love the live view option which makes it easy for me to see changes when am making my websites for my clients and the best part is it has a direct link to photoshop which makes it easy for me to export any designs made in photoshop to bluefish Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Bluefish? well, everything so far is ok but i wish the dev team could add up ftp upload straight from the editor Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Bluefish: trying it out,am pretty sure you will love it as i did Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Bluefish solving and how is that benefiting you? i use bluefish for making and maintaning websites,web based management systems,apis for my clients Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Joshua H.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Joshua H.") JH Joshua H. Director Of Operations Computer Software Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 1/9/2018 "Great Product for Free" 5/5 What do you like best about Bluefish? This editor is the best of the free choices. You can edit much more easily than pretty much everything. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Bluefish? It doesn't have an app for mobile devices. This editor is the best of the free choices. It could have a better integration with WordPress as well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Bluefish: I would give it a try. It's very easy to use and has a lot of tools for a free software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Bluefish solving and how is that benefiting you? I have been able to easily study and write code. It has saved a ton of time over using a simple text editor. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Kathy D.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Kathy D.") KD Kathy D. Design V&V Engineer Financial Services Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 3/2/2018 "Good basic text editor" 3.5/5 What do you like best about Bluefish? Not going to lie, I love the icon on my Start Menu, task bar and Desktop. It's relatively easy to use and is compatible with all the files I need to see in this delimited format. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Bluefish? Text editors are all pretty similar but not many of my colleagues know of or use this tool. Notepad ++ pretty much dominates this field so just wish it were more well known. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Bluefish solving and how is that benefiting you? I frequently need this tool when testing export files, edit XML tags and see encryption. I don't see any problems with this tool. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Miri L.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Miri L.") ML Miri L. Associate Art Director Marketing and Advertising Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 10/30/2017 "my good help at work but some issues need to be fixed " 2.5/5 What do you like best about Bluefish? flexible and glitzy editor for ppl who code. works fine on \*nix. i can x forward it over ssh from a \*nix server to my desktop, it's stable enuf for that, which is pretty good. not as fast as gedit, but has more features. vi and emacs are pains in the ass, so i prefer bluefish for web development. good for that in particular. if you need help to build a site from windows, try visual studio express for web, free from micro$oft. if you're hardcore but hate terminal editors that force you to remember a million ctrl+ sequences, bluefish is probably something you'd like. conclusion: good editor. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Bluefish? Works on Linux (Debian, LMDE, Mint, Ubuntu) together with FileZilla, but: Minus - new instance instead of new tab on opening one more file is awful! -\> How to modify this behaviour? - \*.shtml (html/xhtml with SSI) not recognized as html/xhtml -\> what about using html doc type? Plus + Good HTML "Any ... Tag ..." feature + German Translation included + eye-friendly syntax highlighting for (x)html, css, etc. + color picker + project manager (not tested) + ... Please ! add \*.shtml to html syntax sheme (user defined would be great) - add contact form for non-facebook users -\> or should I treat the Minus as "bug" an report it? Please have a look at medit programmers/text editor project (mooedit) on SF.net Many Tnx for Your Work. EDVauler Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Bluefish solving and how is that benefiting you? maintain a website for both Windows and Linux users - having both versions makes it easy. I really like the addition of HTML5 to version 2.2.2! Great Job! The only addition I can think of would be a popup menu for special characters. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite LC Lisa C. Photographer Photography Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 2/15/2018 "Not for the faint of heart" 2.5/5 What do you like best about Bluefish? I found this editor to be difficult to use. I am not super savvy at website stuff, and this wasn't as intuitive as I needed. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Bluefish? It seemed glitchy and, in my experience, difficult to use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Bluefish: I haven't tried in the recent times to see if it has become easier. But it was difficult to use/figure out when I was trying to set up my site. I am not computer illiterate, but I felt like it with it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Bluefish solving and how is that benefiting you? It really didn't help me. I had to abandon using it for something more simple. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Steve Z.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Steve Z.") SZ Steve Z. Freelance Web Developer Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 1/5/2018 "bluefish" 5/5 What do you like best about Bluefish? great editor for anyone be it newbie or expert.what i love most about bluefish is how easy it is to navigate through your files and easy link with photoshop which makes a web developers life easy when exporting files from photoshop.bluefish is quite light which makes it compatible with even a low resource machine as compared to other softwares. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Bluefish? nothing specific but just that the developers could work on a few bugs there Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Bluefish: dont just take my word for it,give it a try Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Bluefish solving and how is that benefiting you? i use bluefish to export web designs which i would have made for my clients into a product. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Entertainment](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Entertainment") AE Verified User in Entertainment Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 6/9/2018 "Bluefish review " 5/5 What do you like best about Bluefish? Its so user friendly and easy to use. Its amazing product. Makes editing easy. It has tons of features and runs on linux. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Bluefish? I dont have anything to dislike about it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Bluefish solving and how is that benefiting you? Allows editing of code and gives suggestions for code. Makes things easy to edit offline and makes it faster. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ## Questions about Bluefish? Ask real users or explore answers from the community Get practical answers, real workflows, and honest pros and cons from the G2 community or share your insights. [ Ask about Bluefish ](https://www.g2.com/products/bluefish/discussions/new) GU Guest User • Last activity over 3 years ago Is Bluefish a good IDE? 0 Upvotes 1 [ Join the conversation ](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-bluefish-a-good-ide) [ View all Discussions ](https://www.g2.com/products/bluefish/discuss) ##### Pricing Pricing details for this product isn’t currently available. Visit the vendor’s website to learn more. [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/bluefish/pricing) Bluefish Comparisons ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_14695de1acbb03946ccfdc9dc12f9ea2/adobe-dreamweaver.png "Product Avatar Image") Dreamweaver 4.1/5(2,846) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/adobe-dreamweaver-vs-bluefish) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_13aba37ae908d9cf29a2452925257ccc/visual-studio-code.jpeg "Product Avatar Image") Visual Studio Code 4.7/5(2,732) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/bluefish-vs-visual-studio-code) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_6093da7187bfc5bbbeeb9c885fe39648/notepad.png "Product Avatar Image") Notepad++ 4.6/5(2,475) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/bluefish-vs-notepad) ##### ##### Bluefish Features Coding Syntax highlighting Autocompletion Find and replace Editing Collaborative editing Language Support Selection Methods Functionality Extensibility Cross-platform support Plugins and integrations [ View More Features ](https://www.g2.com/products/bluefish/features) ## Work at Bluefish Editor? 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