--- title: GNU Emacs Reviews meta\_title: 'GNU Emacs Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta\_description: Filter 84 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how GNU Emacs works for a business like yours. aggregate\_rating: rating\_value: 4.5 review\_count: 84 scale: '5' date\_modified: '2026-08-09' parent\_category: name: Editor url: https://www.g2.com/categories/editor --- ### GNU Emacs Pros and Cons: Top Advantages and Disadvantages #### Quick AI Summary Based on G2 Reviews Generated from real user reviews Users love the **extensive customizability** of GNU Emacs, allowing for a tailored and flexible user experience. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-emacs/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2485648&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users love the **customization** options in GNU Emacs, enabling tailored experiences and extensible functionality. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-emacs/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2485706&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users experience a **steep learning curve** with GNU Emacs, requiring significant time to understand its complexities. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-emacs/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2485655&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users find a **steep learning curve** for GNU Emacs, often taking considerable time to understand its functionalities. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-emacs/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2485668&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) ### Top Pros or Advantages of GNU Emacs ##### 1. Customizability Users love the **extensive customizability** of GNU Emacs, allowing for a tailored and flexible user experience. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-emacs/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2485648&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Ganesh G.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Ganesh G.") GG Ganesh G. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 5.0/5 "Highly Configurable and Extensible Platform" What do you like about GNU Emacs? Everything is configurable and extensible ##### 2. Customization Users love the **customization** options in GNU Emacs, enabling tailored experiences and extensible functionality. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-emacs/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2485706&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Ganesh G.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Ganesh G.") GG Ganesh G. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 5.0/5 "Highly Configurable and Extensible Platform" What do you like about GNU Emacs? Everything is configurable and extensible ### Top Cons or Disadvantages of GNU Emacs ##### 1. Complexity Users experience a **steep learning curve** with GNU Emacs, requiring significant time to understand its complexities. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-emacs/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2485655&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Ganesh G.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Ganesh G.") GG Ganesh G. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 5.0/5 "Highly Configurable and Extensible Platform" What do you dislike about GNU Emacs? Learning curve is very low and its take lot of time to figure out things. ##### 2. Learning Difficulty Users find a **steep learning curve** for GNU Emacs, often taking considerable time to understand its functionalities. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-emacs/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2485668&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Ganesh G.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Ganesh G.") GG Ganesh G. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 5.0/5 "Highly Configurable and Extensible Platform" What do you dislike about GNU Emacs? Learning curve is very low and its take lot of time to figure out things. ## Top-Rated Alternatives [ ![Visual Studio Code](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/large_detail/large_detail_13aba37ae908d9cf29a2452925257ccc/visual-studio-code.jpeg "Visual Studio Code") Visual Studio Code 4.7/5(2,731) ](https://www.g2.com/products/visual-studio-code/reviews) [ ![Notepad++](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/1487566090/notepad.png "Notepad++") Notepad++ 4.6/5(2,475) ](https://www.g2.com/products/notepad/reviews) [ ![Sublime Text](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/1487566128/sublime-text.png "Sublime Text") Sublime Text 4.5/5(1,783) ](https://www.g2.com/products/sublime-text/reviews) [ View All Alternatives ](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-emacs/competitors/alternatives) ![Jack-Benny P.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Jack-Benny P.") JP Jack-Benny P. Owner Information Technology and Services Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 3/7/2016 "GNU Emacs is my main editor for both text and code" 5/5 What do you like best about GNU Emacs? You can do everything in GNU Emacs and it has very good syntax support, everything from Python to Markdown and LaTeX Emacs is now my favorite editor after almost 20 years with Vi and Vim. Do note that I still use Vi from time to time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Emacs? Takes awhile to get used to, and sometimes it's a bit slow when you have lots of lots of extra stuff Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Emacs: Take your time to learn the essential key strokes, there are many useful ones. Once you get to know them all, you'll work both faster and more efficient. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Emacs solving and how is that benefiting you? It enables me to work more efficient and smarter with both code and text Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Tom J.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Tom J.") TJ Tom J. g-speak engineer Computer Software Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 3/10/2016 "emacs, more like glee max!" 5/5 What do you like best about GNU Emacs? It's more hackable than any editor out there. You can live-code the thing, and the documentation is fantastic (and accessible from anywhere!). Also, I've got nyan cat in my status line instead of a scrollbar. How many editors can do that? Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Emacs? Single-threadedness is annoying, packages can take a long time to update, "Emacs pinky". Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Emacs: Don't be afraid to install packages! And watch the "Emacs Rocks!" videos: http://emacsrocks.com/ Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Emacs solving and how is that benefiting you? I'm using Emacs to write C++, Python, Ruby, GLSL, JavaScript and, of course, Emacs Lisp. Emacs's hackability makes it easy to integrate the editor directly with proprietary tooling we've developed in house. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Verified User in Computer Software](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Computer Software") UC Verified User in Computer Software Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 1/26/2016 "one editor to rule them all" 5/5 What do you like best about GNU Emacs? - Editor is well mature, its one of the longest running free and open source project (almost 40 years now) - Has been ported to almost every platform. - Its key binding, which is well designed and most of them have been adopted to different software. - Support almost everything language. - Its extensible, every and each part of the editor can be customize. - Extremely rich interface both Command-line and Graphical - Very active community/development - extensive manual/wiki, even stack-over flow has the separate section - well integration the developer tools ie. version control, virtual environment, build tools, debugger Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Emacs? - Vanilla emacs doesn't look promising, it take time to configure. - learning curve steep, it might be overwhelming for the beginners. - mouse integration is not great. - may not look shiny. - working with elisp Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Emacs: Take you time, At last you will settle down in emacs or vi. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Emacs solving and how is that benefiting you? I have used many editors during my programming carrier, it have never found the editor which does it just rite. It look may be deceiving but it has lots of power inside its hood, there is rarely any text editor with rival its states, Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Higher Education](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Higher Education") GH Verified User in Higher Education Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 5/27/2016 "Essential all-purpose productivity tool" 5/5 What do you like best about GNU Emacs? Emacs is not only the most capable, multiplatform text editor available, it's also the host of many applications I use every day. It's my MUA (gnus), planner (org mode), calendar, and validator for a number of languages and structures file formats. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Emacs? Emacs has a steep learning curve, but effort invested in learning it always pays off. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Emacs: Start a local users group. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Emacs solving and how is that benefiting you? - Linking of email messages to action items. - Distributed document authoring and editing via integration with git and pandoc. - Linked data publication. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Research](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Research") UR Verified User in Research Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 1/13/2016 "Best editor on Linux" 4.5/5 What do you like best about GNU Emacs? Emacs is one of the various text editors that is default on most Linux distributions. This is beneficial in that I usually do not have to worry about installing it when I transfer between computers, or am just using another machine for a short period of time. Compared to VIM it is much more focused on writing rather than just editing. For minor changes VIM is fine, but for larger programming work Emacs is simple and provides all of the necessary tools I need. Additionally the more commands you memorize the more efficient you can become. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Emacs? The only disadvantages of using Emacs are the load times of large files, and the need to memorize many of the commands to make use of it. Other editors such as Less only read in files a page at a time, and can actively update while text is being piped to the file. Emacs does not have this ability. As mentioned above, the number of command to memorize can be fairly daunting in Emacs. Fortunately the ones you use most should come pretty easily. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Emacs: Give it a try, it is worth it once you figure out the commands. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Emacs solving and how is that benefiting you? We are trying to solve issues revolving around parallel compilation with production grade compilers. Emacs makes it easy to jump around between files and edit many at once. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Nicholas I.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Nicholas I.") NI Nicholas I. Web Developer Marketing and Advertising Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 1/25/2016 "The most flexible text editor I've used" 5/5 What do you like best about GNU Emacs? The ability to fully customize the editor Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Emacs? The thing I dislike most is that it can sometimes feel a bit bloated. However, that is the trade-off for such amazing customization options. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Emacs: If you are using Vim, definitely give Emacs a shot. If you do not like the default binds, you are able to use Vim bindings via the Evil package, which provides a Vi Emulation layer. However, you should be familiar with the default binds like Ctrl-P, Ctrl-N, etc. in order to use some modes and packages. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Emacs solving and how is that benefiting you? It allows everyone on the team who uses it to discuss something and fosters community Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Ewan D.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Ewan D.") ED Ewan D. Head Of Software Development Computer Software Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 12/22/2015 "Productivity, but at a cost." 5/5 What do you like best about GNU Emacs? Emacs is the most versatile, extensible text editor I have used. There are many excellent, high-quality extension packages out there that allow the editor to be used for working with any information that has a textual representation - from source code files, to email, to notebooks/organizers, even web browsing. Plus, if you can't find a package that does what you want, you can extend the editor yourself using its built-in programming language. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Emacs? There is a steep learning curve to emacs. It takes a lot of effort to learn all the key-bindings and customization options that let you get the most out of this text editor. If you don't put in the time to learn it, there's really not much point in using it, as you'll most likely find it quite frustrating. The effort to learn it does pay off, though - my productivity has improved since I can do almost all of my work inside one environment that I know well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Emacs: If you're looking for a lightweirght, customizible software development environment, and you don't mind putting in a bit of time to learn how to use it, emacs is for you. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Emacs solving and how is that benefiting you? I use emacs mainly for my day-to-day work as a software developer. I can edit and compile source code in a variety of languages, and the version control integration means I rearely have to leave the editor. This enhances productivity greatly. Emacs is designed to be operated entirely by the keyboard, so once you have learned the shortcuts for the most common operations, you can work a lot quicker than by using a mouse. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Computer Software](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Computer Software") CC Verified User in Computer Software Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 12/21/2015 "Emacs Editor" 4.5/5 What do you like best about GNU Emacs? I am not going to tell that Emacs give me freedom to configure my text editor since VIM, Sublime Text, Atom and etc are also good at that category, I reckon. I love some packages in Emacs, Magit, Tramp and Org-mode Magit is Git wrapper where I could handle git like GUI but in better way. Org-mode is Organizer mode where I could plan my daily life and work. By using Tramp I could access remote files over ssh without noticing I am doing that, which means I am handling remote files as local files Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Emacs? I think that learning curve is a bit deep comparing to other editor. To use emacs properly I had to learn lisp, at least how to read emacs-lisp code. I am missing some GUIs like proper tabs and separated file tree views which I could have other editors. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Emacs: I like to recommend and tried to my colleagues who are using VIM. I used to use VIM. But people have their own preferences. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Emacs solving and how is that benefiting you? I am a ruby developer and I am using Emacs for my daily life. I used to use RubyMine which is commercial IDE from JetBrain. RubyMine is great but not free. Current company did not buy me a license for this IDE :(, seriously? So I had to decide to use Emacs. I have found that Emacs provides several good packages for Ruby development. Eventually I am using Tmux + Emacs in Terminal environment and this combination is better than RubyMine, I rekcon in case I have to handle multiple products at the same time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Sunil W.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Sunil W.") SW Sunil W. Consultant Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 3/9/2016 "Stockholm Syndrome" 1.5/5 What do you like best about GNU Emacs? After learning the keybindings, using emacs becomes easy. Second nature. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Emacs? In order to do anything beyond light customisation, the user needs to learn lisp. Lisp is difficult to learn. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Emacs: Consider other platforms as well. Consider all options very carefully. Vim is probably a better alternative: it is installed on more platforms and has a larger community. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Emacs solving and how is that benefiting you? I use emacs for day-to-day work with web developement. With emacs, programming can be fast Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Computer Software](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Computer Software") UC Verified User in Computer Software Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 3/21/2016 "One of the best editors" 5/5 What do you like best about GNU Emacs? The unlimited ability of being customized. You can modify Emacs the way you like the most and it'll never let you down. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about GNU Emacs? The learning curve. Emacs is the most confusing application that I've used so far IMO. What's worse is that it never ends, you'll always find more to learn while using it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering GNU Emacs: If you are switching from Vi, there are some vi-mode in Emacs to help you. If you're switching from other editors, try some control-started short cuts, it may also work since lots of applications actually adopted Emacs' key binding. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is GNU Emacs solving and how is that benefiting you? I use it for general purpose editing and code editing. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerSource: Organic ## Work at FreeCAD? Claim this profile to respond to reviews, update product info, and reach in-market buyers. [ Claim this profile ](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-emacs/claim_requests/new?utm_medium=profile-footer-claim-cta&utm_source=g2) ##### Categories on G2 [Text Editor](https://www.g2.com/categories/text-editor) ##### Explore More [What implementation timeline and disruption risk do teams face with quote to cash consulting engagements in regulated industries?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-implementation-timeline-and-disruption-risk-do-teams-face-with-quote-to-cash-consulting-engagements-in-regulated-industries)[Which theater venue management platforms have the strongest operational case studies from major performing arts organizations?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/which-theater-venue-management-platforms-have-the-strongest-operational-case-studies-from-major-performing-arts-organizations)[What's the top-rated cloud backup app for IT companies](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-s-the-top-rated-cloud-backup-app-for-it-companies) [Which Google Workspace project management platforms are most trusted by team leads coordinating cross-functional projects?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/which-google-workspace-project-management-platforms-are-most-trusted-by-team-leads-coordinating-cross-functional-projects)[Which AI content tool offers the most natural language output?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/which-ai-content-tool-offers-the-most-natural-language-output)[Pros and Cons Details](https://www.g2.com/products/gnu-emacs/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [Show MoreShow Less](javascript:void(0);)