Vim Reviews & Product Details

Vim is a highly configurable and efficient text editor, renowned for its versatility and power. As an enhanced version of the traditional 'vi' editor, Vim offers a comprehensive feature set that caters to a wide range of text editing needs, from simple note-taking to complex programming tasks. Its modal design, which separates editing tasks into distinct modes, allows users to perform actions swiftly and with precision. While Vim has a steeper learning curve compared to conventional editors, it rewards users with unparalleled efficiency and control once mastered. Key Features and Functionality: - Modal Editing: Vim operates in different modes—such as Normal, Insert, and Visual—each tailored for specific tasks, enabling efficient text manipulation. - Extensive Customization: Users can tailor Vim to their preferences through a vast array of plugins and scripts, enhancing functionality and adapting the editor to various workflows. - Syntax Highlighting: Vim supports syntax highlighting for numerous programming languages, aiding in code readability and reducing errors. - Multi-File and Multi-Window Support: Users can edit multiple files simultaneously, utilizing split windows and tabs to manage complex projects effectively. - Integrated Help System: Vim includes a comprehensive help system, providing users with immediate access to documentation and guidance. - Cross-Platform Availability: Vim is available on various operating systems, including Unix, Linux, Windows, and macOS, ensuring a consistent editing experience across platforms. Primary Value and User Solutions: Vim addresses the need for a powerful and efficient text editing tool that can handle a wide range of tasks, from simple text editing to complex programming. Its modal design and extensive customization options allow users to tailor the editor to their specific workflows, enhancing productivity and reducing the time spent on repetitive tasks. By supporting multiple programming languages and offering features like syntax highlighting and multi-file editing, Vim serves as a versatile tool for developers and writers alike. Its cross-platform availability ensures that users have a consistent and reliable editing environment, regardless of the operating system they use.

Seller

Vim

Discussions

Vim Community

Solution Type

Best-of-Breed

Value at a Glance

Averages based on real user reviews.

Time to Implement

1 month

Return on Investment

10 months

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Top-Rated Alternatives

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User Insights

Average based on 269 real user reviews.

Implementation Time

1 month

Perceived Cost

$$$$$

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Adarsh R.

Software Engineer

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

11/30/2021

"Vim review by Adarsh"

5/5

What do you like best about Vim?

It's very lightweight and fast and open source, it has many plugins support, every action can be performed without a mouse and it is available on all platforms. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Vim?

It is difficult to learn it and to add plugins to it. Copying file contents to clipboard is also very complicated. Its documentation doesn't cover many features like auto completion,etc Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Semiconductors

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

1/24/2022

"Vim is a very fast and convenient text editor"

5/5

What do you like best about Vim?

The beauty of vim is that one can edit huge file with greater ease. There are lot of commands and one can write custom macros to process a file. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Vim?

Sometimes not everything can be done with commands. I feel vim should also be compatible with controlling by mouse just like nedit software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Arsalan K.

Technical Architect

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

Originally submitted 10/7/2021

"The best text editor for Linux based OS"

5/5

What do you like best about Vim?

Can handle huge files like butter. Even if they are billions of lines.

The vim shortcut commands are so helpful that even without a toolbar and context menu Vim is still the most easiest yet powerful tool in the market.

Customization can be done according to your requirement. I.e. Changing the tab size

Syntax coloring support helps for developing applications Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Vim?

Not the same level of integration is available for other platforms like Windows

Lacks something like single quit/exit button. It takes few short commands to close the file and exit. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Computer Software

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

12/9/2021

"Best all in one editor"

5/5

What do you like best about Vim?

It comes pre-installed on almost all Linux distributions. It also has cross-platform support and it runs on CLI machines, it is very extensible with help of plugins Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Vim?

It has a very steep learning code and can get intimidating at the start also the same level of features are not available out of the box on Windows. Also, there are a lot of commands to remember for basic navigation too. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Isaac A.

Product Manager

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

5/21/2021

"Versatile and powerful text editor"

4.5/5

What do you like best about Vim?

- How fast, ubiquitous, and flexible it is -> It is very lightweight when considering how many features and capabilities it has

- Extensible -> via VimScript and even other scripting languages

- The huge amount of plugins and passionate community

- After learning how to operate it basically, this thing is unbeatable

- It is so productive and popular among programmers that most IDEs offer Vim keybindings, and the ones that don't are constantly requested for it to be added Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Vim?

- Documentation sucks (mainly because it lacks a website, a PDF, an explanation of how to use the built-in one, and it misses some search or table of contents that is more obvious to use

- VimScript is exciting but unnecessary

- Bus factor of 1 -> Only one active owner of the project. Thankfully NeoVim exists. I also think the Vim community will have a successor after the author isn't actively working on it anymore. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Vim:

The learning curve for Vim keybindings is worth it. There are free tutorials inside vim and gamified tutorials on the internet that will help you learn them. They are "hard" to forget once you get used to them. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Vim solving and how is that benefiting you?

I'm editing all of my config files with it. Sometimes I even avoid a heavy IDE in favor of its simplicity and speed. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Animesh K.

Member Of Technical Staff

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

5/20/2021

"Vim, the most powerful text editor"

5/5

What do you like best about Vim?

The best thing about Vim is that it works on all kinds of Unix-based operating systems, whether it be a PC or a server. Also, with the help of some plugins we can turn it into an excellent development environment for most of the programming languages like Python, Go, etc. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Vim?

For newcomers, it can be frightening to learn about different modes like Insert, Visual, Visual Block, etc. It would require you give some time to it for learning and then it would become your favorite editor eventually. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Vim:

It's an excellent editor which works even on the servers which don't have a GUI. It's a good time investment to learn it before using it. Otherwise, you would be scared of it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Vim solving and how is that benefiting you?

I use it as the most handy text editor on my local machine as well as on the remote server. It's a lightweight, yet powerful editor which can turn into an IDE with the help of some plugins. Also, it is the best choice of editor to use with git. When you have to add/amend a commit or resolve merge conflicts, Vim can be very helpful. Usually git would have it as the default editor. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Sanchit B.

Software Engineer

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5/17/2021

"Ubiquitous, simple and powerful"

4/5

What do you like best about Vim?

- Present on most operating systems by default

- All commands at the tip of your fingertips, no time wasted moving your hand from keyboard to mouse and back

- Very lightweight process

- Lots of plugins to customize your developer experience

- Navigating through large files is a breeze, especially ones that freeze a regular text editor Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Vim?

- Steep learning curve, can be off-putting to beginners

- Sometimes it really is faster to click instead of remember the series of commands you need to get to the line Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Vim solving and how is that benefiting you?

I typically use Vim to edit CSV and JSON files. I used to write code but ended up switching to VS Code which suits my purpose a lot better. For large CSV and JSON files VS Code and most other fancy editors just freeze. Occasionally I will just need to see how many rows there are in a CSV and Vim is a no-brainer for the same reason. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Computer Software

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

12/25/2021

"Best editor for cli machines"

5/5

What do you like best about Vim?

It is open-source, lightweight has cross-platform support, and is highly customizable, its functionality can be extended using plugins and it is the most productive tool Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Vim?

It is not user-friendly for new users and it has a steep learning curve even for basic tasks. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Megha S.

Software Developer

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

1/1/2022

"Vim review"

4.5/5

What do you like best about Vim?

The best features are how it makes the text editing so convenient for the MacOS users like us. With few commands we can perform a complex task and is super customisable. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Vim?

Nothing so far. Help us a lot in our organisation. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Bhaswar P.

Senior Software Engineer

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

5/5/2021

"Vim: The Legacy that can't be given up"

5/5

What do you like best about Vim?

The simplicity, and accessibility of the editor. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Vim?

The initial learning curve which is very steep, one can't get his way around via any alternative.

Some of the other points would be :

* Very little visual representation of being in different modes( for e.g, could have the text go grey when the command mode is on)

* Lack of alternative to the commands

* Complete absense of something like intellisense.

* The lack of ability to drag and drop multiple tabs, and difficulty of managing them if the tab commands are not known Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Vim:

Use cases where Vim could be the first choice:

* On a low end machine where it is not desiable to install multiple softwares.

* On a machine with no GUI inteface and only shell access

* When no IDE is used and most of the time is spent on shell for scripting. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Vim solving and how is that benefiting you?

Making batch scripts, and quick edits of files on shell server, as it's about the only editor available easily for quick edits using SSH.

Benefits would be not needing any additional installation for linux systems and being able to run it quick.

Some of the quick benefits:

* No need to leave shell

* Available by default on most shell flavours Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.