BBEdit vs. BlueFish Editor

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BBEdit
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
BBEdit is a text editor from Bare Bones software headquartered in Massachusetts.N/A
BlueFish Editor
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
BlueFish is a free and open source text editor supporting a wide range of languages, multiple document interface, powerful search tools, in-line checking and auto-recovery, and other features.N/A
Pricing
BBEditBlueFish Editor
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BBEditBlueFish Editor
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BBEditBlueFish Editor
Considered Both Products
BBEdit
Chose BBEdit
BBEdit wins over TextEdit every time. They are as different as chalk and cheese. I am so glad we moved to BBEdit.
Chose BBEdit
Compared to Brackets, BBEdit feels faster, leaner, and has more utility value. Brackets feel oriented towards coders specifically, whereas BBEdit is like a toolbox of text tools for a wide array of needs. I feel like the same is probably true for Visual Studio Code, but I have …
Chose BBEdit
BBEdit holds a spot on my computer dock because of its reliable, functional and straightforward uses in text management and script processing. While a computer's default text program, such as TextEdit, has some of the same abilities as BBEdit, TextEdit lacks the appearance …
Chose BBEdit
No comparison. On my Mac, Microsoft Visual Studio Code was instantly buggy.
Chose BBEdit
As a pure software IDE, BBEdit is showing its age. It's got things like syntax highlighting, source control support, and integration with command-line compilers… but popular features like automated refactoring and debugger integration have left it behind. On the other hand, …
Chose BBEdit
I've been using BBEdit for code needs for many years, haven't felt the need to switch to anything else.
Chose BBEdit
We have, and also use, Atom, Notepad++, and BlueFish which are all OpenSource. BBEdit is quickly losing ground to some of these other programs. Most of the time we end up switching to one of these other programs is because we are on a new computer and we know we can just grab …
BlueFish Editor
Chose BlueFish Editor
BBEdit is fantastic but it costs money. Frankly, BBEdit is not worth paying for. All you are doing is paying old software and I have a problem asking people to do that. Also, BBEdit is limited to the small Mac Universe. Likewise, Notepadd++ is only found on Windows but I much …
Chose BlueFish Editor
Compare it to what I'd call its WYSIWYG editor, BlueGriffon. Again, the two are fundamentally different solutions. Use them together. Don't waste your money on Adobe or any other proprietary alternative.
Best Alternatives
BBEditBlueFish Editor
Small Businesses
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Score 9.0 out of 10
BBEdit
BBEdit
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Vim
Vim
Score 8.3 out of 10
Vim
Vim
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Vim
Vim
Score 8.3 out of 10
Vim
Vim
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BBEditBlueFish Editor
Likelihood to Recommend
9.5
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.7
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BBEditBlueFish Editor
Likelihood to Recommend
BBEdit's free version is great as an update to the group's previous product Text Wrangler, which, as that name implies, allowed us to manage any text to remove odd formatting and adjust the text to our specific needs as a publishing group. The paid version, which I am less familiar with, has considerably better tools if you are seeking BBEdit for coding purposes, as its HTML ability is much better than the free version I use more regularly. If you are looking for a word processor or other more polished text files, this is unlikely to suit. But if you want a simple program with surprisingly complex uses for preparing text for another program or writing code, this may be the program you need
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It is perfectly suited for most markup and programming languages, much better than Text docs, but it is not ideal for anyone who'd like a visual editor.
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Pros
  • I love the SORT functionality of BBEdit
  • The ease of use makes it a superior product to every text editor out there.
  • BBEdit handles text like a pro, and like all text, editors should.
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  • Easily found and downloaded. If I need someone to go to the web and grab it I can tell them the URL. It is easily installed and one can be edited in minutes.
  • BlueFish is easy to use. It can have a non-technical user use it to edit config files or text documents and not have them frustrated. It has a friendly straight forward user interface.
  • BlueFish does a really good job editing HTML documents specifically. Probably one of the best HTML editors left out there.
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Cons
  • It's still a little techy for my uses.
  • I have some issues with making my preferences stick. But they're minor.
  • I have tried other code editors, and this one is the best.
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  • There are WYSIWYG Open alternatives, some of which work perfectly as an Open version of Dreamweaver, but the only suggestion I would have is that Bluefish add a WYSIWYG tab, e.g. code/visual.
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Support Rating
Updates are frequent and I can't recall any issues with broken programs or vulnerabilities. The team behind BBEdit is also generous with its free trials, allowing long-term free users to have multiple chances to sample its full software. I am unsure if I had issues how the support would be, only because I have not needed them
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As with most GNU GPL products support is top-notch. Documentation is fantastic, all functions are documented. Also, this product has been around for more than a decade so there is lots of stuff on how to do this or that with this tool. The only thing holding you back from support is your own drive to find a solution. RTFM, my friend.
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Alternatives Considered
Compared to Brackets, BBEdit feels faster, leaner, and has more utility value. Brackets feel oriented towards coders specifically, whereas BBEdit is like a toolbox of text tools for a wide array of needs. I feel like the same is probably true for Visual Studio Code, but I have barely used it. Visual Studio Code is used by my company's IT department, and from observation, it seems like a very capable coding application. I expect to dig into it further when I have time.
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BBEdit is fantastic but it costs money. Frankly, BBEdit is not worth paying for. All you are doing is paying old software and I have a problem asking people to do that. Also, BBEdit is limited to the small Mac Universe. Likewise, Notepadd++ is only found on Windows but I much better than BBEdit. Finally, there is Atom. I like Atom a bunch because it has a lot more functionality than BlueFish. Atom is a better code editor than BlueFish. Also, the Atom interface is a bit confusing to the new user.
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Return on Investment
  • BBEdit has literally saved product launches by speeding the process of scrubbing and prepping large-scale data imports.
  • It's eliminated hours per week of waiting for "full-featured" IDEs.
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  • How can you go wrong with a GNU GPL product that works? That's a really low-risk proposition.
  • It is only returns. It is like 0% investment to 5,000% return.
  • The only negative you will have with this product are those Cretans that despise OSS and the willfully ignorant.
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ScreenShots