# Alternatives to Brackets

Adobe's web-design editor. Brackets has been discontinued; the active alternatives listed here are maintained products you can switch to.

It is licensed under MIT, free and available on Windows, macOS and Linux. 1 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/brackets/
Category: Code editors

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Front-end and web developers who want a free, open-source code editor with strong CSS/HTML/JS-specific tooling and live browser preview.
- **What you get**: An open-source text editor built specifically for web design, with inline editors for CSS and JS tied to HTML, a Live Preview feature that updates connected browsers as you edit, and native support for preprocessors like LESS and SCSS. It was developed by Adobe and released under the MIT license, with an extension system for adding functionality. Adobe ended official development and support in September 2021.
- **How it works**: You edit HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files directly in the editor, using inline tools to jump to related CSS rules or preview LESS/SCSS output without a build step. Live Preview connects to Chrome to reflect changes in the browser as you save or type, and community-maintained forks continue to be built and distributed since Adobe's sunset of the official project.

## Profile

- **License**: MIT (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux
- **Status**: discontinued (verified 2026-07-11)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Cursor](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/cursor.md) | building | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 2 | [Devin Desktop](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/windsurf.md) | building | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 3 | [Emacs](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/emacs.md) | building | GPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 4 | [Helix](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/helix.md) | building | MPL-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 5 | [Kate](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/kate.md) | building | LGPL-2.0-or-later | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 6 | [Neovim](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/neovim.md) | building | Apache-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 7 | [Notepad++](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/notepad.md) | building | GPL-3.0 | Windows |
| 8 | [Sublime Text](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/sublime-text.md) | building | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 9 | [VS Code](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/vs-code.md) | building | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 10 | [VSCodium](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/vscodium.md) | building | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 11 | [Zed](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/zed.md) | building | GPL-3.0 | macOS, Linux, Windows |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Sources

Sources for Brackets. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **Status**: discontinued — <https://github.com/adobe/brackets> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “On September 1, 2021, Adobe will end support for Brackets.”
- **License**: MIT — <https://github.com/adobe/brackets/blob/master/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Note: Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction"
  - Quote: “Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the ”
- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://github.com/adobe/brackets> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Brackets is a modern open-source code editor for HTML, CSS and JavaScript that's built in HTML, CSS and JavaScript.”
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux — <https://github.com/adobe/brackets> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Installers for the latest stable build for Mac, Windows and Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) can be [downloaded here]”
- **Extensions marketplace**: Yes — <https://github.com/adobe/brackets> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “there is a large and growing community of developers building extensions that add all sorts of useful functionality. See the [Brackets Extension Registry]”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/