NotePad ++

Notepad++ is a favorite free editor. It is a more robust version of the Notepad software that you would find available in Windows by default. That being the case, this is a Windows-only option. It includes things like line number, color coding, hints, and other helpful tools that the standard Notepad application does not have. These additions make Notepad++ an ideal choice for web designers and front end developers.

Komodo Edit

There are two versions of Komodo available – Komodo Edit and Komodo IDE. Komodo Edit is open source and free to download. It is a trimmed down counterpart to IDE.

Komodo Edit includes a lot of great features for HTML and CSS development. Additionally, you can get extensions to add language support or other helpful features, like special characters.

Komodo doesn’t outshine as the best HTML editor, but it’s great for for the price, especially if you build in XML where it truly excels. I use Komodo Edit every day for my work in XML, and I use it a lot for basic HTML editing as well. This is one editor I’d be lost without.

Eclipse

Eclipse (the latest version is dubbed Eclipse Mars) is a complex development environment that is perfect for people who do a lot of coding on various platforms and with different languages. It is structured as plug-ins, so if you need to edit something you just find the appropriate plug-in and go to work.

If you are creating complex web applications, Eclipse has a lot of features to help make your application easier to build. There are Java, JavaScript, and PHP plugins, as well as a plugin for mobile developers.

CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor

The CoffeeCup Free HTML comes in two versions – a free version as well as a full version which is available for purchase. The free version is a good product, but be aware that a lot of the features this platform offers do require you to buy the full version.

CoffeeCup now also offers an upgrade called Responsive Site Design that supports Responsive Web Design. This version can be added into a bundle with the full version of the editor.

One important thing to note: Many sites list this editor as a free WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor, but when I tested it, it required the purchase of CoffeeCup Visual Editor to get WYSIWYG support. The free version is a very nice text editor only.

This editor scored as well as Eclipse and Komodo Edit for Web Designers. It ranks fourth because it didn’t rate as highly for web developers. However, if you are a beginner to web design and development, or you’re a small business owner, this tool has more features appropriate to you than either Komodo Edit or Eclipse.

Aptana Studio

Aptana Studio offers an interesting take on webpage development. Instead of focusing on HTML, Aptana focuses on JavaScript and other elements that allow you to create rich internet applications. That may not make it the best fit for simple web design needs, but if you are looking more in the way of web application development, the tools offered in Aptana may be a great fit.

One concern about Aptana is the lack of updates that the company has done over the past few years. Their website, as well as their Facebook and Twitter pages, announce the release of version 3.6.0 on July 31, 2014, but there have been no announcements since that time.

While the software itself tested great during initial research (and it was originally placed 2nd in this list), this lack of current updates must be taken into consideration.

NetBeans

NetBeans IDE is a Java IDE that can help you build robust web applications.

Like most IDEs, it has a steep learning curve because it doesn’t often work in the same way that web editors work. Once you get used to it you’ll find it very useful, however.

The version control feature included in the IDE is especially useful for people working in large development environments, as is the developer collaboration features. If you write Java and webpages this is a great tool.

Microsoft Visual Studio Community

Microsoft Visual Studio Community is a visual IDE to help web developers and other programmers get started creating applications for the web, mobile devices and the desktop. Previously, you may have used Visual Studio Express, but this is the latest version of the software. They offer a free download, as well as paid versions (that include free trials) for Professional and Enterprise users.

BlueGriffon

BlueGriffon is the latest in the series of webpage editors that started with Nvu, progressed to Kompozer and now culminates in BlueGriffon. It is powered by Gecko, the rending engine of Firefox, so it does a great job of showing how work would rendered in that standards-compliant browser.

BlueGriffon is available for Windows, Macintosh and Linux and in a variety of languages.

This is the only true WYSIWYG editor that made this list, and as such it will be more appealing for many beginners and small business owners who want a more visual way to work as opposed to a purely code-focused interface.

Bluefish

Bluefish is a full-featured HTML editor that runs on a variety of platforms, including Linux, MacOS-X, Windows, and more.

The latest release (which is 2.2.7) fixed some of the bugs found in previous versions.

Noteworthy features that have been in place since the 2.0 version are code-sensitive spell check, auto complete of many different languages (HTML, PHP, CSS, etc.), snippets, project management and autosave.

Bluefish is primarily a code editor, not specifically a web editor. This means that it has a lot of flexibility for web developers writing in more than just HTML, however, if you’re a designer by nature and you want more of a web-focused or a WYSIWYG interface, Bluefish may not be for you.

Emacs Profile

Emacs is found on most Linux systems and makes it easy for you to edit a page even if you don’t have your standard software.

Emacs is a lot more complicated some other editors, and so offers more features, but I find it harder to use.

Feature highlights: XML support, scripting support, advanced CSS support and a built-in validator, as well as color coded HTML editing.

This editor, whose latest version is 25.1 which was released in September 2016, can be intimidating to anyone who isn’t comfortable writing plain HTML in a text editor, but if you are and your host offers Emacs, it is a very powerful tool.

Arachnophilia

Arachnophilia is an open source HTML editor written in Java (because it’s creator, Paul Lutus, boycotts Microsoft products). It can support Unicode and can also help you edit your PHP, Perl, C++, Java, and JavaScript projects. It also has a built-in FTP client to help with deployment. Its last update was in November 2016.

NoteTab Light

NoteTab is upfront in its product description, warning those that might prefer or lean towards a WYSIWYG editor that this system might not be for them. But if you’re looking for a free, dedicated HTML editor, then you should check out NoteTab. They claim that their minimalist syntax highlight method makes your HTML or CSS code easier to read than in some other editors. And their customizable code snippet keyboard shortcuts cut down on all the time you spend copy-pasting code from one project to another. NoteTab also has “Standard” and “Pro” versions of its product if you’re looking for a more robust feature set.

BlueGriffon

BlueGriffon has a few paid versions of their product, but their free version offers the essential tools you’ll need for designing web pages. It’s one of three WYSIWYG editors on our list, and, according to their website, it’s “officially recommended by the French Government as the Web Authoring Tool for the French Administration.” So if you trust French admins’ taste in HTML editors, this is the tool for you!

BlueGriffon offers a dual view of your source code and the WYSIWYG design, so you can track code while also ensuring that your site looks pretty. It can also edit CSS and SVG. Extra features in the paid version of its product include design-oriented features such as a fullscreen editor, an eyedropper for color picking, and word count warnings.

Phase 5

Phase 5 is a widely known editor that has been steadily updated since 1998.

A few features of Phase5 are project management, tag completion, an integrated image viewer, a syntax debugger, support for special characters, indentation assistance, search and replace, and customizable menus and templates.

Phase 5 supports popular formats like PHP, Javascript, HTML, VBScript, Java, and Pearl. A file manager quickly lets you switch between documents. You can edit multiple documents simultaneously, and much more.

Phase 5 runs on Windows 7 and 8, Vista, XP, 2000, 98 32/64 bit, and server versions.

Sublime Text 2

No other HTML editor is quite as triumphant as Sublime Text 2. It launched to immediate praise from swooning professional web developers. It is deeply customizable via extensions and JSON files. It’s tough to imagine any functionality outside of Sublime Text’s grasp.

With the aid of Package Control, downloading and installing extensions is a breeze. Because the editor has enjoyed such widespread adoption, there’s an extensive plugin library available, even in addition to those offered on the developer’s website.

Sublime Text 2 stands apart for its extensive documentation, both official and unofficial. Tutorials for Sublime Text 2 are everywhere and lower the learning curve.

Sublime Text 2 is not free. It can be downloaded and evaluated for free with no limits, but if you like it, the $70 license is a very fair investment.

Brackets

Brackets is a modern, open-source editor with a few interesting features. It works with Adobe Creative Cloud Extract (Preview) to read design data such as colors, fonts, gradients, and more directly from a PSD file and convert it to CSS. It can also extract layers as images, use information from the PSD to define preprocessor variables, and easily get dimensions between objects. This is all possible without ever leaving the editor.

Note: Adobe Creative Cloud is a paid service. Extract (its free preview) can be directly installed alongside Brackets.

Extensions are another big plus for Brackets, which can be used to tailor the editor to the user’s needs. New extensions are released every three to four weeks. The robust support for preprocessors also merits mention.