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Kate
What it is
Kate is a free text editor for viewing and editing text files on Linux, BSD, Windows, and macOS. It can show multiple documents in horizontal or vertical split windows, with multi-cursor and column editing. For code and structured text, it offers syntax highlighting for more than 400 languages, bracket matching, and on-the-fly spell checking. Programming features include auto-completion with argument hints, scriptable auto-indentation, and Vi input mode; the editor uses the Language Server Protocol for auto-completion in many languages. Search and replace supports regular expressions and multiline searches across open documents or files on disk. Listed plugins include an embedded terminal, SQL, build, GDB, and Replace in Files tools. Kate can open remote files and supports Unicode and other encodings. Backups on save and swap files can help recover data after a system crash. Nightly packages are compiled daily, but may be unstable or incomplete and are recommended for testing. KDE says telemetry is opt-in and disabled by default, and support is available through KDE Discuss, Matrix, and the KDE bug tracker.
For and against
For
- Syntax highlighting covers over 400 languages.
- Supports multi-cursor and column editing.
- Search spans open documents and disk files.
- Backups and swap files aid crash recovery.
Against
- Nightly packages may be unstable or incomplete.
- No free trial is listed.
The verdict
Kate pairs general text editing with programming features, plugin options, and broad file handling. Those seeking a stable package should note the site's caution about nightly builds.
Who it suits
Kate suits people editing text or code who want split document views, language-aware editing, and extensible tools. Its platform list includes Linux, BSD, Windows, and macOS.
Plans and prices
Kate
Text editor for Linux, Windows and macOS
Read 4 Oct 2026 · kate-editor.org
On the record
- Column editing
- Yeskate-editor.org · read 22 Sep 2026
- Development
- Kate and its related frameworks are created by volunteers around the world; the team page reports 95 contributors during the last year.kate-editor.org · read 4 Oct 2026
- Extension support
- Yeskate-editor.org · read 22 Sep 2026
- File handling
- Kate supports opening remote files and Unicode and other encodings.kate-editor.org · read 4 Oct 2026
- Language integration
- The homepage says Kate uses the Language Server Protocol to provide auto-completion for many languages.kate-editor.org · read 4 Oct 2026
- Macro recording
- Yeskate-editor.org · read 22 Sep 2026
- Multi-cursor editing
- Yeskate-editor.org · read 22 Sep 2026
- Multiple documents
- Users can view and edit multiple documents at once in horizontally or vertically split windows.kate-editor.org · read 4 Oct 2026
- Nightly builds
- The site says nightly packages are compiled daily and may be unstable or contain bugs or incomplete features, and recommends them for testing.kate-editor.org · read 4 Oct 2026
- Plugins
- Listed plugins include an embedded terminal, SQL, build, GDB and Replace in Files plugins.kate-editor.org · read 4 Oct 2026
- Privacy
- KDE says its software generally does not transfer information from users’ devices except after explicit user action; any telemetry is opt-in and disabled by default.kde.org · read 4 Oct 2026
- Product
- Kate is a text editor for viewing and editing text files.kate-editor.org · read 4 Oct 2026
- Programming
- Programming features include auto-completion with argument hints, scriptable auto-indentation and Vi input mode.kate-editor.org · read 4 Oct 2026
- Recovery
- Kate includes backups on save and swap files to recover data after a system crash.kate-editor.org · read 4 Oct 2026
- Search
- Search and replace supports regular expressions, multiline searches and files on disk or multiple open files.kate-editor.org · read 4 Oct 2026
- Support
- Kate support is offered through its KDE Discuss section, Matrix channel and KDE bug tracker.kate-editor.org · read 4 Oct 2026
- Supported platforms
- Linux,BSD,Windows,macOSkate-editor.org · read 22 Sep 2026
- Syntax highlighting
- Kate supports syntax highlighting for over 400 languages, bracket matching and on-the-fly spell checking.kate-editor.org · read 4 Oct 2026
