GNU Emacs is a free, open-source text editor maintained under the GNU Project and one of the two editors, alongside Vim, most associated with the classic "editor wars." What sets Emacs apart is that nearly everything about it — keybindings, behavior, even entire features — can be rewritten or extended using its built-in Emacs Lisp language, which has led to an enormous ecosystem of packages ranging from Org-mode's note-taking and planning tools to email clients and terminal emulators, all running inside the editor itself.
Emacs vs Vim: Two Different Philosophies
Emacs and Vim are both free, keyboard-driven, and decades old, but they approach editing differently. Vim is modal — you switch between insert and command modes — favoring short, composable keystrokes for fast text manipulation. Emacs instead relies on chorded key combinations and stays in a single mode, favoring deep extensibility over minimal keystrokes: its Emacs Lisp scripting layer lets the editor become anything from an IDE to a file manager to an email client, which is a different tradeoff than Vim's focus on raw editing speed.
GNU Emacs Features
- Emacs Lisp Extensibility — customize or rewrite nearly any part of the editor's behavior with its built-in Lisp dialect.
- Built-In Package Manager — install packages from repositories like MELPA directly from within Emacs.
- Org-mode — a powerful outlining, note-taking, task management and literate-programming tool bundled with Emacs.
- Terminal and GUI Modes — run Emacs inside a terminal over SSH or as a full graphical application.
- Built-In Utilities — a file manager (Dired), calendar, calculator and other tools included out of the box.
- Keyboard-Centric Editing — nearly every action is reachable via keybinding, with deep customization of those bindings.
- Cross-Platform — the same core editor runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.
How to Install GNU Emacs on Windows, macOS and Linux
- Open the official download page using the button on this page, which links to the GNU Emacs site.
- Download the Windows build, install via Homebrew on macOS, or use your Linux distribution's package manager.
- Run the installer or extract the archive, or run the package manager install command on Linux.
- Launch Emacs and open the built-in tutorial with the keybinding shown on the welcome screen if you are new to it.
- Install packages through the built-in package manager (M-x package-install) to extend Emacs for your workflow.
Is Emacs / GNU Emacs really free?
Open Source. GNU Emacs is released under the GNU General Public License and is completely free to download, use and modify, with source code freely available.
How to download Emacs / GNU Emacs safely
Use the request button on this page and we will email you the current link for gnu.org/software/emacs — the publisher's own website — so you receive the authentic build. We do not host, mirror, patch or repackage this software in any way.
Avoid third-party "download manager" sites offering Emacs / GNU Emacs. They commonly wrap the genuine installer in their own bundler, which is how adware and browser hijackers get onto a machine that the user believed was clean.
Alternatives to Emacs / GNU Emacs
Other free developer tools software worth comparing before you decide:
Vim
A free, open-source modal text editor.
Neovim
A free, open-source refactor of Vim with modern extensibility.
Visual Studio Code
A free, extensible source code editor with a large extension marketplace.
Frequently asked questions
Is GNU Emacs free?
Yes, GNU Emacs is free software released under the GPL, with no paid version or restricted features.
Is Emacs hard to learn?
It has a learning curve due to its extensive keybinding system, but Emacs includes a built-in interactive tutorial and defaults can be customized to ease the transition.
What is Org-mode?
Org-mode is a bundled Emacs package for outlining, note-taking, task and project management, and literate programming, popular well beyond programming use cases.
Can Emacs be used as an IDE?
Yes, with packages for language servers, project management and debugging, Emacs can function as a full IDE for many programming languages.
What is the difference between Emacs and GNU Emacs?
GNU Emacs is the most widely used and actively maintained Emacs implementation; "Emacs" colloquially usually refers to GNU Emacs specifically.
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