Notes 
Neovim is a fully open-source modal text editor that runs in the terminal and collects no telemetry. It is hyperextensible: a documented API and Lua scripting let you shape it into anything from a lean writing tool to a full development environment. Because it lives in the terminal, it works over SSH on machines where a graphical editor cannot run.
Reviewed by Marcus Holmberg
Neovim
neovim.io 4.8 (6)
Rate Neovim: No account needed
Threat level
Hardened
A hardened pick. Worth the effort once you have chosen to shrink your footprint on purpose. Enough for most people. Threat levels
Our take
Neovim is the editor for developers who want total control and nothing leaving their machine, and on the privacy question it is the cleanest pick here: there is no telemetry to disable, because none was ever built in. That power comes at a real cost. The learning curve is steep, and the modal editing takes weeks to feel natural. A comfortable setup means assembling and maintaining your own configuration rather than installing a polished IDE. This is a terminal, keyboard-driven tool, not a point-and-click one. Reach for it if you live in the terminal and will invest the time to tune it. Pass if you want an editor that is productive the moment you open it.
GitHub at a glance
neovim/neovim apicluaneovimnvimtext-editorvim
Stars
103,581
+235 this week
Forks
7,395
1,046 watching
Last commit
today
healthy
Latest release
v0.12.6
1mo ago, 56 total
Star history
Issues
89% closed
1,659
open
13,151
closed
+109 / -90
opened / closed, last 4 weeks
Opened vs closed, last 12 weeks
Commits, last 26 weeks
2,704 commits, active 26 of 26 weeks
433 contributors since Jan 2014
Languages
- Vim Script 38.9%
- Lua 33.5%
- C 26.7%
- Other 0.9%
Updated daily from the GitHub API. Star tracking since Jun 30, 2026.
Website at a glance
neovim.io
F score 5
Weak website security headers
Graded by Mozilla HTTP Observatory, tested 7d ago
Inspect this site yourself
Measures the security configuration of the tool's own website, not the privacy of the product itself. A strong tool can still score low here.
Neovim alternatives
VSCodium A community build of VS Code's open-source core with Microsoft's telemetry and branding removed, under the MIT license. Uses the Open VSX extension registry.
Zed A fast open-source editor written in Rust with real-time collaboration. Telemetry is on by default and can be turned off in settings.