Introduction #

Welcome to this blog, where I’ll be plotting the differences between Vim and Neovim. I’ll also be discussing which editor to use between the two for a better workflow and a better code editing experience.

Vim and Neovim are Open Source text editors which can be tweaked for our convenience and changed according to our workflow.

Vim and Neovim are one of the best feature-rich text editors available for us today alongside Emacs. They are called mode-based or modal text editors, meaning that work is done in different modes. For example:

• To enter text → Insert Mode
• To select text → Visual Mode
• To replace text → Replace Mode
• To perform tasks like copy, paste, macros → Command Mode

What are the differences between Vim and Neovim? #

Basic Differences between the text editors: #

• Extensibility:

  • Vim: Uses Vimscript (a scripting language made for Vim). It has a more restricted plugin system since plugins must be written in Vimscript. Getting advanced features can be challenging.
  • Neovim: A fork of Vim, built with Lua — a language with better documentation and support for plugins in multiple programming languages (function calls are interoperable). Neovim also supports asynchronous plugins, making it more performant and responsive.

• UI Features:

  • Vim: Primarily runs in a terminal. Even with GUIs like GVim, UI features are limited.
  • Neovim: Designed to support external user interfaces. Can run in any terminal emulator or GUI (e.g., Neovide) — offering greater flexibility and Open Source freedom.

• Built-In Terminal:

  • Vim: No built-in terminal → requires a separate terminal tab.
  • Neovim: Comes with a built-in terminal emulator, enabling running code, interacting with REPLs, and executing commands directly in the editor.

Detailed Differences between the two text editors: #

• LSP Support (Language Server Protocol):

  • Vim: No built-in LSP support.
  • Neovim: Excellent built-in LSP support via JSON-RPC. Enables language-specific features like code linting, autocompletion, and snippets.

• Directory Structure:

  • Vim: Hardcodes config location → changes must be made in a single file.
  • Neovim: Follows XDG Base Directory spec → config lives in ~/.config/nvim/init.lua (cleaner and standardized).

• Code Formatting:

  • Vim: Code style maintained by one person → formatting philosophy is centralized.
  • Neovim: Maintained by a large team of contributors → more consistent and modern formatting.

• Plugin Support:

  • Vim: Rich plugin ecosystem, but IDE-like features are hard due to Vimscript limitations.
  • Neovim: Plugins can be written in any language. Using real programming languages makes IDE-like features much easier to implement.

Bottom Note #

Both Vim and Neovim are powerful, open-source text editors designed for customization and efficient workflows. While Vim has been a long-standing favorite for many developers, Neovim enhances the experience with modern features such as:

• Asynchronous plugin support
• Built-in terminal
• Native LSP support
• Improved extensibility via Lua

These advancements make Neovim more suitable for those seeking a flexible, IDE-like environment without sacrificing performance.

Ultimately, the choice depends on your needs — but for a more feature-rich and modern editing experience, Neovim stands out as the better option.