Sublime Text Free vs Paid: Complete Guide [2024]

Sublime Text Free vs Paid: Sublime Text is one of the famous text editing software used by developers and programmers for coding and editing text files. It has both free and paid versions.

A lot of people are confused whether the free version or the paid version is better. If you also want to know which is better between the two, you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, we’ve mentioned a detailed Sublime Text free vs paid comparison which will help you decide which version will be better for you.

Sublime Text Free vs Paid: Overview

Sublime Text is a source code editor and shareware text that supports many markup languages and programming languages. You can easily customize themes and expand its functionality with plugins.

It is primarily known for its minimalistic interface that offers a distraction-free environment for editing and writing code. And it supports syntax highlighting which makes it a versatile tool for developers of all skill levels.

Besides, it also includes code folding, terminal output window, search and replace supporting regular expressions, and much more.

One of the highlights of Sublime Text is its customizability which lets you personalize the editor’s functionality, appearance, and key bindings. Furthermore, it also supports various selections, thus allowing you to make changes to different lines of code at the same time.

Sublime Text Free vs Paid: Features

Sublime Text Free

Multiple Selections: Choose multiple lines of code at the same time and alter all of them at once.
Goto Anything: Seamlessly navigate to any symbol, file, or line of code in a project by using a simple keyboard shortcut.
Split Editing: Split the editor into multiple panes, thus making it easy to work with various files or sections of code simultaneously.
Syntax Highlighting: Sublime Text supports syntax highlighting for more than 200 programming languages.
Find and Replace: This powerful search and replace feature makes it easy to discover and replace text through an entire document or project.
Distraction-free Mode: It hides all toolbars and menus, giving a minimalistic and clean workspace for writing and editing code.
Command Palette: You can effortlessly access a list of all available commands in Sublime Text so that you can easily find and implement specific commands.

Sublime Text Paid

Auto-completion: This feature suggests potential completions as you type to make it faster and easier to write code.
Macros: This feature lets users record a series of actions and replay them with a single command, thus making it easier to automate repetitive tasks.
GoTo Anything: Easily navigate to any symbol, file, or line in your project.
Snippets: Create and insert pre-defined blocks of code, saving time and reducing typing errors.
Advanced Project Management: Group files and folders into custom folders and save and restore project sales.
Git Integration: Manage version control directly from the editor, including viewing diffs, committing changes, and solving merge conflicts.
Package Control: Install and manage plugins and packages to extend the functionality of the editor.
Cross-platform Clipboard: Copy and paste text between different platforms which makes it easier to work with code on different operating systems.

Licenses

Though Sublime Text is available for free, a license is required to access more features. It offers licenses for both individuals and businesses.

Personal or individual license costs $99, which is only available for individuals, and it only comes with 3 years of updates. However, after 3 years, you’ll need to upgrade to get further updates.

You can use your personal license key on all computers where you are the main user, including at work. Nonetheless, Personal Licenses are only available for personal use.

On the other hand, though business licenses are associated with individuals, they are linked with a subscription. And you’ll need to first buy a subscription with a given number of seats and then allocate the seats to individual users.

Unlike personal licenses which will be updated for 3 years, Business licenses will expire once you cancel the subscription.

Furthermore, there is also a bundle version that lets you add a Sublime Merge license which offers a faster way to work, precise & flexible, as well as provides Sublime Text syntax highlighting.

Sublime Text Free vs Paid: Pros & Cons

Sublime Text Free

Pros

Sublime Text is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
It is popularly known for its speed which handles large files and projects easily.
You can customize it in several ways, including color schemes, themes, and plugins.
It has multiple cursors that let you edit multiple lines of code at the same time.
Ability to seamlessly access all features and commands.

Cons

The paid version is quite expensive.
Free versions have limited features and a pop-up message that reminds you to buy a license.
It is not open source as the code is not publicly available for modification.
There is no built-in debugging.

Sublime Text Paid

Pros

You can access all the features that were not available through the free version.
It regularly updates with bug fixes and adds new features.
Unlike the free version, the paid version doesn’t show any pop-up messages to buy a license.

Cons

A single license for Sublime Text can only be used by one user.

Sublime Text Free vs Paid: Which is Better?

Both the free and paid version have their own advantages and disadvantages. Though Sublime Text unregistered is for free, it has some limitations such as it can only be used for personal use and not for business use. Moreover, it doesn’t offer all the features that are usually available in the paid version.

Whereas Sublime Text’s paid version comprises all features of the free version along with several other features. And you can also use it for commercial purposes.