Notepad++ is now natively available for macOS.
No Wine, no emulation. A full native port for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
Version 1.0.2 · April 14, 2026 · Apple Silicon & Intel · macOS 11+
What is Notepad++ for Mac?
Notepad++ is now available as a native macOS application. It is a free, open-source source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports many programming languages and is great for general text editing. No Wine, Porting Kit, or emulation layer is needed — this is a full native port governed by the GNU General Public License.
Based on the powerful editing component Scintilla, Notepad++ for Mac is written in Objective C++ and uses pure platform-native APIs to ensure higher execution speed and a smaller program footprint. I hope you enjoy Notepad++ on macOS as much as I enjoy bringing it to the Mac.
This project is an independent open-source community port of Notepad++ to macOS, started on March 10, 2026. It is distributed as an Apple Developer ID-signed and Apple-notarized Universal Binary, runs natively on both Apple Silicon (M1–M5) and Intel Macs, and contains no telemetry, no advertising, and no data collection of any kind. The full source is available at github.com/notepad-plus-plus-mac/notepad-plus-plus-macos. For the official Windows version of Notepad++, visit notepad-plus-plus.org.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Notepad++ available for Mac?
Yes. Notepad++ is now natively available for macOS as a free download. It runs on both Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4, M5) and Intel Macs without any emulation or compatibility layers.
Do I need Wine or Porting Kit to run Notepad++ on Mac?
No. Notepad++ for macOS is a full native port of the original Windows codebase. It does not require Wine, Porting Kit, CrossOver, or any other compatibility layer. It runs as a native macOS application.
Does Notepad++ work on Apple Silicon?
Yes. Notepad++ for macOS is built as a Universal Binary with native ARM64 support. It runs at full speed on all Apple Silicon Macs (M1, M2, M3, M4, M5) without Rosetta translation.
Is Notepad++ for macOS free?
Yes. Notepad++ for macOS is completely free and open source, released under the GNU General Public License. There are no ads, subscriptions, or hidden costs.
Does it support plugins?
Yes. Notepad++ for macOS includes a Plugin Admin and supports a growing library of plugins being ported from Windows, with new releases added daily. Visit the Plugins page to see the latest list of macOS ported plugins.
Is Notepad++ for Mac the official Notepad++?
Notepad++ for Mac is built from the official Notepad++ source code, which is open-source under the GNU GPL v3. Notepad++ was originally created by Don Ho in 2003 for Windows. This Mac version is an independent community port — it shares the same codebase and feature set but is maintained separately from the upstream Windows project. It is not affiliated with Don Ho or the official Notepad++ team. For the official Windows version, visit notepad-plus-plus.org.
How is Notepad++ for Mac different from the Windows version?
The editing experience is identical — same Scintilla engine, same syntax highlighting for 80+ languages, same search and replace, same macro recording, same plugin support. What differs is the user interface layer: menus, dialogs, file pickers, keyboard shortcuts, and windowing all use native macOS Cocoa APIs so the app feels at home on a Mac. The binary is a Universal Binary, running natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel.
Is Notepad++ for Mac safe to install?
Yes. Every release is code-signed with an Apple Developer ID certificate and notarized by Apple, which scans each build for malware and issues a stapled ticket that macOS Gatekeeper verifies offline. The full source is open on GitHub, so anyone can audit or rebuild the software independently. macOS will not warn about an unidentified developer when you open the DMG for the first time.
Who maintains Notepad++ for Mac?
Notepad++ for Mac is maintained by Andrey Letov and the open-source community contributing to the notepad-plus-plus-mac GitHub organisation. The project is independent of Don Ho and the upstream Notepad++ project, and contributors are welcome to submit pull requests for bug fixes, plugin ports, and new features.
Does Notepad++ for Mac collect any data or telemetry?
No. Notepad++ for Mac contains no telemetry, no analytics inside the application, no advertising, and no data collection of any kind. The editor does not phone home, track usage, or send crash reports. The only network traffic the app makes is when you explicitly use the Plugin Admin to browse or install plugins, which fetches the public plugin registry from GitHub.