Comparison of XML editors


This is a list of XML editors. Note that any text editor can edit XML, so this page only lists software programs that specialize in this task. It doesn't include text editors that merely do simple syntax coloring or expanding and collapsing of nodes.

Desktop applications

NameLatest releaseActiveSoftware licenseTypeWindowsmacOSLinuxXML diff/mergePayment modelFull-featured free trial period
QXmlEdit0.9.18, January 2023Standalone installer downloaded from SourceForge or PortableApps dmg installer from SourceForge, Homebrew, RPM, DEB, other formats in distribution package repositories, Snap, Flatpak. configurable XML and XML Schema Comparison. ? merge function
Adobe FrameMaker2022Standalone
BaseX2023 Standalonevia add-on module
CAM Editor2015 Standalone
GNU Emacs/
nxml-mode
2023 Major mode
GNU Emacs/
psgml-mode, xml-mode
2023 Major modesgml-show-structuredtd-mode
2025 StandalonePerpetual
MadCap Flare2019StandalonePerpetual and Subscription
Liquid XML Studio2020 Standalone + Visual Studio Plugin
Oxygen XML Editor2021 Standalone + Eclipse Plugin Web-App30 days
Quark Author Web Edition on Quark Publishing Platform2014 Web-AppSections Only
Stylus Studio2014 Standalone
XeditorAugust 2023 Web-appvia add-on moduleSubscription
Xerlin2005 Standalone
XMetaL2021 Standalone
XML Notepad2023 Standalone
XMLSpy2025Standalone
Eclipse Plugin, Visual Studio Plugin
Perpetual

Commentary

Spring Tools Suite and Eclipse have a variety of built-in and free plugins matching or exceeding the quality of the paid versions. They come with a content assist tool that completes tags and can search for classes in any java classpath. They also include validation, bean creation, and commit tools.
A plugin for Notepad++ named XML Tools is available. It contains many features including manual/automatic validation using both DTDs and XSDs, XPath evaluation, auto-completion, pretty print, and text conversion in addition to being able to work on multiple files at once. Other tools are available to edit XHTML.