packer.nvim VS LunarVim

Compare packer.nvim vs LunarVim and see what are their differences.

packer.nvim

A use-package inspired plugin manager for Neovim. Uses native packages, supports Luarocks dependencies, written in Lua, allows for expressive config (by wbthomason)
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packer.nvim LunarVim
180 272
7,591 17,463
- 2.0%
3.4 7.6
about 2 months ago 11 days ago
Lua Lua
MIT License GNU General Public License v3.0 only
The number of mentions indicates the total number of mentions that we've tracked plus the number of user suggested alternatives.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.

packer.nvim

Posts with mentions or reviews of packer.nvim. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-10-21.
  • thethethe.nvim - neovim friendly autocorrect plugin
    4 projects | /r/neovim | 21 Oct 2023
    packer
  • Help Enablin Powerline Font for Lightline in Kitty NeoVim
    1 project | /r/neovim | 24 Sep 2023
    -- Check if Packer.nvim is already installed if fn.empty(fn.glob(install_path)) > 0 then -- If not installed, clone it from GitHub fn.system({'git', 'clone', '--depth', '1', 'https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim', install_path}) -- Load Packer.nvim vim.cmd [[packadd packer.nvim]] return true end return false end
  • Installing neovim on windows 10 does not work (no really, it doesn't)
    1 project | /r/neovim | 19 Aug 2023
    local ensure_packer = function() local fn = vim.fn local install_path = fn.stdpath('data')..'/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim' if fn.empty(fn.glob(install_path)) > 0 then fn.system({'git', 'clone', '--depth', '1', 'https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim', install_path}) vim.cmd [[packadd packer.nvim]] return true end return false end
  • Issue with treesitter highlights, disappears after 5 seconds each time
    1 project | /r/neovim | 31 Jul 2023
    local fn = vim.fn -- Automatically install packer local install_path = fn.stdpath("data") .. "/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim" if fn.empty(fn.glob(install_path)) > 0 then PACKER_BOOTSTRAP = fn.system({ "git", "clone", "--depth", "1", "https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim", install_path, }) print("Installing packer close and reopen Neovim...") vim.cmd([[packadd packer.nvim]]) end -- Autocommand that reloads neovim whenever you save the plugins.lua file vim.cmd([[ augroup packer_user_config autocmd! autocmd BufWritePost plugins.lua source | PackerSync augroup end ]]) -- Use a protected call so we don't error out on first use local status_ok, packer = pcall(require, "packer") if not status_ok then return end -- Have packer use a popup window packer.init({ display = { open_fn = function() return require("packer.util").float({ border = "rounded" }) end, }, }) -- Install your plugins here return packer.startup(function(use) -- My plugins here use({ "wbthomason/packer.nvim" }) -- Have packer manage itself use({ "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim" }) -- Useful lua functions used by lots of plugins use({ "windwp/nvim-autopairs" }) -- Autopairs, integrates with both cmp and treesitter use({ "numToStr/Comment.nvim" }) use({ "JoosepAlviste/nvim-ts-context-commentstring" }) use({ "kyazdani42/nvim-web-devicons" }) use({ "akinsho/bufferline.nvim" }) use({ "moll/vim-bbye" }) use({ "nvim-lualine/lualine.nvim" }) use({ "akinsho/toggleterm.nvim" }) use({ "ahmedkhalf/project.nvim" }) use({ "lewis6991/impatient.nvim" }) use({ "lukas-reineke/indent-blankline.nvim" }) use({ "goolord/alpha-nvim" }) use("folke/which-key.nvim") -- Colorschemes use({ "folke/tokyonight.nvim" }) use("lunarvim/darkplus.nvim") use("bluz71/vim-moonfly-colors") use("fcpg/vim-fahrenheit") use("rainglow/vim") use("wojciechkepka/vim-github-dark") use("gavinok/spaceway.vim") use({"mcchrish/zenbones.nvim", requires = "rktjmp/lush.nvim"}) use({ "ellisonleao/gruvbox.nvim" }) -- Gruvbox theme -- LSP use({ "neovim/nvim-lspconfig" }) -- enable LSP use({ "williamboman/nvim-lsp-installer" }) -- simple to use language server installer use({ "jose-elias-alvarez/null-ls.nvim" }) -- for formatters and linters -- Telescope use({ "nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim" }) -- Treesitter use("nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter", {run = ':TSUpdate'}) use("nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter-context") use("nvim-treesitter/playground") -- Editor plugins use({ "karb94/neoscroll.nvim" }) -- Git use({ "lewis6991/gitsigns.nvim" }) -- LSP Zero use { 'VonHeikemen/lsp-zero.nvim', requires = { -- LSP Support {'neovim/nvim-lspconfig'}, -- Required {'williamboman/mason.nvim'}, -- Optional {'williamboman/mason-lspconfig.nvim'}, -- Optional -- Autocompletion {'hrsh7th/nvim-cmp'}, -- Required {'hrsh7th/cmp-buffer'}, {'hrsh7th/cmp-path'}, {'hrsh7th/cmp-nvim-lua'}, {'hrsh7th/cmp-nvim-lsp'}, -- Required {'L3MON4D3/LuaSnip'}, -- Required {'rafamadriz/friendly-snippets'}, } } -- Automatically set up your configuration after cloning packer.nvim -- Put this at the end after all plugins if PACKER_BOOTSTRAP then require("packer").sync() end end)
  • Editing init.lua with lua_ls on gives "Undefined global : vim" ?
    3 projects | /r/neovim | 27 Jun 2023
    require('packer').startup(function(use) use 'https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim' use 'https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig' end)
  • error message whenever I write a file
    2 projects | /r/neovim | 20 Jun 2023
  • [Help] Packer.nvim
    3 projects | /r/neovim | 3 Jun 2023
    git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim\ ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim
  • Pyright Won't Let me Quit Python Files
    3 projects | /r/neovim | 17 May 2023
    ``` vim.g.maplocalleader = " " vim.g.mapleader = " " local ensure_packer = function() local fn = vim.fn local install_path = fn.stdpath("data") .. "/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim" if fn.empty(fn.glob(install_path)) > 0 then fn.system({ "git", "clone", "--depth", "1", "https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim", install_path }) vim.cmd([[packadd packer.nvim]]) return true end return false end
  • [Neovim] Gestionnaire de packages basé à Lua
    2 projects | /r/enfrancais | 4 May 2023
    2 projects | /r/enfrancais | 4 May 2023

LunarVim

Posts with mentions or reviews of LunarVim. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2024-03-06.
  • Every Neovim, Every Config, All At Once
    3 projects | dev.to | 6 Mar 2024
    LunarVim
  • LunarVIM: An IDE Layer for Neovim
    1 project | news.ycombinator.com | 3 Jan 2024
  • Tools to achieve a 10x developer workflow on Windows
    11 projects | dev.to | 8 Nov 2023
    I would suggest to start getting into vim by first trying out popular vim keybinding plugins available on your favorite code editor and get used to those first. Then, if you want to dive deeper into the power of Neovim, try out popular configs like LazyVim, LunarVim, NvChad... Taking Neovim from a mere text editor to a full-featured IDE with features like intellisense, debugging, testing, etc... on your own takes quite a lot of work and configuration.
  • Helix 23.10 Highlights
    6 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 25 Oct 2023
    I used Helix for a while due to its support for LSP out-of-the-box, which my Vim config at the time couldn't live up to. I switched back to NeoVim after finding LunarVim[1] which had everything I was trying to get setup in my own config.

    [1] https://www.lunarvim.org/

  • How to Transform Vim to a Complete IDE?
    7 projects | dev.to | 19 Sep 2023
  • Mastering Emacs
    6 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 23 Aug 2023
    I'll admit I didn't look into it, but Helix sounds like something like LunarVim (https://www.lunarvim.org/)

    Personally I much prefer that the editor NOT ship with something like that by default, especially when it's so easy to set up. I have several different vim config I use, including a pretty bare-bones one for headless systems, and I much prefer the ability to customize something very specifically.

    Build tools that can compose together, rather than a single do-it-all tool. That is the power of the low level editors vs IDE's.

  • No inline errors in Python unless I add and delete a line
    2 projects | /r/neovim | 18 Aug 2023
  • LazyVim
    32 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 16 Jul 2023
    I can't comment on any implementation details, but at least with LunarVim (which I use for daily coding), a slowdown when interacting with LSP is very noticeable. Some others have attested to this on a GitHub issue.

    I'm not doubting your experiences with the lack of a slowdown, but there is truth that others do experience it. That might be more of a problem with LunarVim itself rather than Vim, but how likely am I (as someone who would like to avoid what he calls "config hell") or other newcomers to avoid whatever pitfalls there are, if a distribution designed for ease of use by people who know better fall into them?

    https://github.com/LunarVim/LunarVim/discussions/3359

  • Should Neovim now release a standard official configuration so that people who want an editor that just works out of the box get onboarded easily ?
    10 projects | /r/neovim | 4 Jul 2023
  • neovim config
    2 projects | /r/neovim | 4 Jul 2023
    Anyways, although i have not used them, LazyVim and LunarVim comes highly recommended. You can try these and see what suits you .

What are some alternatives?

When comparing packer.nvim and LunarVim you can also consider the following projects:

vim-plug - :hibiscus: Minimalist Vim Plugin Manager

AstroNvim - AstroNvim is an aesthetic and feature-rich neovim config that is extensible and easy to use with a great set of plugins

lazy.nvim - 💤 A modern plugin manager for Neovim

SpaceVim - A community-driven modular vim/neovim distribution - The ultimate vimrc

nvim-treesitter - Nvim Treesitter configurations and abstraction layer

NvChad - An attempt to make neovim cli as functional as an IDE while being very beautiful , blazing fast. [Moved to: https://github.com/NvChad/NvChad]

nvim-lspconfig - Quickstart configs for Nvim LSP

NvChad - Blazing fast Neovim config providing solid defaults and a beautiful UI, enhancing your neovim experience.

paq-nvim - 🌚 Neovim package manager

Neovim-from-scratch - 📚 A Neovim config designed from scratch to be understandable

gruvbox.nvim - Lua port of the most famous vim colorscheme

LazyVim - Neovim config for the lazy