spacemacs VS nano-emacs

Compare spacemacs vs nano-emacs and see what are their differences.

spacemacs

A community-driven Emacs distribution - The best editor is neither Emacs nor Vim, it's Emacs *and* Vim! (by syl20bnr)

nano-emacs

GNU Emacs / N Λ N O - Emacs made simple (by rougier)
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spacemacs nano-emacs
63 55
23,481 2,463
- -
9.1 3.0
7 days ago 6 months ago
Emacs Lisp Emacs Lisp
GNU General Public License v3.0 only 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.

spacemacs

Posts with mentions or reviews of spacemacs. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-07-30.

nano-emacs

Posts with mentions or reviews of nano-emacs. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2024-03-13.
  • :syntax off (2016)
    3 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 13 Mar 2024
    Both points resonate with me, but I'd push back againt the idea that colored syntax highlighting is neccessary for either. I'm thinking of the Pygments 'bw' theme[1], which denotes strings in italics, and nano-emacs[2], which also manages to do.. a lot with a little (at least aesthetically, ie. idk about code volume or corner cases).

    1: https://pygments.org/styles/

    2: https://github.com/rougier/nano-emacs

  • Effect of Perceptual Load on Performance Within IDE in People with ADHD Symptoms
    7 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 14 Jul 2023
    It's not adhd specific but https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.06030

    After reading this I implemented a code theme based primarily around typographic variation like weight rather than color. It uses only two colors (black and deep purple) in two weights and one italic each. I have pretty severe adhd and it's hard to judge but after using it for a few months I think this is better for me. Previously I had been using solarized light for nearly a decade for probably similar reasons.

    Nano emacs was created by the author of that paper and its default themes are based on it, if you want to try it without committing to hand-rolling a theme. Personally I found that one too "light" (typographically, not color) but I also have relatively poor vision and like a large and heavy font.

    https://github.com/rougier/nano-emacs

  • Not trying to start a rumble, but why emacs
    6 projects | /r/emacs | 10 Jul 2023
  • What is your favorite color scheme?
    10 projects | /r/emacs | 6 Jun 2023
    I love the nano themes from N. Rougier, maybe not what you are looking for... (I am not a coder), works best with the whole nano layout
  • How to apply set dark theme in nano emacs?
    1 project | /r/emacs | 28 May 2023
    there is issue on github related to this: https://github.com/rougier/nano-emacs/issues/138
  • Kawase Blur has been added to SwayFX!
    4 projects | /r/swaywm | 24 May 2023
    Emacs with https://github.com/rougier/nano-emacs
  • How to find where the value of a parameter is set (font size)
    1 project | /r/emacs | 22 May 2023
    Hi fellow r/emacs ers, I am struggling to reduce the size of the fonts my configuration. I have based it on nano-emacs, I am using the variable nano-font-size but the font size does not change.
  • A less verbose OR more organized modeline
    8 projects | /r/emacs | 17 May 2023
    I've been using Nano (and before that Elegant) which substitutes a headline for the modeline. Unless you're in the mood to try something radical, I'm not sure that I'd recommend it. That said, what I've learned from the experience is that you don't need much in the modeline for it to be useful. I've done some customizations on Nano and am satisfied with:
  • What is wrong with this face definition??? (error "Invalid face" bookmark-menu-heading)
    2 projects | /r/emacs | 2 May 2023
    I get an error message that I do not understand, when trying to apply nano-emacs from u/Nicolas-Rougier in my vanilla emacs
  • Nano theme and feel for spacemacs
    1 project | /r/spacemacs | 28 Apr 2023
    Has anyone managed to get this view for spacemacs? Link

What are some alternatives?

When comparing spacemacs and nano-emacs you can also consider the following projects:

doom-emacs - An Emacs framework for the stubborn martian hacker [Moved to: https://github.com/doomemacs/doomemacs]

nerd-fonts - Iconic font aggregator, collection, & patcher. 3,600+ icons, 50+ patched fonts: Hack, Source Code Pro, more. Glyph collections: Font Awesome, Material Design Icons, Octicons, & more

doom - Doom Emacs config

emacs-doom-themes - A megapack of themes for GNU Emacs. [Moved to: https://github.com/doomemacs/themes]

homebrew-emacs-plus - Emacs Plus formulae for the Homebrew package manager

rose-pine-theme - All natural pine, faux fur and a bit of soho vibes for the classy minimalist

GNU Emacs - Mirror of GNU Emacs

svg-tag-mode - A minor mode for Emacs that replace keywords with nice SVG labels

prelude - Prelude is an enhanced Emacs 25.1+ distribution that should make your experience with Emacs both more pleasant and more powerful.

mood-line - A minimal mode-line configuration for Emacs, inspired by doom-modeline. (GitLab mirror)

xah-fly-keys - the most efficient keybinding for emacs