Difference between Vim and Neovim¶

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Vim and Neovim are two screen-based text editors. To overcome the issues with Vim, Neovim was developed to expand on the core functionalities of Vim and for users who want to make the best out of vim.

Installation Directory¶

Both follow different conventions on where to store their configuration files. Vim likes to store current user files in the ~/.vim/ directory and the user-specific configuration files in the ~/.vimrc home directory. Your home directory is specified with $HOME. Neovim, on the other hand, adheres to the XDG base directory specification and stores all its configuration files in the ~/.config directory. The Neovim configuration is stored inside the ~/.config/nvim directory.

Plug-In System¶

Vim’s plug-in API is restrictive and cumbersome. Neovim is a complete rework of the Vim text editor with a fully redesigned yet sophisticated plug-in architecture that has more powerful plugins than before. Most plugins written for Vim also work just fine in Neovim. Read Install Vim plugins

Project Management¶

Bram Moolenaar, the developer for vim takes up a benevolent dictator for life situation, which means he has absolute control over every single feature that goes into the code of vim. While there are a huge number of developers who help with the vim code, but eventually Bram is the one who is responsible for making sure the features are added and delivered to the users. Vim's development is discussed via a mailing list.

Neovim on the other hand has an extensive database on GitHub outlining the process of contributing to Neovim. It does make the use of benevolent dictator for life situation

Lua Support¶

Both Vim and Neovim supports plugins in Lua, however on Vim, Lua is just another programming language. In Neovim , Lua is a first class citizen, i.e everything can be done in Lua instead of writing vim scripts in vimrc.