Sources we use, in order

  1. The notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus repository, its release files and the SHA-256 digests on each release.
  2. The release notes on notepad-plus-plus.org and the official user manual.
  3. The Notepad++ manifest in Microsoft's winget-pkgs repository, for what the winget command installs.
  4. Competitors' own licence and pricing pages for comparison articles.

Other review sites, download portals and AI summaries are not used as sources.

How install steps are described

Install behaviour, such as the administrator prompt, the default install folder and where settings are stored, is taken from the winget manifest and the user manual and linked where it appears. Where a step depends on what a particular Windows setup shows, the guide says what the official documentation says rather than describing a screen we have not seen. Images are screenshots of the project's own public pages, each dated in its caption.

Release data is automated

Version numbers, file names, sizes, hashes and download counts are fetched from the GitHub API by a script before each build and refreshed daily, together with the version the winget manifest installs. The site currently reflects Notepad++ 8.9.8.1, published September 24, 2026. A build fails if a page hard-codes a version string or if a download link stops answering, so a stale number or a dead link cannot be shipped by accident. The same data is at /releases.json.

What "last checked" means

The date on each page is the last time the page was re-read against the current release notes, user manual and manifest, and corrected where they had changed. It is not moved by the automated release refresh.

Comparisons

Comparison pages say when another editor is the better choice, and every row is something you can check on the vendor's own site. Prices are the vendor's published price on the date shown.

Corrections

Confirmed factual mistakes are corrected when found, and the page's checked date is updated. Thecontact page explains how to report one.