Vim-Plug vs Vundle: What are the differences?

Introduction

Vim-Plug and Vundle are two popular plugin managers for the Vim text editor. While they serve the same purpose of simplifying the installation and management of plugins, there are several key differences between them. In this article, we will explore six crucial differences between Vim-Plug and Vundle.

1. Installation process: Vim-Plug provides a simpler installation process compared to Vundle. With Vim-Plug, you can simply download the plug.vim file and put it in your Vim runtime directory. On the other hand, Vundle requires cloning the Vundle.vim repository into your Vim directory.

2. Plugin loading mechanism: Vim-Plug uses an async mechanism to load plugins, which means that it loads plugins in parallel. This helps in improving the startup time of Vim and makes the overall plugin loading process faster. Vundle, on the other hand, loads plugins synchronously, one after the other, which may lead to slower startup times.

3. Dependency management: Vim-Plug has built-in support for plugin dependencies. It can intelligently manage the installation of dependent plugins based on the plugins you have specified. This makes it easier to handle complex plugin setups. Vundle, on the other hand, lacks this feature and does not have built-in support for managing plugin dependencies.

4. Auto-Update: Vim-Plug has a built-in auto-update feature, which can automatically update all your installed plugins to their latest versions. This ensures that you always have the latest versions of your plugins without manual intervention. Vundle, on the other hand, does not have a built-in auto-update feature, and updating plugins requires manual intervention.

5. Configuration syntax: Vim-Plug uses a more concise and readable syntax for configuring plugins compared to Vundle. With Vim-Plug, you can specify your plugins using a single line, making the configuration file easier to understand and modify. In Vundle, plugin configurations are spread across multiple lines, which can make the configuration file more complex and harder to read.

6. Community and support: Vim-Plug has a larger and more active community compared to Vundle. This means that Vim-Plug is more likely to have frequent updates, bug fixes, and added features. Additionally, Vim-Plug has better documentation and more extensive community support, making it easier to find help and resources when using Vim-Plug.

In Summary, Vim-Plug offers a simpler installation process, asynchronous plugin loading, built-in dependency management, auto-update feature, concise configuration syntax, and better community support compared to Vundle.