Does LiteEditor need jQuery or a framework?

No. LiteEditor is a vanilla JavaScript WYSIWYG editor with zero runtime dependencies — no jQuery, no framework required. Official React and Vue 3 components are available for those stacks.

How big is LiteEditor?

About ~41 KB gzipped for JavaScript and CSS together (36.4 KB JS, 4.3 KB CSS). By comparison, TinyMCE core alone is roughly 200 KB+ gzipped before plugins.

Is LiteEditor a TinyMCE alternative?

Yes. It uses the same mental model — a script tag, liteeditor.init({ selector }), HTML in a textarea — and includes a TinyMCE-style menubar, tables, media embeds and code samples. Most standard TinyMCE setups migrate with a two-line change.

Does it work with React, Vue, Next.js and Nuxt?

Yes. @liteeditor/react and @liteeditor/vue are official components. Both guard initialization so they are SSR-safe in Next.js and Nuxt, and both ship TypeScript definitions.

Is pasted content from Microsoft Word cleaned up?

Yes. The paste normalizer converts Word "fake lists" into real lists, strips mso styles and Office markup, cleans Google Docs spans, and outputs semantic HTML — so pasted content renders correctly on your frontend.

What happens if the LiteEditor license API is unreachable?

The editor keeps working. License validation fails open by design, so an outage or network issue never breaks editing on your site.

Can I use one API key on multiple domains?

Domains are registered per project in the customer portal and subdomains of a registered domain are allowed automatically. Plan limits set how many domains and projects you can have.

v1.3.0 · Vanilla JS · Zero dependencies · Free plan

Lightweight JavaScript WYSIWYG Editor

Name: LiteEditor
Author: LiteEditor

A fast, vanilla JS rich text editor — no jQuery, no framework, zero runtime dependencies. Everything a modern editor needs in ~41 KB gzipped, with a free lifetime plan and no credit card required.

Try the live demo Get a free API key Read the docs

No credit card · No build step · localhost pre-approved for development

Loading editor…

~41 KB

gzipped

JS + CSS, 36.4 KB JS

runtime dependencies

no jQuery, no framework

built-in plugins

tables, media, code & more

Free

lifetime plan

no credit card required

Why LiteEditor

Why teams choose a no-jQuery WYSIWYG editor

A vanilla JS rich text editor that stays small without cutting the features developers actually use.

Vanilla JS, zero dependencies

One script tag. No jQuery, no framework lock-in, nothing else to ship. A no-jQuery WYSIWYG editor that drops into any stack.

~41 KB, not 200 KB+

JS and CSS together are smaller than TinyMCE core alone or CKEditor 5 — page weight your Core Web Vitals can actually feel.

13 plugins included

Tables, images, media embeds, links, lists, code samples, emojis, special characters, search & replace, word count, anchors, autolink, visual blocks. No per-plugin pricing tiers.

TinyMCE-style menubar

File · Edit · View · Insert · Format · Tools · Table · Help — including Preview and Print — with a single option: menubar: true.

Clean paste from Word & Google Docs

Word "fake lists", mso styles and Docs spans become clean semantic HTML automatically. What you paste is what your frontend renders.

Never breaks your site

If the license server is ever unreachable the editor keeps working. Fail-open by design — plus iframe-isolated editing and a built-in HTML sanitizer.

Plugins

Every plugin, built in

All 13 ship in the core bundle — enable them one by one, or all at once with plugins: 'all'.

table

Insert and edit tables with row/column controls.

image

Insert, upload and drag-resize responsive images.

media

Embed YouTube/Vimeo videos or raw embed code.

link

Create, edit and unlink hyperlinks with URL validation.

lists

Ordered and unordered lists with indent control.

codesample

Insert syntax-highlighted code blocks.

emoticons

Pick emoji from a searchable panel.

charmap

Insert special characters and symbols.

searchreplace

Find and replace text inside the document.

wordcount

Live word and character count.

anchor

Insert named anchors for in-page links.

autolink

Automatically turn typed URLs into links.

visualblocks

Toggle visual outlines of block elements.

Comparison

LiteEditor vs TinyMCE, CKEditor 5 & Quill

Same everyday rich-text features — tables, media, images, code, menubar — at a fraction of the weight.

Feature and size comparison of LiteEditor versus TinyMCE, CKEditor and Quill
Feature	LiteEditor	TinyMCE	CKEditor 5	Quill
Approx. gzipped size	~41 KB	~200 KB+	~150 KB+	~43 KB
Runtime dependencies	None	Bundled core	Bundled core	Bundled core
jQuery required	No	No	No	No
Drop-in via CDN (no build)	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Tables plugin included	Yes	Yes	Paid tier	Add-on
Media / video embed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Add-on
Menubar (File / Edit / Insert …)	Yes	Yes	No	No
Source-code view	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Free plan	Free lifetime	Free tier	Free tier	Open source

Read the full TinyMCE comparison & migration guide →

Quick start

Add a rich text editor in under a minute

Load from our CDN with your key in the URL, or install from npm. Same editor, same options, any stack. localhost is pre-approved for every key — register your production domain when you deploy.

One script + one stylesheet — no build step required
plugins: 'all' and toolbar: 'full' enable everything
HTML in a textarea, HTML back on submit
Official React and Vue 3 components

html

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.liteeditor.com/liteeditor/1.3.0/liteeditor.min.css">
<script src="https://cdn.liteeditor.com/YOUR_API_KEY/liteeditor.min.js" referrerpolicy="origin"></script>

<textarea id="editor"></textarea>
<script>
  liteeditor.init({ selector: '#editor', plugins: 'all', toolbar: 'full', menubar: true });
</script>

Frameworks

Official React and Vue 3 components

@liteeditor/react

React WYSIWYG editor

SSR-safe component for React 17+ and Next.js. Uncontrolled by design, ref API, TypeScript types included.

Guide & examples

@liteeditor/vue

Vue 3 WYSIWYG editor

SSR-safe component for Vue 3.3+ and Nuxt. Composition API, exposed getContent/setContent, TypeScript types included.