People compare them like they have relative differences. I'd argue that they are two incomparable categories.

I'm a die-hard Vimmer who uses Emacs, and it's now clear to me that when talking about Vim and Emacs, one has to emphasize their foundational values, ideas at the root.

Vim is an amazing, incredible idea. It's the most satisfying and productive way to navigate around any kind of text. And as long as we have keyboard input and keyboards, Vim will stay relevant.

And Emacs is based on another fantastic idea. Arguably - the greatest idea in Computer Science to this day. Lisp. And understanding Lisp is a prerequisite required to appreciate the power of Emacs.

From my personal experience, when people try to compare one to another - there's usually one-sided incomprehension. They either don't have sufficient experience using Vim, or they lack understanding Lisp.