They have different workflows. Emacs can edit remote files. With vi, you ssh to the remote machine, run vi and do your edits, then log out. With Emacs, you s

They have different workflows. Emacs can edit remote files. With vi, you ssh to the remote machine, run vi and do your edits, then log out. With Emacs, you ssh to your machine wherever it is already running Emacs, and use the remote edit features. You never close Emacs.