Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

MarkText.app VS MacDown

Compare MarkText.app VS MacDown and see what are their differences

MarkText.app logo MarkText.app

Mark Text is a Markdown editor for Mac, Windows and Linux.

MacDown logo MacDown

MacDown is an open source Markdown editor for OS X, released under the MIT License.
  • MarkText.app Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-26
  • MacDown Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30

MarkText.app features and specs

  • Open Source
    MarkText is an open-source application, which means its source code is publicly accessible. This allows users to inspect, modify, and enhance the app according to their needs.
  • Cross-Platform
    The application is available on Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring that users can enjoy a consistent experience across different operating systems.
  • Clean and Minimalistic Interface
    MarkText features a clean and intuitive interface that makes it easy for users to focus on writing without getting distracted by overly complex features.
  • Real-Time Preview
    Users can see a real-time preview of their Markdown content as they write, enabling them to format their documents accurately without needing to switch between edit and preview modes constantly.
  • Support for CommonMark
    MarkText supports CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of Markdown documents and applications.

Possible disadvantages of MarkText.app

  • Limited Advanced Features
    While MarkText is excellent for basic Markdown editing, it may lack some of the advanced features found in other Markdown editors, such as built-in table of contents or more sophisticated export options.
  • Performance Issues
    Some users have reported performance issues, particularly with larger documents. This can cause the app to be sluggish or unresponsive at times.
  • Limited Plugin Ecosystem
    Unlike some other Markdown editors, MarkText does not have an extensive plugin ecosystem. This limits the ability to extend the app's functionality easily.
  • Syncing and Collaboration
    MarkText does not offer built-in features for real-time collaboration or document syncing across devices, which can be a drawback for teams or users working across multiple devices.
  • Documentation and Support
    While there is some documentation available, it might not be as comprehensive as some users would like. Additionally, since it's open-source, the level of official support can be limited.

MacDown features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    MacDown features a clean and intuitive interface, making it accessible for both novice and experienced users to write and edit Markdown.
  • Live Preview
    It provides a live preview feature that allows users to see the rendered Markdown output alongside the editor, which is useful for immediate visual feedback.
  • Open-Source
    MacDown is an open-source application, allowing users to contribute to its development or customize the tool to fit their specific needs.
  • Keyboard Shortcuts
    The application supports a variety of keyboard shortcuts, enhancing productivity and enabling faster Markdown editing.
  • Customizable Themes
    Users can customize the editor's themes and styles, allowing personalization to suit individual preferences or to have a specific aesthetic.

Possible disadvantages of MacDown

  • Mac-Only
    MacDown is only available for macOS, limiting its use to Mac users and excluding those on other operating systems like Windows or Linux.
  • Limited Advanced Features
    Compared to some other Markdown editors, MacDown might lack certain advanced features that power users might expect, such as integrated version control.
  • Performance Issues
    Some users have reported performance issues, such as lag or crashes, especially when working with large Markdown files.
  • Slow Development
    The development and update cycle for MacDown can be slow, meaning that bugs and feature requests might take longer to be addressed.
  • Learning Curve for Customization
    While customizable, new users might find the process of tweaking themes and styles to be complex and time-consuming.

MarkText.app videos

Using MS Word Review Tools to Mark Text

MacDown videos

BARRAS DE CORTE DA MACDOWN | APRESENTANDO MODs | FS19

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to MarkText.app and MacDown)
Text Editors
52 52%
48% 48
Markdown Editor
53 53%
47% 47
Markdown Viewer
49 49%
51% 51
Note Taking
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using MarkText.app and MacDown. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, MacDown should be more popular than MarkText.app. It has been mentiond 8 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

MarkText.app mentions (4)

MacDown mentions (8)

  • Show HN: NotesHub: cross-platform, Markdown-based note-taking app
    Thank you for crafting and sharing this. Have been looking for a modern MacDown[0] replacement, and this fit the bill nicely. Especially appreciate the reasonable, one-time cost and support for local storage. The "Key Features" section mentions "Export notes to PDF"; please consider adding an "Export notes to HTML" option. Custom theme support for the preview pane via CSS would be helpful too. [0]... - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Epub rendering with Pandoc
    I write a LOT of documentation in Markdown for $DAYJOB. I normally use Marked2 (not free, but I paid for my license 7-8 years ago) or MacDown (free) to preview them, and to export them to PDF. Both of these programs are specific to macOS, but a web search for "markdown editor" turns up a few dozen others, for other platforms. Most of these will have an "export to PDF" function built into them. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Good Free Application For Reading `.md` Files On Mac Pro
    MacDown is free, open source and super simple. Has been my go-to Markdown editor for years. Highly recommend. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: Is there any beautiful Markdown editor?
    Macdown: https://macdown.uranusjr.com/ And here's a huge list: https://github.com/mundimark/awesome-markdown-editors. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • High probability of conversion issues from PDF to Epub
    So I convert the PDF to Markdown format. Then I use my Markdown editor of choice, Macdown, to clean up the text and then convert the resulting document into the format that I want. Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing MarkText.app and MacDown, you can also consider the following products

Typora - A minimal Markdown reading & writing app.

Zettlr - Write Markdown documents with a comprehensive GUI and many workflow/time management tools.

StackEdit - Full-featured, open-source Markdown editor based on PageDown, the Markdown library used by Stack Overflow and the other Stack Exchange sites.

Markdown by DaringFireball - Text-to-HTML conversion tool/syntax for web writers, by John Gruber

Joplin - Joplin is a free, open source note taking and to-do application, which can handle a large number of notes organised into notebooks. The notes are searchable, tagged and modified either from the applications directly or from your own text editor.

Dillinger - joemccann has 95 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.