Software Alternatives & Reviews

Zettlr VS Zotero

Compare Zettlr VS Zotero and see what are their differences

Zettlr logo Zettlr

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

Zotero logo Zotero

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research.
  • Zettlr Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-30
  • Zotero Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-24

Zettlr videos

Meet Zettlr, your all-in-one companion for writing #Markdown

More videos:

  • Review - Zettlr Introduction: Getting Started
  • Review - Citing with Zettlr

Zotero videos

Zotero vs Mendeley: which one is best?

More videos:

  • Review - Using Zotero for academic writing

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Zettlr and Zotero)
Note Taking
100 100%
0% 0
Research Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Markdown Editor
100 100%
0% 0
Information Organization
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Zettlr and Zotero

Zettlr Reviews

Best Next-Level Note Apps for 2021
Zettlr is simply an open-source Markdown editor. The system authorizes various citation formats, includes theme customization and writing statistics, as well as supporting the Zettelkasten method. File and tag management permits user-friendly note organization. Noteworthy of Mem is that the app is available in 14 languages and notes can be exported in 40 different formats.
Source: zenkit.com

Zotero Reviews

Top 5 Free Reference Management Software for Research
Zotero is the only software that automatically senses research on the web. Need an article from JSTOR or a preprint from arXiv.org? A news story from the New York Times or a book from a library? Zotero has you covered, everywhere.
10 Best Reference Management Software for Research
Zotero is a reference management software that can be used by students and researchers of all levels. It’s a great way to keep track of your sources, as well as easily create citations and bibliographies. Here are some of the ways Zotero can be especially helpful for Ph.D. students:
Citation Management Tools - Alternatives to EndNote
Mendeley is a free Web-based tool similar to Zotero, but it sets itself apart with a robust PDF annotating tool. Because Mendeley doesn't work within Google Docs, you would have to create a bibliography and copy it over to the document. Thus, Mendeley might be a great fit for those who use citation managers for personal projects but not for those participating in a lot of...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Zotero should be more popular than Zettlr. It has been mentiond 17 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.

Zettlr mentions (10)

  • Zettlr in the fediverse and on matrix?
    Oh! That's nice. :D Is this mentioned on zettlr.com? Seems as if I've missed it... Source: about 1 year ago
  • Suggestion for open source note taking app
    I'd strongly recommend trying out Zettlr (https://zettlr.com), which in many ways is close to Obsidian (except Zettlr is open source). A new Zettlr release is close to arriving and implements lots of improvements. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Scrivener alternatives for academic writing and research?
    You might give Zettlr a spin. It's another Markdown-based tool like Obsidian, but it is really focussed on Zettelkasten, and of interest to you, with a stronger focus on long-form academic writing. It supports citations, footnotes and uses Pandoc for document production—so there are lots of ways to get your work out. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Any open source markdown editor having live preview like Typora?
    Is https://zettlr.com an option for you? Source: about 2 years ago
  • Typora alternative? (or any desktop Markdown editor with export to PDF?)
    Zettlr is open source and has export-to-PDF. Source: about 2 years ago
View more

Zotero mentions (17)

  • Newbie help setting up Zotero using existing materials
    If the second, then you need to create a zotero group library. This can only be done at zotero.org but syncs with your client. Source: 11 months ago
  • Problems with syncing
    When I check the API settings on zotero.org, I only see my desktop actually connecting,. Source: 11 months ago
  • Emacs, a maximalist approach to social media addiction
    An approach of digital maximalism should also let you organise incoming and outgoing information (on software that you run and control). This is what [Emacs](https://emacs.org) is doing. If you're missing _e.g._ the adrenaline of social media, Emacs can help for that by letting you insert academic references into lengthy, inflammatory, but informed, nuanced, and articulated Org-mode documents. It's actually much... Source: almost 1 year ago
  • Best resources for chiropractic research?
    If you’re interested in actually downloading, reading, and collecting research papers, I highly recommend Zotero. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Zotero on Chromebook
    Has anyone managed to make Zotero work on their Chromebook? I have a Lenovo Chromebook and I've not been able to make it work. I can't access any of the PDF attachments on zotero.org or install the programme. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Zettlr and Zotero, you can also consider the following products

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.

Mendeley - Easily organize your papers, read & annotate your PDFs, collaborate in private or open groups, and securely access your research from everywhere.

Obsidian.md - A second brain, for you, forever. Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files.

JabRef - Graphical Java application for managing bibtex (. bib) databases.‎JabRef · ‎JabRef Help · ‎JabRef | Blog · ‎OpenOffice/LibreOffice .

Logseq - Logseq is a local-first, non-linear, outliner notebook for organizing and sharing your personal knowledge base.

Qiqqa - Qiqqa is a free research and reference management software. It can be used in many organizational projects from the academic to the personal to the business endeavor. Read more about Qiqqa.