Update:
We have a winner! Alissa McGee suggested Joplin, which:
- is 100% completely free (but feel free to donate)
- works on all platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android
- synchronises notes across your devices*
- has a split markdown preview / editing layout
- provides standard notebooks and tags features
- has language-specific syntax highlighting in code blocks
- supports mass-exporting of notes to multiple formats (markdown, JSON, etc.)
* by connecting to Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud, WebDAV, or others
I guess I have a new markdown editor! Thanks, Alissa!
I've started to grow a bit weary of my current markdown editor, Simplenote. While it's fully cross-platform (Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS) and auto-syncs your notes, it's markdown rendering can be a bit ugly and finnicky. So I decided to look for a new markdown editor.
Requirements:
- must be cross platform (at minimum: Windows, macOS, Android)
- ideally free
- ideally has a preview pane which updates instantly
I've looked through lots of pages of recommended markdown editors and here are most available markdown editors as of March 2019:
Cost and Cross-Platform Availability
Standalone (App) Editors:
| Editor | Platforms | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Abricotine | Windows, Linux, macOS‡ | free |
| Bear | macOS, iOS | $14.99/year |
| Byword | macOS, iOS | $10.99 |
| Caret | Windows, Linux, macOS | $29 |
| Focused | macOS | $19.99 |
| Ghostwriter | Windows, Linux, macOS‡ | free |
| Haroopad | Windows, Linux, macOS | free |
| Inkdrop | Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android | $49.90/year |
| iA Writer | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | free - $28.99†† |
| MacDown | macOS | free |
| Mark Text | Windows, Linux, macOS | free |
| MarkMyWords | Linux | free |
| Markdown Monster | Windows | $39 |
| MarkdownPad | Windows | $14.95 |
| Markdownify | Windows, Linux, macOS | free |
| Mindforger | Windows, Linux, macOS | free |
| Mou | macOS** (beta) | free† |
| NeoVim | Windows, Linux, macOS | free |
| PileMd | Windows, Linux, macOS | free |
| Quiver | macOS, iOS | $9.99 |
| ReText | Linux, macOS | free |
| Remarkable | Windows, Linux | free |
| Simplenote | Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android | free |
| Texts | Windows, macOS | $19 |
| Typora | Windows, Linux, macOS (beta) | free* |
| UberWriter | Linux | free |
| Ulysses | macOS, iOS | $39.99/year |
| WriteApp | Windows, Linux, macOS | $24.95 |
| WriteMonkey | Windows | free |
| Zettlr | Windows, Linux, macOS | free |
* macOS version is free during beta testing
** 10.7 through 10.11
† free during beta, will be $30 with v1.0
†† free on Android, $8.99 on iOS, $19.99 on Windows, $28.99 on macOS
‡ experimental / beta
Note that lots of IDEs / code editors have support for markdown, as well, including Atom, VS Code, Brackets, and more.
In-Browser Editors:
In-browser editors, by default, work on all platforms because they run in a web browser. Here are some common browser-based markdown editors:
| Editor | Platforms | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Dillinger | all | free |
| JBT Editor | all | free |
| Minimalist Online Markdown Editor | all | free |
| StackEdit | all | free |
| Write Kit | all | free |
Which one is right for me?
When I say "me", I mean me personally. I need an editor that works on Android, macOS, and Windows, at minimum. That kills most of the options above. What I'm left with is:
| Editor | Platforms | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Inkdrop | Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android | $49.90/year |
| iA Writer | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | free - $28.99†† |
| Simplenote | Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android | free |
| StackEdit | all | free |
I've removed most of the in-browser options, as well, because they don't offer some features I really need (saving and syncing notes automatically). This doesn't leave much to work with.
Inkdrop is almost $50 per year, though they offer a 60% discount to students and educators (which I would avail of). Still, this would cost over $50 by my third year of use and would only continue to rise in price after that.
iA Writer charges for each platform you want to install it on, so it could end up costing me almost $50, though that is for a lifetime installation. The markdown editing works pretty well in it, though I don't like that you have to put an empty line before the beginning of a list.
Simplenote is my current editor. The markdown formatting has a few ugly bugs which cause lists to be spaced weird or not detected. This was the reason I was looking for a new editor in the first place.
StackEdit seems fine but also a bit of work (I need to connect it to a Dropbox account or something similar to sync my notes). I can't be asked to do this on each machine I'm working on. I might as well just edit my notes directly from Dropbox.
Woe is me
So I'm right back to where I started. Recently, I began playing around with Boostnote, which is a beautiful editor that used to be available for Android, though they've recalled this support. It is still available for all desktop platforms.
I guess I'm stuck with either Simplenote or Boostnote if I don't want to shell out $50 for a markdown editor. There may be hope for Boostnote, though, as it's currently under very active development. Maybe they'll re-open the Android version soon...
Latest comments (53)
I'm interested to hear what you think of Typora if you've tried it. I realize it doesn't sync, but it's definitely become my favorite on Windows.
Looks promising! Once they get an Android version, I'll test it out!
Might I suggest adding screenshots to show the differences of each product that you reviewed, so we see see the markdown in action.
Joplin is so awesome, thank @Alissa McGee and OP @andrew a lot!
It took me a century to find the best MD editor that allows user sync across platforms and finally I got it,
I'm still using it since I wrote this post and the single thing I don't like about it is that it can be a bit jumpy with long markdown documents in split-screen mode. Other than that, it's beautiful.
I'm glad you like it!
A small thing I don't like is the UI in desktop kind of messy with too many things: menu bars, name-bar, sidebar.
But after all, it's the best choice we can get right now, and I'm happy with it.
Once more time, thanks for your awesome post.
QOwnNotes really ought to be in the list
Syncs with Nextcloud/Owncloud note app if wanted
qownnotes.org/
Vnote
What about Notable?
You ought to check out Mdyna.dev ;)
Would it be possible for you to provide a five-month update on Joplin? Starting to take notes in it myself, seems fine, but validation from thoughtful longer-term users like you is nice before a lot of my notes are in it.
Of course! I'm still using it and for the most part, I still like it. There are some small issues with scrolling when editing markdown with a live preview, but other than that, I've found it extremely useful. It works flawlessly across my Mac, my Android phone, and my Windows work PC. If there are conflicts, Joplin keeps both copies of the file so you don't lose anything. And they're good about updating. Maybe once every week or two, they put out a new version.
After a few months of use, I still strongly recommend it for anyone who needs multi-platform support.
After using Joplin for several days, I have to say I am not impressed.
Have you tried Joplin, if it hasn't already been mentioned?
Nobody's mentioned Joplin yet! But I've downloaded it on my Mac and it looks very promising! Thanks for suggesting it!
I use Atom a bit for markdown too, but have found that it also has rendering issues. One more is R and RStudio. I know they are industry specific but they sure make some very cooool markdown docs, html or pdfs. ;)))
Dillinger saves and syncs notes automatically once you tie it into dropbox or something. I'm a fan of dillinger especially the nice pdf export for printing.
I've become a fan of the in-browser editor hackmd.io which has a decent editor, live preview, auto-save/sync, collaboration, and a TON of extensions to markdown.
Are your notes available offline, though?
Oooooh. This one looks pretty good.
Unpopular opinion: emacs has got you covered with markdown-mode!
But getting emacs to run on Android is kind of a pain...
Only available on Android, though :/