The best Markdown editors for Mac, by who they suit

Checked November 2026 against each app's official pages, linked below. Prices are in the currency each maker lists, before tax, and can change. I make Coffee, so read this with that in mind. Coffee isn't affiliated with any of these apps.

I make Coffee, one of the apps on this list, so this ranking is biased, and you should read it knowing that. There's no single best Markdown editor for the Mac, and I'm not giving out scores. For most people who want plugins and linked notes, it's Obsidian. For one clean, cheap editor, Typora. For long prose, iA Writer or Ulysses. For academic writing, Zettlr. For Markdown beside code, VS Code. Coffee suits people on a Mac who keep a library of notes and edit it with AI tools.

Everything below comes from each maker's own pages, and it isn't a side-by-side test. Try two before you commit.

At a glance

If you want plugins and linked notes: Obsidian

Obsidian stores notes as plain Markdown files on your device, with thousands of plugins and themes, a graph of how notes connect and an infinite canvas. The app is free without limits, and you pay only for Sync or Publish if you want them. It runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.

It's a sensible place to start if you aren't sure, as trying it costs nothing. If you dislike configuring things, choosing plugins may feel like work. There's more in Coffee vs Obsidian.

If you want one clean editor at a low price: Typora

Typora gives you a live preview with no separate preview window, so you write in the formatted page. It handles maths and diagrams, its themes are CSS, and it can export to Word, EPUB and more through Pandoc. At $14.99 once on up to three devices, with a 15-day trial, it's hard to argue with. A major version may cost extra. See Coffee vs Typora.

If you write prose: iA Writer

iA Writer is built around the sentence. Focus Mode fades everything except what you're working on, Style Check flags clichés, fillers and clutter, and it tracks what you typed and what you pasted. It costs $49.99 once on the Mac, with each platform paid separately, and a 7-day trial with no card. See Coffee vs iA Writer.

If you want pleasant notes on all your Apple devices: Bear

Bear formats Markdown live as you type, and organises notes with nested tags and backlinks. It has sketches and document scanning. The free version keeps notes local. Pro adds iCloud sync across Mac, iPhone and iPad, note encryption, more export formats, and search inside PDFs and images, at $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year.

The trade-off is that notes live in a SQLite database rather than in files, though you can export them as Markdown on the free version. See Coffee vs Bear.

If you're writing something long, or publishing: Ulysses

Ulysses calls itself a markup-based editor for people who write a lot. It keeps scenes and chapters together in a library, sets deadlines and daily goals, and publishes to WordPress, Ghost, Medium and Micro.blog. It exports PDFs, Word documents and ebooks. Syncing between devices is included in the subscription of $5.99 a month or $39.99 a year, and it's also on Setapp.

Texts live in its library by default. It can work with Markdown files in external folders, with limits: local images can't be embedded, and Markdown XL tags such as comments aren't available there. See Coffee vs Ulysses.

If you're writing a thesis or papers: Zettlr

Zettlr describes itself as a publication workbench, and it's free and open source, supported by donations. It works with Zotero, JabRef and Juris-M, supports thousands of citation styles, and exports through Pandoc profiles. It also has maths, Mermaid, LanguageTool grammar checking and Zettelkasten tools such as note IDs and a graph view. It needs macOS 13 or newer. If you cite sources, start here. See Coffee vs Zettlr.

If your Markdown lives beside code: VS Code

VS Code has a preview with scrolling kept in step, an outline, path completion, Mermaid and KaTeX, and Git built in. It's free, even for work. For prose it's less of a natural home: spell checking is an extension, and its rendered editing view is still marked experimental. See Coffee vs VS Code.

If you want something small and free

Two editors from outside the main list deserve a mention. MarkEdit is a free, open source, Mac-only editor that describes itself as TextEdit dedicated to Markdown, at about 4 MB. MacDown 3000 is free too, with a live preview. There are more in free Markdown editors for Mac.

If you edit notes with AI tools, on a Mac only: Coffee

This is the one I make. Coffee is a native Mac app that keeps notes as .md files in a folder you choose. When Claude, Cursor, a Git pull or a synced folder changes a file, it shows each change since you last read the note, to keep or undo one at a time. It also does sums beside the text, search across every note with ⌘K, version history, three PDF templates, and private notes that lock with Touch ID. It has an MCP server for AI apps, off until you turn it on.

Its limits are real, and some of them settle the question. It's Mac only, on macOS 15 or later, so there's no phone app. It has no sync of its own, so people use iCloud Drive or similar. It has no plugins, no citation tools and no collaborative editing. It draws $$ maths blocks and three kinds of Mermaid diagram, but not inline maths or the other diagram kinds. Compared with the free options above, you're paying for it: €3 a month, €29 a year or €79 once, with 14 days free and no card.

How to choose

Three questions settle most of this.

What devices do you use? If you need a phone, rule out Typora, Zettlr, VS Code and Coffee. If you need Windows, rule out Bear, Ulysses and Coffee. Linux rules out iA Writer as well.

Do you need real files? If your notes must be files other tools can open, Bear's database and Ulysses' library need extra thought. There's a five-minute test for any app.

What are you making? Papers point to Zettlr, books and blog posts to Ulysses or iA Writer, a web of linked notes to Obsidian, and documentation to VS Code. How each one charges is covered in subscription or one-time purchase.

Questions

What is the best Markdown editor for Mac?

There isn't one for everyone. Obsidian is the easiest to recommend widely, as it's free and works with plain files and plugins. Typora is the simple low-cost choice, and iA Writer the one for prose. I make Coffee, so weigh my view with that in mind.

What is the best free Markdown editor for Mac?

Obsidian for notes, Zettlr for academic writing, VS Code for working with code, and MarkEdit or MacDown 3000 for something small. All are free to use.

Which Mac Markdown editors keep plain files?

Obsidian, Typora, iA Writer, Zettlr, VS Code and Coffee all work with files in folders. Bear keeps notes in a SQLite database. Ulysses uses its own library, with external folders as an option.

Which Markdown editor is best for writing with AI tools?

Any editor can open a file an AI tool changed. What differs is how you review the change. Coffee shows each change for you to keep or undo, and VS Code has review for edits made in its own chat sessions. Without either, Git and git diff --word-diff work well.