Coffee vs Typora: two Markdown editors for the Mac

Q: Does Coffee support maths or Mermaid diagrams?

Partly. Coffee draws a $$ block of everyday TeX as a formula, in the editor and in its exports, but inline $…$ is shown in italic, not drawn. It draws Mermaid flowcharts, pie charts and sequence diagrams, and other kinds stay as code. Typora renders inline maths and more diagram kinds, so if you need those, it's the better choice.

Checked November 2026 against Typora's store page and support docs. I make Coffee, so read this with that in mind. Coffee isn't affiliated with Typora.

If you want one clean Markdown editor at a low one-time price, for Mac, Windows or Linux, or you want inline maths, every kind of diagram, or LaTeX export, choose Typora. Choose Coffee if you're on a Mac and treat your notes as a library, with search across all of them, review of edits from AI tools, sums in your notes and version history.

They look alike at first, since both show your Markdown as a formatted page while you write. The differences are in what's around the page.

At a glance

Compared	Typora	Coffee
Price	$14.99 once, on up to 3 devices	€3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once
Trial	15 days	14 days, no card
Updates	Free, though a major version may cost extra	Included in a subscription. Two years with €79, then €29 a year if you want them
Platforms	Mac, Windows, Linux	Mac only, macOS 15 or later
Your notes	Your own files and folders	Your own files and folders
Maths and diagrams	MathJax, Mermaid and others	Maths blocks, not inline. Mermaid flowcharts, pie charts and sequence diagrams
PDF	Your theme, with headers, footers and custom CSS	Three templates, with no customising
Other export	Word, EPUB, LaTeX and more through Pandoc	Word, EPUB, HTML, Markdown, plain text, with nothing to install

Where Typora is better

Price. $14.99 once is hard to beat, and it covers three devices. Coffee's €79 is several times that. Even Coffee's yearly plan passes it in the first year.

Platforms. Typora runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. If you use more than one, Coffee isn't an option.

Maths and diagrams. Typora renders equations with MathJax, inline as well as in blocks, and flowcharts and sequence diagrams with Mermaid and others. Coffee draws $$ blocks of everyday TeX, but inline $…$ is only shown in italic, and it draws three Mermaid kinds: flowcharts, pie charts and sequence diagrams. Gantt, class, state and other kinds stay as code. If you write technical papers or course notes, Typora's wider support may decide it.

Themes. Typora is styled with CSS, there's a gallery of themes, and you can write your own. Coffee offers fonts, column width and light or dark, and that's it.

Export formats. With Pandoc installed, Typora reaches Word, RTF, EPUB, LaTeX and others. Coffee exports PDF, Word, EPUB, HTML, Markdown and plain text on its own, but has no LaTeX export and doesn't use Pandoc. If your document has to end up as LaTeX or another Pandoc format, Typora is the better choice.

PDF control. Typora lets you set paper size and margins, write your own headers and footers, and restyle with CSS. Coffee gives you three templates, and they're quick, but you can't change them.

Where Coffee is different

I'm describing what Coffee has here, not claiming Typora lacks all of it. Check its docs for anything that matters to you.

Search across everything. Press ⌘K and every note answers as you type, accents included. It takes about 14 milliseconds across 5,000 notes in our tests. Typora has a file tree and an outline. Coffee adds tags, templates, and [[links]] between notes.

Reviewing edits from outside. When Claude, Cursor or anything else edits a file, Coffee shows each change since you last read the note, to keep or undo one at a time. See how to review AI edits.

Sums in your notes. Write 20% of 50 or $30 in EUR and the answer appears beside the line. Try it.

Version history and comments. Every note keeps earlier versions you can drag back through, and you can comment on selected words without touching the Markdown. Neither travels with the file, which is worth understanding first.

Private notes. Lock a note with Touch ID, and the file on disk is encrypted and hidden from search and AI.

Working with AI and Git. Coffee has an MCP server for AI apps, off until you turn it on, and it can propose a note as a Git pull request. On macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence, you can ask about your notes with the model running on your Mac.

Split view. Typora's live preview hides the syntax as you type. Coffee can do that, show the code, or show both side by side and let you type in either.

Choose Typora if

You use Windows or Linux, or several kinds of machine
You write inline maths, or need Mermaid diagrams beyond flowcharts, pie charts and sequence diagrams
You need to export to LaTeX or another Pandoc format
You want to design your own theme or PDF style
You want to pay once, for a low price

Choose Coffee if

You're on a Mac running macOS 15 or later
You keep a lot of notes and want to find things instantly
You edit Markdown with AI tools and want to check each change
You want sums, version history and private notes in the same app
You're comfortable with fewer choices about how it looks

Moving between them

Both work on plain Markdown files, so you can open the same folder in either. Try both for free: Typora gives you 15 days, Coffee 14.

Questions

Is Typora a one-time purchase?

Yes. Typora's store lists it at $14.99 before tax, as a one-time purchase with no subscription and no expiry, on up to 3 devices. Its licence says a major update may need an extra fee.

Does Coffee support maths or Mermaid diagrams?

Partly. Coffee draws a $$ block of everyday TeX as a formula, in the editor and in its exports, but inline $…$ is shown in italic, not drawn. It draws Mermaid flowcharts, pie charts and sequence diagrams, and other kinds stay as code. Typora renders inline maths and more diagram kinds, so if you need those, it's the better choice.