---
title: "Coffee vs VS Code for writing Markdown on a Mac"
author: Pedro Thomaz
source: https://coffeetext.app/blog/coffee-vs-vs-code
---

# Coffee vs VS Code for writing Markdown on a Mac

> Checked November 2026 against [VS Code's Markdown documentation](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/markdown) and [FAQ](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/faq). I make Coffee, so read this with that in mind. Coffee isn't affiliated with Microsoft or VS Code.

If you already work in VS Code, or your Markdown lives beside code, stay there. It's [free for private and commercial use](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/faq), runs on Mac, Windows and Linux, and handles Markdown well. Choose Coffee if you mostly write rather than code, want to work in a formatted page by default, and are willing to pay for an app built around notes.

Both work on plain files, so you can try one without leaving the other.

## At a glance

| | VS Code | Coffee |
|---|---|---|
| Price | [Free](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/faq) | €3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once |
| Platforms | Mac, Windows, Linux | Mac only, macOS 15 or later |
| How you see Markdown | [Text with a preview beside it](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/markdown), plus an experimental rendered editor | A formatted page, code, or a split where you can type on either side |
| Maths and diagrams | KaTeX and Mermaid in the preview | Maths blocks, not inline. Mermaid flowcharts, pie charts and sequence diagrams |
| Extensions | Yes, through the Visual Studio Marketplace | None |
| Git | [Built in](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/sourcecontrol/overview), once Git is installed | One action: Propose change, for a single note |
| File history | [Timeline view](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/userinterface): local saves and Git commits | Version history for every note |
| PDF | Not mentioned in its Markdown docs | Three templates, with title page and page numbers |

## Where VS Code is better

**Price.** Free, for work as well. Coffee costs money after 14 days. The core editor's source is [available under the MIT Licence](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/faq), though Microsoft's own build adds proprietary parts under a product licence.

**Platforms.** VS Code runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. Coffee is Mac only.

**Git.** VS Code has [a full Source Control view](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/sourcecontrol/overview): diffs, staging individual changes and commits, with an extension for creating and reviewing pull requests. Coffee offers far less. It can send one note to a new branch and open a pull request, and that's all. It needs Git installed too.

**Maths and diagrams.** The preview renders Mermaid and KaTeX with nothing to install. Coffee draws `$$` maths blocks but not inline `$…$`, and only three Mermaid kinds: flowcharts, pie charts and sequence diagrams. Others, such as Gantt, class and state diagrams, stay as code.

**Tools for documents in a repository.** VS Code [completes file and image paths as you type](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/markdown), links to headings, and can check local links and update them when a file moves, the last two through settings that are off by default. For a docs folder inside a code project, this is useful and hard to give up.

**Extensions.** The Marketplace covers a lot of what the editor leaves out. [Markdown All in One](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=yzhang.markdown-all-in-one), for example, adds formatting shortcuts, a table of contents, list editing, a table formatter and printing to HTML. Coffee has no plugins.

**Code.** It's a code editor, and Coffee isn't. If your day includes programming, one tool for both makes sense.

## Setting up VS Code for writing

A few things in [its Markdown docs](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/markdown) make it nicer for prose, and none of them cost anything.

- **⇧⌘V** switches to the preview, and **⌘K V** opens it beside the text, with scrolling kept in step.
- **The Outline view** shows the file's headings as a tree.
- **Link checking** is off until you set `"markdown.validate.enabled": true`. It covers local files and headings, not web addresses.
- **Pasting or dragging an image** into a file copies it into the workspace and inserts the link.
- **[Zen mode](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/userinterface)** hides everything except the editor. Press Esc twice to leave.
- **The Markdown Editor** lets you edit rendered Markdown directly. Open the editor type menu in the breadcrumbs bar and pick it. The docs say it's experimental and might change or be removed.

Spell checking [isn't installed with VS Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/markdown), so add one of the Marketplace extensions if you need it.

## Where Coffee is different

**A formatted page by default.** You write in something that looks like the finished document, and the syntax is there when you want it. In VS Code, a rendered editing view exists but is still experimental, and the main way its docs describe is text beside a preview.

**Reviewing edits from anywhere.** VS Code has [good review for AI edits](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/chat/review-code-edits): in Copilot and Local sessions you can keep or undo one change, a file, or everything, and checkpoints restore earlier states. Its docs also set out the limits. Claude, Codex and cloud sessions compare diffs and don't offer keep or undo on pending edits, and changes made through terminal commands or scripts don't appear, so the docs suggest Source Control for those. Coffee doesn't watch a session. It compares the file with what you last read, whatever changed it, and you keep or undo each change. Try it here:

*There's a working demo of this [on the page](https://coffeetext.app/blog/coffee-vs-vs-code).*

**Sums in your notes.** Write `20% of 50`, `$30 in EUR` or `Tokyo time` and the answer appears beside the line, without entering the file. [More on this](https://coffeetext.app/blog/calculator-in-notes-mac).

**PDFs with templates.** Three templates, a title page and page numbers, with no setup. VS Code's Markdown docs don't mention PDF export, so you'd look for an extension or use [one of the other routes](https://coffeetext.app/blog/markdown-to-pdf-mac).

**Spell checking and comments.** Coffee uses the Mac's spell checker with nothing to add, and you can comment on selected words without touching the Markdown. Comments and version history stay in Coffee rather than in the file.

**Notes as a library.** Search with ⌘K answers from every note as you type. There are tags, templates, `[[links]]` that update when a title changes, and Check document, which finds broken links, missing images and skipped headings.

**Private notes.** A note can lock with Touch ID, which encrypts its file on disk and keeps it out of search.

**On-device questions.** On macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence, Ask answers questions about your notes, with the model running on your Mac.

**Usage data.** [VS Code collects usage data](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/faq) and sends it to Microsoft. You can turn that off in a setting, though extensions have their own collection that the setting doesn't control. Coffee doesn't store your notes on a server, and checking for new versions sends no account details. Subscribing does need an email address.

**Fewer decisions.** VS Code rewards setting up, and Coffee gives you fewer choices. Which you want is a matter of taste.

## Choose VS Code if

- You write code, or your Markdown lives in a code repository
- You need Windows or Linux
- You use Git properly and want it in the editor
- You need inline maths, other Mermaid diagram kinds, or extensions
- You don't want to pay for an editor

## Choose Coffee if

- You mostly write, and want a formatted page rather than text with a preview
- Your AI tools run outside the editor, and you want to check every change to a note
- You keep many notes and want search, sums, version history and private notes in one app
- You're on macOS 15 or later and happy to [pay for it](https://coffeetext.app/#pricing)

Plenty of people could use both: VS Code for the repository and Coffee for the writing. They open the same `.md` files, and when one changes a file, Coffee shows you the change.

## Questions

### Is VS Code free for commercial use?

Yes. Microsoft's FAQ says VS Code is free for private or commercial use.

### Can VS Code show Markdown as a formatted page while I type?

Its experimental Markdown Editor does, with syntax visible at the cursor. The docs warn that it might change or be removed. The usual alternative is the side-by-side preview, opened with ⌘K V.

### Does VS Code support GitHub Flavored Markdown?

Its FAQ answers no: it targets the CommonMark specification, through the markdown-it library.

### Does VS Code work with Coffee?

They don't connect, and don't need to. Both open ordinary `.md` files, so you can edit a note in either. If a file changes outside Coffee, Coffee shows each change to keep or undo.

### Does Coffee replace VS Code?

Only if you use VS Code just for writing. Coffee is built for writing documents rather than code, and it has no extensions.

---

Written by Pedro Thomaz, who makes Coffee, a Markdown editor for the Mac on macOS 15 or later. It's free for 14 days with no card or account, then €3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once with two years of updates. More at https://coffeetext.app/llms-full.txt