Typora alternatives on the Mac, for writing in the formatted page

Checked 8 November 2026 against each app's official pages and repositories, 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.

Typora is a good editor at a fair price, so start by asking what you want that it doesn't give you. If it's the price, MarkText is free and works much the same way. If it's a library of notes rather than single documents, look at Obsidian or Coffee. If it's prose tools, iA Writer. If it's citations, Zettlr. And if you live in a code editor anyway, VS Code.

I make Coffee, one of the apps below, so read what I say about it with that in mind. Facts about the others come from their own pages.

What Typora does well

Typora shows your Markdown as a formatted page and hides the symbols as you type, with no separate preview window. It handles maths and Mermaid diagrams, its themes are CSS, and it can export to Word, EPUB and more through Pandoc. It works on your own files and folders, and it runs on Mac, Windows and Linux.

It costs $14.99 once, before tax, for up to three devices, after a 15-day trial. A major version may cost extra. That's cheap for what you get, and few of the paid options below beat it on price.

Formats as you type, or shows a preview?

This is the main difference between the apps here, so it's worth sorting them first. Some draw the formatting in the line you're typing, as Typora does. Others keep the Markdown visible and show the result in a preview.

The closest match, for free: MarkText

MarkText is the nearest thing to Typora without paying. Your Markdown transforms in place as you type, with no preview pane, and you can drop into raw Markdown when you want to. It has 33 themes written in CSS, supports tables, maths, Mermaid and Vega diagrams, footnotes and front matter, and exports to PDF and HTML. It's under the MIT licence, on Mac, Windows and Linux.

On the Mac it needs macOS 13 or later, and you pick the Apple silicon or Intel build. Its releases page shows it's being worked on, with 0.23.0 in October 2026 and a 0.24.0 release candidate in November.

Where Typora is still ahead: Pandoc export to Word, EPUB and other formats. MarkText's page lists PDF and HTML.

For a library of notes: Obsidian or Coffee

Typora opens folders, but in my reading it's built around writing one document at a time. If what you're missing is search across hundreds of notes, links between them and some structure, these two fit better.

Obsidian. Obsidian's editing view defaults to Live Preview, which shows formatted text inline and brings the Markdown back only where your cursor is. So it writes much like Typora, while adding links, a graph, a canvas and thousands of plugins. The app is free, with Sync and Publish as paid extras, and your notes are Markdown files in a folder. For most people leaving Typora because they want more, this is the obvious first try. See Coffee vs Obsidian.

Coffee. This is the app I make. It formats as you type too, and you can switch to the code or show both side by side, typing on either side. It keeps notes as .md files in a folder you choose. Around the page it adds search across every note with ⌘K, [[wiki links]], version history that says what changed between versions, sums beside the line, and review of edits made by AI tools, one change at a time. It also has folders with pinned notes and a sort order for each, and Replace in All Notes, which shows every match before changing it and undoes in one step.

Typora beats it in several places, and some of them may decide it for you. Typora is cheaper and runs on Windows and Linux. It draws inline maths and more kinds of diagram, where Coffee draws $$ blocks and only Mermaid flowcharts, pie charts and sequence diagrams. It has a gallery of themes, where Coffee has light and dark. And it reaches LaTeX and other formats through Pandoc, where Coffee exports PDF, Word, EPUB, HTML, Markdown and plain text by itself. Coffee is 14 days free with no card, then €3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once with two years of updates. See Coffee vs Typora.

For prose: iA Writer

iA Writer works differently from Typora, with the finished document shown in a Preview. What it adds is for writers: Focus Mode, which fades everything except what you're working on, and Style Check, which flags fillers, redundancies and clichés. It exports PDF, Word and HTML, with templates.

It costs $49.99 once on the Mac, with each platform paid separately, and a 7-day trial with no card. It's also on iPhone, iPad and Windows, which Typora isn't on the first two. See Coffee vs iA Writer.

For academic writing: Zettlr

Zettlr is free and open source, on Mac, Windows and Linux, and keeps your files on your computer. It renders LaTeX maths and Mermaid charts, and it's built around citations, with Zotero, JabRef and Juris-M, thousands of citation styles, and export through Pandoc profiles. If you used Typora for papers and kept fighting with references, this is the one to try. It needs macOS 13 or newer. See Coffee vs Zettlr.

For something small and Mac only: MacDown 3000

The original MacDown is still around, but its repository shows no stable release since v0.7.3 in January 2020, and it doesn't say either way whether the project is maintained. There's more on that in Coffee vs MacDown.

MacDown 3000 is a separate project that calls itself essentially MacDown Continued. It's free under the MIT licence, needs macOS 11 or later on Apple silicon or Intel, and has regular releases, the latest stable one being 3000.0.8 on 2 November 2026. It shows a live preview as you type, and supports GitHub task lists, maths, front matter and export to HTML or PDF. It can open a folder with a sidebar of its files.

If you're already in a code editor: VS Code

VS Code is free and has a Markdown preview you open with ⇧⌘V, or side by side with ⌘K V, with scrolling kept in step. It renders Mermaid and maths in the preview, and has an outline, path completion and Git. Its rendered editing view is still marked experimental, so for now it's mostly an editor with a preview, not a Typora replacement. It makes sense if your Markdown is READMEs and docs beside code. See Coffee vs VS Code.

Which to choose

• You like Typora and only mind the price: MarkText.
• You want links, search and a notes library: Obsidian, or Coffee if you're on a Mac and want it built in.
• You write prose and want help with it: iA Writer.
• You cite sources: Zettlr.
• You want something small, free and Mac only: MacDown 3000.
• Your Markdown lives beside code: VS Code.
• You need Windows or Linux as well as a Mac: stay with Typora, or use MarkText, Obsidian or Zettlr.

All of these work on plain Markdown files, so trying one costs you nothing but time. Open a copy of your folder in two of them and see which you keep reaching for.

Questions

Is there a free alternative to Typora?

Yes. MarkText is free and open source, and formats Markdown in place as you type, much like Typora. Obsidian's Live Preview works in a similar way and is also free. Zettlr, MacDown 3000 and VS Code are free too.

Is MacDown still maintained?

The original MacDown's last stable release was v0.7.3 in January 2020, and its repository doesn't state its status. MacDown 3000 is a separate free project that continues it, with releases in 2026.

Does Coffee cost more than Typora?

Yes. Typora is $14.99 once for up to three devices. Coffee is €3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once with two years of updates, after 14 days free with no card. Coffee is Mac only.

Can I move my Typora files to another editor?

Yes. Typora works on ordinary Markdown files in your own folders, so any editor on this list can open them. Typora's theme styling stays in Typora.