Markdown editors
2020-05-08 — 2026-03-02
Wherein sundry editors are surveyed; VS Code’s preview and mathematical frictions are noted, Mist’s URL-shared multiplayer drafts are described, and even command-line viewers are admitted to the inventory.
The main point, IMO, of the Markdown format was that it’s supposed to be easy to read and not require a specialized editor. Nonetheless, people inevitably end up wanting one, because we want to integrate document syncing, maths preview, image linking, or note-taking, etc.
There are many, both integrated into normal text editors and more specialized editors; see, e.g., this review for an overview of some interesting ones. In particular, some of the note-taking systems use Markdown as the back end storage format and thus double as Markdown editors.
I generally want to have markdown that incorporates mathematical equations which is a slightly niche requirement. I have a strong preference for editors that support this feature.
1 VS Code
My own workflow is based on VS code these days, and I use it as much as possible for my Markdown editing as well. It has built-in Markdown preview, although it has various friction points for mathematics.
2 Typora
Typora is another one we’ve seen that seems popular. It’s available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It looks pretty and highly polished. It also has hipster support, e.g. via Mathpix.
3 neutrinote
neutriNote - the original Markdown + Math note app. Programmatically extensible. Sync-ready note storage. Non-commerical. No lock-ins. Only 3 MB footprint & highly optimized. Designed for plaintext purists.
It works on Android.
4 Mist
Matt Webb’s hack. See Intro post:
Say hi to mist
.mdonly- share by URL
- real-time multiplayer editing
- comments
- suggest changes.
5 Markdeep
markdeep is a designerly Markdown renderer with good integration with other JavaScript-Markdown outputs.
Markdeep docs look like a PDF in a browser and work like native ASCII docs in your editor. There’s no plugin, exporting, or server. It supports every operating system and editor.
Markdeep supports style sheets, diagrams, calendars, citations, equations, and more, plus all common markdown features. It seamlessly integrates with your entire text-mode toolchain: IDE code editor, version control, GitHub, Jira, browser, terminal/CLI tools, and agentic tools. You can read locally as file:// or http://localhost, and host online with both static (like github.io) and dynamic servers.
6 Command-line Markdown viewers
7 RStudio
RStudio has a neatly integrated Markdown editor, especially for RMarkdown documents. I no longer use RStudio or RMarkdown.
8 Note-taking apps
Notational Velocity, Joplin, Turtl, and Zettlr are all note-taking apps that happen to work in Markdown and thus include Markdown editors.