Markdown Editor Comparison
| Markdown Preview | Dillinger | StackEdit | Markdown Viewer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account needed to start writing | No | No | No | No |
| Where documents live | Your browser only | Your browser, with optional sync to GitHub, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Bitbucket | Your browser, with optional sync to Google Drive, Dropbox, GitHub or GitLab | Your browser, with optional share links stored on Cloudflare for 90 days |
| LaTeX math | Yes (KaTeX) | Yes (KaTeX) | Yes (KaTeX) | Yes (MathJax) |
| Mermaid diagrams | Yes | Not listed | Yes | Yes |
| Other diagram types | No | Not listed | ABC music notation | PlantUML, Graphviz, D2, Vega-Lite, maps, 3D models and more; several are rendered by outside servers |
| PDF export | Yes, through the browser print dialog | Yes | Sponsors only | Yes, print or image PDF |
| Copy as rich text for Gmail, Docs or Slack | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Presentation mode | Yes, with speaker notes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Sharing and collaboration | No | Not listed | Comments, and collaboration through synced workspaces | Share links and real-time Live Share rooms |
| Open source | No | Yes (MIT) | Yes (Apache 2.0) | Yes (Apache 2.0) |
| Price | Free | Free | Free, PDF export for sponsors | Free |
Checked on 30 September 2026 against each tool's own site and public source code. "Not listed" means we found no mention of it, not that it cannot exist.
Looking for a Dillinger alternative?
Dillinger is a clean, long-running editor with KaTeX math and optional sync to five cloud services. Markdown Preview is the closer fit if you want Mermaid diagrams, a presentation mode, or to paste formatted text into Gmail, Google Docs or Slack with one copy. It has no cloud sync at all, so there is nothing to connect and nothing that can leave your browser.
Looking for a StackEdit alternative?
StackEdit has KaTeX, Mermaid and a rich sync and comments setup, but PDF export is for sponsors only, and its public source has not changed since July 2023. Markdown Preview exports PDF, HTML and markdown for free, and is actively maintained.
Markdown Preview or Markdown Viewer?
These two are the closest. Both keep documents in your browser with no account, and both render math and Mermaid. Pick Markdown Viewer if you need folders for many documents, share links, live co-editing, or diagram types beyond Mermaid such as PlantUML and D2. Pick Markdown Preview if you want a simpler, focused screen, presentation mode with speaker notes, one-click copy into Gmail, Docs or Slack, and diagrams that are always drawn on your own device.
What Markdown Preview does not do
- No cloud sync, share links or live collaboration. Documents stay in one browser.
- Up to 10 documents open at a time, in tabs, without folders.
- Mermaid is the only diagram language.
- It is free, but not open source.