BlockNote vs ProseMirror

BlockNote is an open-source rich-text editor for developers adding document editing to web applications. It is suited to knowledge bases, note-taking apps, document editors, and internal tools, with a ready-made animated interface and block-based documents to start from. Developers can add custom block types, change menus, or build a UI from scratch. The editor is built on ProseMirror and TipTap; real-time collaboration uses Yjs, with providers including Liveblocks, PartyKit, Y-Sweet, Hocuspocus, y-websocket, and y-webrtc. Documentation lists y-indexeddb for offline storage. BlockNote imports and exports its JSON format and HTML, while conversions to standard HTML and Markdown are marked lossy. XL packages add AI integration, multi-column layouts, and exports to PDF, DOCX, ODT, and email. They are free for open-source projects under GPL-3.0; closed-source use requires a commercial license. The Community plan is free, and Business is $195 a month, billed yearly. It runs self-hosted or on the web.

ProseMirror is a toolkit for developers building rich-text editors on the web. It supports structured documents through a WYSIWYG-style interface while letting applications define document shape and content. Instead of treating a document as an HTML blob, it gives application code control over a custom data structure. Schemas and plugins provide ways to customize that structure and extend editor behavior. Four core modules handle the document model, editor state, view, and transformations; additional modules offer commands, key bindings, undo history, input macros, collaboration, and a basic schema. Multiple people can edit together in real time. Examples cover Markdown, image uploads, custom schemas, menus, code editors, footnotes, and track changes. ProseMirror is free, open source, and legally usable commercially; it can be self-hosted and is installed through npm. It works in recent Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Edge versions, as well as Internet Explorer 11. It is a modular toolkit rather than a ready-made editor component, and implementation generally involves a bundler.