Dillinger vs MDedit

Dillinger is a free web-based Markdown editor with live preview, cloud sync, and no signup requirement. Its Monaco editor includes syntax highlighting, multiple cursors, find and replace, and autocompletion. A side-by-side preview renders Markdown as you type and keeps scrolling aligned with the editor. Documents can be imported by drag and drop and exported as Markdown, styled HTML, or PDF. Dillinger also imports and saves files through GitHub, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Bitbucket; GitHub support covers public and private repositories and lets users save edits back. After the initial load, the editor works offline and keeps drafts in local storage, although cloud sync requires connectivity. Other options include dark mode, fullscreen Zen mode, and Vim and Emacs keybindings. The site describes use by developers, technical writers, and AI builders writing READMEs, documentation, blog posts, and LLM prompts. Documents save automatically in the browser, and the features page says data is not stored on Dillinger’s servers. The Free plan is free, with no signup, paywall, or usage limits.

MDedit is a free, MIT-licensed Markdown editor built with Tauri for Linux, macOS, Windows, and the web. It combines source editing, live preview, native local-file handling, and offline export. A tabbed workspace keeps synchronized Edit, Split, and Preview modes, with independent editing state for each document. Markdown support includes GitHub-flavored syntax, task lists, tables, footnotes, callouts, and syntax highlighting, plus Mermaid diagrams and KaTeX mathematics. Per-document find and replace offers match-case, whole-word, and regular-expression options; formatting shortcuts and automatic list continuation are also included. MDedit exports HTML, PNG, PDF, CSV, and SVG. The project says it uses no account, telemetry, document upload, or server-side rendering, and keeps documents local. Desktop recovery snapshots can restore tabs, content, and workspace state after an unexpected shutdown. Desktop attachments are limited to 20 MiB each. Browser sessions cannot resolve Markdown files on disk. Desktop downloads are listed for Windows x64, macOS Apple silicon, and Ubuntu/Debian x64, but builds are unsigned and may trigger an operating-system warning. The free plan costs nothing.