Dillinger vs StackEdit

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.

StackEdit is an in-browser Markdown editor for writing, formatting and publishing documents. It highlights Markdown syntax and offers formatting controls alongside a live preview whose scrolling follows the editor. The site says it remains accessible for offline writing, and it supports local files as well as cloud sync with Google Drive, Dropbox and GitHub. Writers can share collaborative workspaces; when two collaborators edit the same file simultaneously, StackEdit merges their changes. Files also support inline comments and embedded discussions. The editor handles Markdown Extra, GitHub Flavored Markdown and CommonMark, with features configurable. It can publish blog posts to Blogger, WordPress and Zendesk, using Markdown, HTML or Handlebars-template formatting. Other supported content includes LaTeX mathematical expressions, sequence diagrams, flow charts, musical scores in ABC notation and emoji markup. Export formats are Markdown, HTML and PDF. StackEdit is listed as free and open source under an Apache License. Supported platforms include the web, a Chrome extension and self-hosting; the maker’s site displays a 2013–2019 copyright range.