Ghostwriter vs Markra

Ghostwriter is a free Markdown text editor for distraction-free writing, available on Linux and Windows, with unofficial community-provided macOS support. It stores documents as local files and previews Markdown as HTML, which can be copied or exported. GitHub-flavored Markdown is supported, and export options include HTML, Pandoc, MultiMarkdown, and commonmark. Focus Mode highlights a selected area around the cursor, such as a line, sentence, paragraph, or three lines. Full-screen mode and Hemingway Mode provide other writing setups; Hemingway Mode disables backspace and delete. The editor includes light and dark themes, with options to create custom themes. Writers also get live word counts, document and session statistics, a document outline, autosave, and file backups. Linux installation instructions cover Ubuntu, Fedora, and Arch Linux. The Windows download page lists a portable 64-bit version for Windows 10. On macOS, users must compile the source because an installer is not available. Ghostwriter is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 3.0.

Markra is a local-first, open-source Markdown workspace with native AI review, offered as a desktop app and web editor. It supports WYSIWYG and source editing, with inline rendering for links, images, tables, tasks, callouts, code, math, and Mermaid diagrams. Users can open files or folders and keep local files, tabs, and rich editing together; documents remain ordinary Markdown files, and writing does not require an account. AI can answer questions, rewrite or summarize text, and propose edits, but users must approve changes before they are applied. AI features require at least one configured provider, including cloud providers, Ollama, or OpenAI-compatible endpoints. Provider API keys and custom headers are stored in local settings, and exported settings can include them. Notes can optionally sync through WebDAV, which preserves conflict copies. Desktop downloads are available for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Desktop exports include HTML, PDF, and Pandoc formats when configured; the web editor supports HTML download and browser print or PDF. Core features are free; AI use requires a configured provider.