HedgeDoc vs MDedit

HedgeDoc is a free, open-source Markdown editor for collaborative notes, diagrams, and presentations. It runs in a browser and can be self-hosted. People can edit notes together in real time by sharing a link, and guests can access notes. Notes can include graphs, diagrams, and embedded content; Markdown slides can be presented using reveal.js. Revision history records changes and lets users restore earlier versions. HedgeDoc 1.x offers six note-permission settings, from open editing to private access, and only the note owner can change a note’s permission. Its documentation describes authentication integrations such as LDAP, OAuth, SAML, GitHub, GitLab, Keycloak, Mattermost, Nextcloud, and Microsoft Entra ID. Image uploads can use filesystem, Imgur, S3, MinIO, Azure, or Lutim storage. Deployment options include a ready-to-use bundle and an official Docker image for amd64 and arm64. Built-in PDF export is deactivated after security vulnerabilities; browser print-to-PDF is suggested instead. The source code is licensed under AGPL 3.0.

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.