HedgeDoc vs Zettlr

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.

Zettlr is a writing workbench for projects that can run from early notes through journal submissions and book manuscripts. It began as a Markdown editor for academic researchers and is also used by students, journalists, authors, and others writing substantial amounts. The app works offline on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and files stay on the user's computer. It supports standard Markdown and exports to formats supported by Pandoc. Citation manager support includes Zotero, JabRef, and Juris-M, with more than 9,000 citation styles. Note features include IDs, wiki-style internal links, related files, navigation, and graph view. Pandoc-powered profiles can apply templates to papers or prepare presentations for Beamer, reveal.js, or PowerPoint. Zettlr also renders LaTeX equations and Mermaid charts and supports extensive settings and custom CSS. It is free and open source, with no payment required to download. The maker says app data is not collected and update checks can be disabled. Older releases are unsupported; nightly releases may contain many bugs.