MarkText vs Muesli
MarkText
marktext.me
Muesli
muesli.mdSide by side
| Figure | MarkText | Muesli |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Markdown editors | 8.5 (#6) | 8.5 (#7) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| License | The homepage identifies MarkText as free and open source under the MIT License. | The project is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. |
| Local file support | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms | Downloads are offered for macOS, Windows and Linux. | The maker lists browser use and desktop builds for macOS, Windows, and Linux; the download page labels the desktop downloads “Coming soon.” |
| Privacy | The homepage says MarkText requires no account and has no tracking. | The hosted service says document contents remain in storage chosen by the user and are not read, mined, or used for training. |
| Product | MarkText is a real-time Markdown editor that renders formatting as you type. | Muesli is a real-time collaborative Markdown editor for teams and AI agents that edit the same plain .md file. |
| Support | The homepage says the project is built by volunteers and invites users to sponsor development on GitHub. | The maker provides support and privacy contact by email at [email protected]. |
Plans
In their own words
MarkText
MarkText is a free, open-source desktop Markdown editor that displays formatted text as you write. It offers WYSIWYG preview and source-code editing, plus focus and typewriter modes. Writing features include tables, KaTeX math, diagrams, footnotes, code highlighting, and YAML, TOML, and JSON front matter. Listed diagram tools include Mermaid, Vega, and Vega-Lite. The editor has 33 light and dark themes, with CSS customization available. Documents can be exported as PDF or self-contained HTML, and local files are supported. MarkText runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Installation notes require macOS 11 or later and Windows 10 or 11, and provide arm64 and x64 installers for those systems. Homebrew, Chocolatey, and Winget are also listed as installation options. The homepage says MarkText needs no account and has no tracking. It is released under the MIT License, has no subscription, and is described as a volunteer-built project.
Muesli
Muesli is a free, real-time collaborative Markdown editor for teams and AI agents working in the same plain .md file. Collaborators can see live cursors and presence, discuss material in comment threads, submit tracked suggestions, and use append-only history with snapshots. Editing tools include inline preview, a source toggle, KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, editable tables and callouts, wikilinks, and backlinks. Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Copilot, and Gemini CLI can work through MCP or edit the file directly. When a human is present in a document, agent edits become suggestions for review. Guest links can grant viewer, commenter, or editor access without requiring accounts. Storage choices include local files, S3-compatible services, GitHub, Gitea, Forgejo, and Google Drive. Muesli is available on the web, Windows, macOS, Linux, and as a self-hosted service, and is open source under AGPL-3.0. Self-hosting uses one Docker image, but durable documents and history require Postgres and Redis. The hosted service says document contents remain in user-chosen storage and are not read, mined, or used for training.