ghostwriter vs Typora

ghostwriter

• Linux and Windows users who want a free Markdown editor
• Writers who draft first and format later
• Bloggers who need clean HTML from Markdown

Typora

• People who write Markdown and want to see formatted text as they type
• Technical notes that mix code blocks, math and Mermaid diagrams
• Buyers who prefer a low one-time price to a subscription

ghostwriter

• macOS support is unofficial and community-provided: there is no installer, so the app has to be compiled from source.
• The Windows download is offered only as a portable 64-bit build for Windows 10.
• No mobile or web version is listed.
• Export to other formats relies on processors such as Pandoc or MultiMarkdown.

Typora

• Desktop only: downloads are offered for macOS, Windows and Linux, with no mobile or web version listed.
• A license covers one person on up to 3 devices at a time, and no bulk or organization-wide license is offered.
• Under the license agreement, free updates do not include major updates such as a move from 1.x to 2.x.
• Typora is file-based and does not store documents; syncing between devices is left to services such as Dropbox or iCloud.

ghostwriter

Live preview

Shows the Markdown document as HTML beside the editor, tuned to stay responsive on large documents. The HTML can be copied into a blog.

Focus Mode

Highlights the text around the cursor and fades the rest. It can be set to highlight the current line, sentence, paragraph or three lines.

Hemingway Mode

Disables the backspace and delete keys so that drafting cannot be interrupted by editing, in the manner of a typewriter.

Outline navigation

A sidebar outline jumps to any section of the document, in the editor and in the live preview, by mouse or with Ctrl+J and the arrow keys.

Document and session statistics

A live word count sits at the bottom of the window, and sidebar tabs show further statistics for the document and the current session.

Export through Markdown processors

Exports to other formats using Pandoc, MultiMarkdown or commonmark, and uses Pandoc to render equations with MathJax.

Typora

Live preview editing

Formats Markdown in place while typing, with no separate preview window or mode switch, so the document looks the same when writing and when reading.

Tables, code, math and diagrams

Tables resize by dragging, code fences highlight around 100 languages, MathJax handles equations, and flowchart, sequence and Mermaid diagrams are drawn from text.

Image handling

Images are inserted by drag and drop and shown inline, can be resized with an img tag, and on macOS can be uploaded to a cloud server through the iPic service.

File tree and outline panels

A file tree and an article list organize files in any folder, and an outline panel lists a document's headings for jumping to a section.

Import and export

Exports to PDF with bookmarks, and imports or exports other formats including docx, OpenOffice, LaTeX, MediaWiki and Epub.

Focus mode, typewriter mode and themes

Focus mode blurs every line but the current one, typewriter mode keeps the active line in the middle of the window, and themes are configured with CSS.

ghostwriter

• Free$0

  The complete editor at no cost: a portable 64-bit build for Windows 10 and packages for Linux distributions, with source code for other platforms.

Typora

• Typora license$14.99

  one-time purchase, per user, before tax

  Activates Typora on up to 3 devices for one person across macOS, Windows and Linux, with no expiry, subscription or renewal fee.