Marknote vs VNote

Marknote

• Linux and KDE Plasma users who want a simple notes app
• People who want notes kept as Markdown files in a local folder
• Writers who prefer a formatted editor to raw Markdown syntax

VNote

• People who want Markdown notes as plain files with no account
• Vi users and others who work mostly from the keyboard
• Keeping a notebook under Git version control
• Large, deeply nested personal knowledge bases

Marknote

• Stable packages are for Linux; the Windows and macOS builds on the KDE page are nightly installers described as unstable and meant for testing.
• The KDE app page lists Linux, Windows and macOS only, and mentions no Android or iOS app and no built-in sync between devices.
• Subfolders, added in version 1.6.0, cannot yet be created inside Marknote; they have to be made in a file manager.
• The Snap Store's stable channel shows version 1.3.0, last updated in April 2025, while Flathub carries 1.6.0.

VNote

• Desktop only: packages exist for Windows, Linux and macOS, and the docs list no iOS, Android or web version.
• The docs say VNote is for single-user note-taking, with no real-time collaboration and no managed, account-based cloud service.
• VNote does not update itself. It only checks for a newer release, and each new version is downloaded and installed by hand.
• Tags, attachments, the recycle bin and Git sync work only in bundled notebooks, not in raw notebooks that browse an existing folder.

Marknote

Rich text editor backed by Markdown

Notes are formatted in a WYSIWYG editor with bold, italic, underline and strikethrough text, headings, lists, checkboxes, images and tables, and stored as Markdown files.

Notebooks

Notes are grouped into notebooks, each with its own icon and accent color and a count of the notes inside. Notes move between notebooks by drag and drop.

Source mode

Since version 1.5 a source mode shows the raw Markdown in place of the rich text view. Version 1.5.1 added syntax highlighting to it.

Links between notes

Wiki-style links, added in version 1.5, connect one note to another and can look up notes in other notebooks.

Search and command bar

Version 1.5 added full-text search and replace, and since version 1.6 the command bar searches for notes across all notebooks. A KRunner plugin opens notes from the Plasma desktop.

Sketches and export

A quick sketch dialog adds drawings to a note, and notes can be exported to formats including PDF, HTML and ODT.

VNote

Notebooks as plain folders

A notebook is one directory of plain text files, mostly Markdown, with folders nested to any depth. There is no database, so notes can be copied, backed up or edited with other tools.

Markdown editor with live preview

In-place and side-by-side live preview, syntax highlighting and an interactive outline, with math rendered by MathJax and diagrams by PlantUML, Graphviz and Mermaid.

Built-in Git sync

A bundled notebook can clone, commit, fetch and push to a Git remote from inside the app, on demand or at a set interval, with a dialog for resolving conflicts.

Mind maps and PDF annotation

Mind maps are their own note type, edited on a node canvas. PDFs open in a built-in viewer with highlight, drawing and text-box tools, and the comments are saved beside the file.

Vi mode and keyboard control

Vi mode gives modal editing, and tabs, window splits, configurable shortcuts and a fuzzy search-and-jump entry box cover the rest from the keyboard.

Export to Markdown, HTML and PDF

Notes, folders or whole notebooks export to Markdown, HTML or PDF, and a custom command such as Pandoc reaches formats like docx and epub.

Marknote

• Marknote$0

  The full app for Linux through distribution packages, Flathub or the Snap Store. Windows and macOS builds are nightly installers that KDE labels unstable.

VNote

• VNote$0

  The full app for Windows 10 or newer, Linux (as an AppImage) and macOS 10.15 or newer, plus a separate reduced build for Windows 7.