Marknote vs Zim
We give Marknote a 3.2 GPA and Zim a 3.4, out of 4.0. Zim grades higher on platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Marknote
KDE's rich text note-taking app that saves notes as Markdown files
Free
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAMarknoteVery good | 3.4GPAZimVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree and open source, from KDE. The app page lists no paid edition at all, just a donate link. Paid plans in this category typically start at $5.99 a month, so there's nothing to weigh up here. | AIt's free. Zim is open source under the GPL 2.0, and its download page lists no paid edition. Paid note apps typically start at about $5.99 a month. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe whole app is free, with no paid tier to bump into later. KDE takes donations if you feel like giving something back. | AThe whole desktop wiki is free on Linux, Windows and macOS, plugins included. There's no paid tier, so nothing is held back. |
| Features | BA formatted editor that saves Markdown, notebooks with their own icon and colour, wiki-style links, full-text search, quick sketches, and export to PDF, HTML and ODT. Solid basics. But there's no built-in sync, and subfolders have to be made in a file manager, not in the app. | BPages nest like an outline, links are tracked in both directions, and plugins add a task list, an equation editor and calendar pages for a journal. Solid. But notebooks have no encryption or password, and the FAQ sends you to an outside tool for that. |
| Ease of use | BThere's no App Store rating to go on, so a B is our ceiling. On Linux it's a normal install from Flathub or your distribution's packages, and the editor is WYSIWYG, so you don't have to type Markdown symbols. | BNo App Store rating on record, so B is as high as we go. There's an installer for Windows and an app for macOS, and most Linux distributions package it. Link to a page that doesn't exist and Zim makes it for you. |
| Platforms and integrations | CStable releases are Linux only, which on its own would be a D. Windows and macOS get nightly installers that KDE labels unstable, so we've gone one higher. There's no Android or iOS app, and the only hook-up listed is KRunner on the Plasma desktop. | BWindows, macOS and Linux, and the version control plugin talks to Git, Mercurial or Bazaar. No phone or web version. Syncing means copying the notebook folder with something like Dropbox. |
| Best for | simple Markdown notes on a Linux desktop | a personal wiki kept as text files on your computer |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Marknote and Zim. How we grade
Where they differ
- Marknote is free. Zim is free.
- Marknote also covers Markdown.
- Zim also covers wiki, daily notes and tasks.
In commonFree planLinuxWindowsmacOSOpen sourceLocal-firstNotesLinked notes
At a glance
| Marknote | Zim | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Free, open-source software from KDE under the GPL-2.0-or-later license. The app page lists no paid edition; KDE takes donations. | Open-source software under the GPL 2.0 license. The download page offers the source, a Windows installer, a macOS app and Linux packages, and lists no paid edition. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | KDE | Jaap Karssenberg |
| Price read from | apps.kde.org | zim-wiki.org |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
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
Zim
- A personal wiki or scratch book kept as files on your own disk
- Daily or weekly journals and meeting or lecture notes
- People who want their notes under Git or another version control system
Worth knowing
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.
Zim
- Notebooks have no built-in encryption or password protection; the FAQ points to an outside tool such as encfs.
- Zim is written as a single-user program, so shared notebooks rely on a version control system to merge changes.
- The download page covers Linux, BSD, Windows and macOS only, and syncing means copying the notebook folder with a service such as Dropbox.
- The Windows installer supports 64-bit systems only, and the macOS app supports macOS Big Sur through Sequoia.
Key features
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.
Zim
- Plain-text wiki pages
- Every page is a text file with wiki markup and images are ordinary linked files, so the content stays readable in other editors and file managers.
- Links in both directions
- Linking to a page that does not exist creates it. Zim tracks all links and shows, for each page, which other pages link to it.
- Hierarchical notebooks
- Pages nest as sub-pages in a folder structure, much like an outliner, and each page can carry attachments.
- Plugins
- Plugins add a task list dialog, an equation editor, calendar pages for daily or weekly journals, spell checking and a tray icon.
- Version control
- A Version Control plugin works with Git, Mercurial or Bazaar, which also lets several people merge changes to one notebook.
- HTML export
- Notes can be exported to HTML for publishing; the project's own website is written in Zim.
Plans
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.
Zim
Zim$0
The full desktop wiki for Linux, Windows and macOS, with its plugins.
