Typora vs Zettlr

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

Zettlr

• Researchers and students writing papers or theses in Markdown
• Zotero users who want citations inside a plain-text editor
• People who keep a Zettelkasten of linked notes
• Writers who want their files kept on their own computer

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.

Zettlr

• Desktop only: downloads are listed for macOS 12 or newer, Windows 10 or newer and Linux, with no mobile or web app.
• It has no cloud service of its own: files stay on the computer, with no built-in cloud synchronization.
• Citations draw on a library kept in an external reference manager such as Zotero, JabRef or Juris-M.
• Grammar and style checking beyond the spellchecker relies on connecting LanguageTool.

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.

Zettlr

Citations from a reference manager

Loads a library from Zotero, JabRef or Juris-M, previews citations in the text and formats them in any of more than 9,000 citation styles.

Export profiles with Pandoc

A profile pairs an export format with a template, so a paper can be exported for a journal or conference in one click. Beamer, reveal.js and PowerPoint slides are supported too.

Zettelkasten tools

Supports note IDs, wiki-style links between notes, related files and a graph view for building a personal knowledge base.

Adjustable Markdown rendering

The editor can show anything from raw Markdown to rich text. LaTeX math and Mermaid charts render inline, and the look can be changed with custom CSS.

Spelling, grammar and style checks

Includes a spellchecker and a Markdown linter, and can connect to LanguageTool for grammar and style checking.

Projects, snippets and statistics

Project support groups the files of a longer work, snippets insert reusable text with variables and tab stops, and writing statistics track progress.

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.

Zettlr

• Free$0

  The full editor for Windows, macOS and Linux, free and open source, with optional donations to support development.