Typst vs Zettlr
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Typst
Markup-based typesetting system with a collaborative web app
Free plan · from $7.99/mo
Where they differ
- Typst starts at $7.99 per month, billed monthly ($79.99 billed yearly). Zettlr is free.
- Only Typst lists a web app.
- Typst is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Typst also covers templates and presentations.
- Zettlr also covers Markdown and linked notes.
In commonFree planmacOSWindowsLinuxOpen sourceCitationsLong-form writing
At a glance
| Typst | Zettlr | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $7.99 per month, billed monthly ($79.99 billed yearly) | Free |
| Free plan | Free web app plan: create, share and co-edit projects, community packages and templates, and file conversion, with 200 MB of storage and up to 100 files per project. The compiler itself is free. | The whole app is free and open source, with no paid tier. Development is funded by voluntary donations through Patreon, PayPal, GitHub Sponsors or Ko-fi. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Typst GmbH | Hendrik Erz |
| Price read from | typst.app | zettlr.com |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Typst
- Students and researchers who want an alternative to LaTeX
- Co-authors editing a technical document together in a browser
- Teams that generate reports or invoices from data
- Organizations that need the editor hosted on their own servers
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
Worth knowing
Typst
- The Free plan is limited to 200 MB of storage and 100 files per project, and leaves out comments, folders and reference-manager sync.
- Only the compiler is open source; the web app is closed source, and hosting it yourself needs the custom-priced On-Premises plan.
- Documents use Typst's own markup language. The web app converts files from LaTeX, Word and Markdown.
- GitHub and GitLab sync and private packages are labeled experimental on the pricing page.
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.
Key features
Typst
- Markup with automatic formatting
- Documents are written as structured markup and laid out automatically, then exported as a PDF, an image or, in preview, a website.
- Collaborative web app
- The browser editor adds shared editing, autocomplete and a live preview. Sharing and collaboration are part of the Free plan; comment threads need Pro.
- Templates and packages
- Projects can start from community templates and import community packages. Pro adds private packages and templates limited to a workspace.
- Math, tables and bibliographies
- Equations are built into the markup, tables can be filled from CSV or JSON, and citations are formatted automatically, with Zotero and Mendeley sync on Pro.
- Scripting and data loading
- Conditionals, loops and functions are embedded in the language, so a document or a batch of invoices can be generated from a JSON file.
- Open-source compiler
- The command-line compiler is a free download for Windows, macOS and Linux, can run on a server, and can be embedded in other apps as a library.
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.
Plans
Typst
Free$0
Create, share and collaborate on projects with community packages and templates, 200 MB of storage and up to 100 files per project.
Pro$7.99
per month, billed monthly; $79.99 per year billed yearly
Adds comments, private packages and templates, GitHub and GitLab sync, Zotero and Mendeley sync, slide presenting, folders and 2 GB of storage.
On-PremisesCustom
The web app run in your own data center with LDAP access control and priority support. Starts at 5 organization members.
Zettlr
Free$0
The full editor for Windows, macOS and Linux, free and open source, with optional donations to support development.
Ways to pay less
Typst
- Annual discount
Lower price with yearly payment
The pricing page marks yearly payment as 14% off. In US dollars Pro is $79.99 for a year against $7.99 a month, which is $95.88 over twelve months.
Zettlr
No public discounts listed.
