# ghostwriter

> Free, open-source Markdown editor from KDE for focused writing

ghostwriter is a free Markdown editor made by KDE and released under the GNU General Public License v3.0. It pairs a plain, full-screen-capable editor with a live HTML preview, a document outline, and focus and Hemingway modes that cut down on distraction and on editing while drafting. Documents are exported through processors such as Pandoc, MultiMarkdown and commonmark. Windows and Linux are supported, and macOS only by building from source.

- **Category:** Writing Tools
- **Made by:** KDE (since 2015)
- **Website:** https://ghostwriter.kde.org
- **Runs on:** Windows, Linux
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 9, 2026

## Pricing

ghostwriter is free to use.

- **Pricing model:** Free
- **Free plan:** The whole application is free and open source under the GNU General Public License v3.0. The site invites optional donations to KDE.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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. |

Read from https://ghostwriter.kde.org/ on Oct 9, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with ghostwriter before buying.

## Key features

- **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.

## Good for

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

## Worth knowing

- 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.

## Works with

Pandoc, MultiMarkdown, MathJax

**Tags:** Open source, Markdown

## Alternatives

- [MarkText](https://toolgpa.com/tools/marktext): Free, open-source Markdown editor with in-place live rendering. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ghostwriter-vs-marktext)
- [Typora](https://toolgpa.com/tools/typora): Minimal Markdown editor that renders formatting as you type. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ghostwriter-vs-typora)
- [Zettlr](https://toolgpa.com/tools/zettlr): Free, open-source Markdown editor for academic writing. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ghostwriter-vs-zettlr)
- [FocusWriter](https://toolgpa.com/tools/focuswriter): Free distraction-free word processor for Windows and Linux. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/focuswriter-vs-ghostwriter)
- [iA Writer](https://toolgpa.com/tools/ia-writer): Minimal plain-text Markdown writing app with Focus Mode. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ghostwriter-vs-ia-writer)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 9, 2026:

- https://ghostwriter.kde.org/
- https://ghostwriter.kde.org/download/

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/ghostwriter
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).