# HackMD

> Real-time collaborative Markdown editor and knowledge base

HackMD is a collaborative Markdown workspace where several people edit a note at once with live cursors, comments and version history. Notes can be published under a custom permalink, presented as slides or collected into a book, and synced with GitHub. A REST API and CLI let scripts and AI agents read and write the same notes as Markdown.

- **Category:** Docs & Wikis
- **Made by:** HackMD (since 2014)
- **Website:** https://hackmd.io
- **Runs on:** Web, Browser extension
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 5, 2026

## Pricing

HackMD has a free plan. Paid plans start at $4 per month, billed yearly (Prime for a personal workspace).

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** Free forever: unlimited notes, up to 3 teammates, 3 custom templates, the 10 most recent versions, 20 GitHub pushes and 400 API calls a month, and images up to 1 MB each.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | Unlimited notes, up to 3 teammates, 3 invitees, 3 custom templates, GitHub integration with 20 pushes a month, and images up to 1 MB each. |
| Prime (personal) | $4 per month, billed yearly ($6 billed monthly) | For a personal workspace: full-text search, PDF export, unlimited versions, invites, templates and GitHub pushes, and 10K API calls a month. |
| Prime (team) | $5 per seat / month, billed annually ($8 billed monthly) | For a team workspace: seats beyond the 3 free members, the same Prime features, 20 MB image uploads and 20,000 API calls a month. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Adds SSO through SAML or LDAP, role-based access control, a custom domain and homepage, GitLab integration, self-hosting and priority support. |

Read from https://hackmd.io/pricing on Oct 5, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with HackMD before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Lower Prime prices with yearly billing** (Annual discount): A Prime team seat is $5 a month billed annually against $8 billed monthly, shown as a 37.5% saving. Personal Prime is $4 a month billed yearly against $6. Source: https://hackmd.io/pricing
- **Non-profit sponsorship program** (Nonprofit): Non-profits and educational organizations can apply by email for sponsorship. On approval, a free private team can be expanded from 3 to 20 members. Source: https://hackmd.io/@docs/NPOplan

## Key features

- **Real-time Markdown editing:** Several people edit a note at once with multiple cursors, in an editor that can show the Markdown source, the rendered result or both side by side.
- **Comments and suggested edits:** Notes take in-line and page comments, mentions and suggested edits. Read, write and comment permissions can each be set to owners, signed-in users or everyone.
- **Version history:** Every edit is tracked so an earlier version can be recovered. The Free plan keeps the 10 most recent versions and Prime keeps them all.
- **GitHub sync:** Notes can be pushed to GitHub: 20 pushes a month on the Free plan and unlimited on Prime. GitLab integration is an Enterprise feature.
- **Slide and book modes:** A note can be organized into slides with a special syntax and presented in slide mode, and book mode turns an ordered list of note links into a collection.
- **API and CLI:** Any note can be pulled as Markdown, or written back, through the REST API or CLI. Free workspaces get 400 API calls a month and a Prime team gets 20,000.

## Good for

- Developer teams that write documentation in Markdown
- Open communities publishing notes that anyone can read
- Feeding documentation to scripts and AI agents as Markdown

## Worth knowing

- Free team workspaces stop at 3 members; a larger private team pays per seat for Prime.
- Full-text search and PDF export are not on the Free plan, which also limits images to 1 MB each.
- SSO, role-based access control, custom domains, GitLab integration and self-hosting are Enterprise only.
- HackMD is used in the browser on desktop, tablet and phone; the site mentions browser and VS Code extensions rather than native apps.

## Works with

GitHub, GitLab, Dropbox, Google Drive, VS Code

**Tags:** Markdown, Real-time collaboration, Notes, Templates, Presentations, Public API

## Alternatives

- [HedgeDoc](https://toolgpa.com/tools/hedgedoc): Open-source, self-hosted collaborative Markdown editor. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/hackmd-vs-hedgedoc)
- [CryptPad](https://toolgpa.com/tools/cryptpad): End-to-end encrypted, open-source collaborative office suite. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/cryptpad-vs-hackmd)
- [Etherpad](https://toolgpa.com/tools/etherpad): Open-source real-time collaborative editor you host yourself. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/etherpad-vs-hackmd)
- [GitBook](https://toolgpa.com/tools/gitbook): Documentation platform for product and API docs, synced with Git. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/gitbook-vs-hackmd)
- [Outline](https://toolgpa.com/tools/outline): Fast team knowledge base and wiki, cloud-hosted or self-hosted. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/hackmd-vs-outline)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 5, 2026:

- https://hackmd.io/pricing
- https://hackmd.io/
- https://hackmd.io/s/features
- https://hackmd.io/about
- https://hackmd.io/@docs/yearly-payment-faq-en
- https://hackmd.io/@docs/NPOplan

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