When comparing TagSpaces vs Zettlr, the Slant community recommends TagSpaces for most people. In the question“What is the best cross-platform note-taking app?” TagSpaces is ranked 46th while Zettlr is ranked 49th. The most important reason people chose TagSpaces is:
TagSpaces is free and open source making it easily extendable with the help of extensions.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Open source
TagSpaces is free and open source making it easily extendable with the help of extensions.
Pro Your can choose your cloud file storage
Using only files and no databases let's you make the decision with which cloud file sync service to use, making sure your notes are made available on other devices and platforms. It works great with Owncloud, Nextcloud, Dropbox or Google Drive.
Pro No web service or database lock in
The backend is simply the directory and file structure on your harddrive.
Pro No cloud
TagSpaces is running completely offline, sending no data to any cloud based service, unlike many Evernote alternatives.
Pro Focuses on writers
While many Markdown editors don't offer specific support for a certain type of workflow, or offer features for scientific workflows only, Zettlr offers features that help the writing process of journalists or researchers in the arts and humanities. It's a lot more text-focused than most editors.
Pro Citation support
While it supports a diverse range of syntax (chart, easy image insert, etc.) found in other editors, the great citation support made it possible to write real articles. Citation from Zotero and Mendeley can be inserted easily which is a huge plus.
Pro Almost perfect
This is the best option, still not perfect, there are some bugs like creating / editing tables and resizing images, but the PROS destroy the CONS, easy quotes, WYSIWYM , attachments tab (supports attaching and opening links to any file), table of contents, TAGs, easy hyperlink between files (same as citations), export to many formats (like Word, HTML5, PDF)...
Pro Renders math in-place through KaTex
Cons
Con It renames your files in order to tag them
The positive side of this drawback is that this way the tags are easily transferred to other platforms by simply syncing them.
Con Setup could be more user-friendly
Con Obtrusive, like someone WITH CAPS LOCK ON
Too loud, too much going on, and definitely an in-your-face sort of feeling.