When comparing nvALT vs Dynalist, the Slant community recommends Dynalist for most people. In the question“What is the best note taking app for Mac?” Dynalist is ranked 6th while nvALT is ranked 10th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Powerful search syntax
nvALT has a simple text box at the top (similar to that of a web browser) and when you start typing inside it, nvALT immediately displays a drop-down box of all the notes that contain the text you are searching for. The more you type, the more the search is narrowed down.
Pro Lightweight
Pro Free

Pro MultiMarkdown 3 support
Has built-in support for MultiMarkdown 3.
Pro Powerful note-taking features
nvALT is not only used for simple text editing but also as a powerful tool for taking notes, TODOs, phone numbers and every other piece of information that can be stored in a plain-text file.
This is because nvALT is not designed only as a tool to write text, but also as a powerful search and organize tool for plain-text files.
Pro Right to Left support
Pro Ability to create documents and organize by folder, and search by title
Pro Unlimited notes
Which is perfect for personal knowledgebase.
Pro Search and link to other notes
Pro Bullet hierarchy with zoom
Able to zoom in in bullet points, collapse bullets, move bulleted information, etc.
Pro Create custom user styles
Anyone can create a custom style and share them with the community, which can be found here.
Pro Inline images
Pro Printable shared lists
Cons
Con Not very powerful as far as text editing goes
nvALT's strength is its search feature. It has some basic text-editing features such as cut, paste, find-and-replace and so on. But it doesn't have any advanced text manipulation features available in other editors.
