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Add to SafariWhen comparing MacDown vs Quiver, the Slant community recommends MacDown for most people. In the question“What are the best Markdown editors for OS X?” MacDown is ranked 5th while Quiver is ranked 16th. The most important reason people chose MacDown is:
MacDown is a free and open source editor influenced by [Mou](http://25.io/mou/). It's released under the MIT license.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Free and open source
MacDown is a free and open source editor influenced by Mou. It's released under the MIT license.
Pro Real-time split-screen preview
MacDown's main view is split into two panels. The user types on the left and the Markdown is rendered on the fly in the right panel. This helps users to better understand the way they are formatting their document.
Pro Markdown previews can be customized with CSS
You can use a CSS file to customize the rendered output and the file preview you are working on will display the rendered Markdown with the custom CSS styling on top.
Pro Supports syntax highlighting in fenced code blocks
MacDown has syntax highlighting support for various languages when writing code in fenced code blocks.
Pro Good auto-completion
MacDown has a good built-in auto-completion engine for Markdown symbols.
Pro Support for GFM
Pro Ideal for day-to-day programmers' work and MarkDown novices alike
Using MacDown for the notorious README.md use case gets you going without reading any manual or requiring any configuration values. Think of it as a sort of TextEdit for MarkDown files. Thus its shortcomings - neither powerful nor versatile - turn out to be a PRO for novices trying to jump on the MarkDown bandwagon. Open its help and you'll immediately find yourself editing the MacDown's MarkDown help file, a MarkDown primer with some MacDown menus and configuration added.
Pro Linking between pages
Unlike a few other editors, MacDown lets you link between markdown pages.
Pro Tool bar with most used markdown shortcuts
This is especially useful for Markdown novices
Pro Has more features than just a simple Markdown editor
Quiver is a notebook and note-taking app akin to Evernote which happens to also be able to edit Markdown files. As such, it has a lot of useful features such as: image support, file attachments, web content support and more.
Pro Supports code highlighting
Has syntax highlighting for more than 120 programming languages.
Pro Notes can be linked to each-other
Quiver notes have unique links that can be copied and pasted into other notes to gain quick access between them.
Pro Live preview
Quiver has live preview for both Markdown and LaTeX. This helps users to better understand the way they are formatting their files.
Pro Cloud syncing
Dropbox, iCloud Drive, Google Drive, or any other file-based cloud services.
Pro Supports vi keybindings
For people used to vi keybindings, Quiver can be set up to work with them.
Pro Combination of different types of writing in one note
The most outstanding thing for me. Use HTML line breaks while writing MD text.
Also, unlike most hybrid editors like Bear, it supports instant image sizing and respective preview.
Cons
Con Not very versatile
MacDown is not very powerful or versatile. It's not customizable or extendable. This is what makes it so simple, but it's not for people who want more from their tools.
Con Frequently fails to update the display and/or flat out hangs
Must often restart MacDown.
Con The Markdown preview is rather heavy on the CPU
The Markdown preview needs a lot of resources to keep rendering on-the-fly after each keystroke. A single keystroke in the editor panel may trigger up to 5 seconds of max-CPU usage.
Con You can't edit specific files, they must be in your notebook
Con No iOS apps for editing, only a viewer available
I'd LOVE to edit and create quiver notes on my iPad!
Con The line in focus shows a border around it which is distracting
The line in focus in the editor shows a rounded rectangular border around it, which is unappealing and distracting.
Con Much more than a simple Markdown editor
Since it's more like a note-taking app (and a note-taking app built for developers) than a Markdown editor, it may be a little excessive to use it only for its Markdown editing features.
