When comparing Zettlr vs Org-mode, the Slant community recommends Org-mode for most people. In the question“What is the best cross-platform note-taking app?” Org-mode is ranked 1st while Zettlr is ranked 49th. The most important reason people chose Org-mode is:
Org-mode is characterized by a flexible and versatile system with adaptability to different workflows, making it comparable as an Evernote alternative. It is at once simple and complex., which helps it to compete as an Evernote alternative.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
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
Pro Very flexible
Org-mode is characterized by a flexible and versatile system with adaptability to different workflows, making it comparable as an Evernote alternative. It is at once simple and complex., which helps it to compete as an Evernote alternative.
Pro Built-in agenda
Org-mode has some built-in agenda functionality. You can schedule tasks and assign various degrees of importance to each of them. Org-mode agenda can also be synced with Google Calendar.
Pro Versioning can be tracked and synced using Git or other VCS
Org files are plain text, and lend themselves well to version control. Emacs also has good integrations for various VCS.
Pro Great sync support
Notes and to-dos can be synced with Trello, Toodledo, Simplenote, Orgmobile, or with tools like Git on Github, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Bitbucket, while WebDAV (with iOS and Android) can also be exported to PDF, mind map, LaTeX, HTML, Docbook, or txt.
Pro Basic spreadsheet functionality
Org-mode has some basic spreadsheet functionality. Other than auto-formatting ASCII tables (a notoriously annoying problem), it also has support for LISP-like syntax to define equations or any other functionality that can be achieved through spreadsheets.
Pro Out-of-the-box Latex support
Org-mode has out-of-the-box support for Latex: it can immediately parse equations (or other Latex markup) and can even compile notes to PDF or HTML.
Cons
Con Obtrusive, like someone WITH CAPS LOCK ON
Too loud, too much going on, and definitely an in-your-face sort of feeling.
Con Large, slow, can't open just a single .md file
Con Difficult to learn
Org-mode has a difficult learning curve since you have to learn all the keybindings and commands. It's especially difficult if you are not used to Emacs.