When comparing Smartdown vs VNote, the Slant community recommends VNote for most people. In the question“What are the best open source Markdown editors for UNIX-like systems?” VNote is ranked 26th while Smartdown is ranked 33rd.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Integrated file library
You can add directories to the sidebar. These directories can be from cloud services (like Dropbox for example).
Pro Advanced Markdown support
Smartdown supports Critic Markup and MultiMarkdown flavors of Markdown that add advanced functionality, like tables, footnotes, etc.
Pro Customizable
The app can be themed and the layout can be changed around.
Pro Able to attach files to a note
Pro Markdown
Markdown note-taking app.
Pro Free, open source
Source code is available via https://github.com/tamlok/vnote/
Pro Fast, uses C++ and QT Frameworks
Pro Supports MathJax, Mermaid Diagrams, Flowchart.js
Pro Vim Mode
Pro Can be synced using third-party synchonization services
All files on your local disk. Utilize third-party synchronization services to work from anywhere seamlessly. (taken from https://tamlok.github.io/vnote/)
Cons
Con Not Free
Smartdown costs $19.99.
