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Add to SafariWhen comparing Org-mode vs LaTeX, the Slant community recommends Org-mode for most people. In the question“What are the best markup languages?” Org-mode is ranked 1st while LaTeX is ranked 6th. 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
Question Ranking
Pros
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.
Pro Lets you focus on the content
LaTeX handles the design so you can focus on the content
Pro High-quality typesetting by default
There's a reason that scholarly journals often require the use of LaTeX for articles printed in their pages, and it's because the quality of the output is that good. Universities often require, or at least encourage, the use of LaTeX for graduate theses and dissertations for this same reason.
Pro Free open source software
Licensed under the LaTeX Project Public License
Pro Editor-independent
You can edit LaTeX sources in any text editor.
Pro Cross-platform
Works on every major OS and gives exactly the same quality output everywhere you go. LaTeX on macOS, Windows, Linux, BSD, and even Mac OS 9 has exactly the same output for a given set of sources.
Pro Effortless math input
The whole reason that TeX -- and, by extension, LaTeX -- exists is to give people an easy way (well, for some value of "easy") to produce high-quality documents with properly laid out mathematical expressions and text in them. As long as you know the language (or have a reference sheet handy), you can include mathematical expressions in your document with little to no extra effort needed on your part.
Cons
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.
Con Steep learning curve
LaTeX is not what you'd consider easy to use, and while there's plenty of documentation out there, much of it is rather opaque unless you're a seasoned TeXnician.
Con Single-threaded design
LaTeX is single-threaded by design, since it must necessarily work sequentially to produce each page as it is laid out by the typesetting engine. This makes it dependent on the power of just one individual core in your multi-core computer setup and so migrating to a machine with more cores won't necessarily make your LaTeX documents build faster.
Con Not a what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor
LaTeX uses the paradigm what-you-see-is-what-you-mean instead.
