SoloMD vs MarkText: Two Free Markdown Editors Compared
Both are free and open source. SoloMD is newer, smaller (15 MB vs 90 MB), actively maintained in 2026, and includes features like multi-tab, split view, and CJK encoding auto-detect. MarkText has a larger history but limited recent commits.
At a glance
| SoloMD | MarkText | |
|---|---|---|
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Installer size | ~15 MB | ~90 MB |
| Built on | Tauri 2 + Vue 3 + CodeMirror 6 | Electron + Vue 2 + Muya |
| Active development | ✅ weekly releases (2026) | ⚠️ sparse updates |
| Local semantic search | ✅ v2.3 · ⌘⇧F · on-device | ❌ |
| WYSIWYG live edit mode | ✅ v2.3 | ✅ (the core feature) |
| AutoGit version history | ✅ v2.2 | ❌ |
| MCP server bundled | ✅ v2.2 | ❌ |
| 14 AI providers, BYOK | ✅ | ❌ |
| Multi-tab | ✅ | ✅ |
| Split view | ✅ any pane | ❌ |
| Live preview | ✅ | ✅ (the core feature) |
| Source mode | ✅ | ✅ |
| File tree sidebar | ✅ | ✅ |
| Outline panel | ✅ with cursor-sync highlight | ✅ |
| Multi-encoding | ✅ UTF-8 / GBK / Big5 / etc auto-detect | ⚠️ UTF-8 |
| Export | HTML · PDF · DOCX · PNG · EPUB · ODT · LaTeX (Pandoc) | HTML · PDF |
| Vim mode | ✅ | ❌ |
| Slideshow / presentation mode | ✅ ⌘⌥P | ❌ |
| CLI tool | ✅ solomd | ❌ |
| Format Markdown (Prettier) | ✅ ⌘⌥L | ❌ |
| Welcome tour | ✅ on first launch | ❌ |
| Command palette | ✅ Ctrl+Shift+K | ❌ |
| iPad / iOS | 🟡 submitted, in review | ❌ |
| Clean-AI button | ✅ strips citations / curly quotes / zero-width | ❌ |
When SoloMD wins
- You want the smallest possible install (~15 MB vs 90 MB).
- You want split view — code on one side, preview on the other, synced scroll.
- You want Vim keybindings.
- You work with CJK encodings (SoloMD auto-detects GBK / Big5; MarkText needs manual conversion).
- You want to edit on an iPad.
- You want DOCX export and rich copy-as-image.
When MarkText might win
- You strongly prefer MarkText's specific block-based live preview rendering.
- You already use it and don't want to migrate settings / themes.
Note: as of early 2026, MarkText's GitHub repo shows long periods between releases. SoloMD ships frequent patches and actively responds to issues — something to weigh if bug fixes matter to you.
Why SoloMD is smaller
MarkText is built on Electron — the installer bundles Chromium (~60 MB by itself). SoloMD uses Tauri 2, which embeds the OS's native webview (WKWebView / WebView2 / WebKitGTK). There's no Chromium to ship. The binary is the Rust core + a compact Vue 3 + CodeMirror 6 bundle, totaling around 15 MB installed.
Compatibility
Both read and write the same Markdown flavor — CommonMark + GitHub-Flavored (GFM) + KaTeX math + Mermaid diagrams + front-matter. Your files move between them with no conversion.