| nicemd | Typora | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Reader with Quick Look, plus a live editor | Full Markdown editor |
| Free | Reading, Quick Look, outline, live reload, find, PDF export | 15-day trial |
| Paid | $4.99 once (3-day free trial) — live editor, split view, HTML and Word export | $14.99 once, up to three devices |
| Quick Look in Finder | Yes | No |
| Editing | Live editor that hides the Markdown as you write, plus split view | Live WYSIWYG — syntax becomes formatting as you type |
| Exports | PDF free; HTML and Word (.docx) with the unlock | PDF, HTML, Word (.docx) and more |
| Diagrams and math | Mermaid and KaTeX, bundled offline | Diagrams and math |
| Requires | macOS 14 or later | macOS, Windows and Linux |
| Distribution | Mac App Store | Direct download |
Typora is very good, and this page is not going to pretend otherwise. It pioneered the live-preview editor — no split pane, no preview window, just Markdown syntax turning into formatting the moment you finish typing it — and a lot of people write in it every day for good reason.
It is also an editor, and that is the whole comparison. These two tools answer different questions.
The difference that decides it
Typora does not add a Quick Look preview. Install it, press Space on a .md file in Finder, and you get raw Markdown exactly as you did before — Typora ships no preview extension. Everything it does happens inside its own window, after you have opened the document.
For someone writing a long document, that is irrelevant. For someone who meets thirty Markdown files a week and wants to read about four of them properly, it is the entire experience.
Pick Typora if
- You write Markdown more than you read it. Notes, posts, documentation, drafts. If your relationship with
.mdfiles is mostly authoring, buy the editor. - You want live WYSIWYG. Live WYSIWYG — syntax becomes formatting as you type. nicemd has an explicit edit mode where you see the source — a deliberate choice, and the opposite preference.
- You are not only on a Mac. Typora runs on macOS, Windows and Linux, and the licence covers up to three devices. nicemd is macOS only and always will be.
- You want deeper export and image handling. Typora exports to PDF, HTML, Word (.docx) and more and manages images as you paste them. nicemd exports PDF free, and HTML and Word with the unlock, and that is the list.
Pick nicemd if
- You mostly read. READMEs, changelogs, specs, plans, and the steady output of coding agents. Opening an editor to read a document is backwards, and it is the thing nicemd exists to stop.
- You want Space to work in Finder. This is the one Typora cannot do at any price.
- You want to spend $4.99, or nothing. Reading, Quick Look, the outline, live reload, Save as PDF and Copy as HTML are free in nicemd. Typora is $14.99 after a 15-day trial, for a licence covering up to three devices. Both are one-time purchases with no subscription, which is to both apps' credit.
They coexist perfectly well
This is not really an either/or. Typora writes; nicemd reads and previews. Installing both is a sensible setup — write in Typora, keep Space working in Finder with nicemd, and set whichever one you open documents in more often as the default for .md.
If you do run both, the only thing to watch is which app owns the file type. Get Info on any .md file, choose under Open with, and click Change All — see opening .md files on a Mac.
The summary
If you are choosing a tool to write Markdown in, this page is not an argument against Typora. Buy it.
If what you actually wanted was for .md files to stop being an obstacle — to open, to glance at, to read once and close — then an editor is a heavy answer to that, and a reader with Quick Look is a light one.
Written by the people who make nicemd, so read it with that in mind. Facts about Typora come from its own website and release notes, checked September 2026; everything framed as a preference is a preference. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us and it gets corrected.