Facts checked 2026-10-14 · MEditor's numbers measured, not estimated

The honest
comparison.

Most Markdown editors are either a beautiful writing surface or a plugin host. Exactly one of them ships an agent that can actually edit your files — and asks permission first.

App Built with Price Built-in AI Agent Files stay plain .md Mobile app MCP server
MEditor Native SwiftUI · 13.5 MB Free, MIT · Pro $4/mo optional (publishing only) Yes — 15 tools, BYOK, sandboxed, diff review Yes — plain .md on disk Yes — iOS companion Yes — 11 tools over stdio
Obsidian Electron Free · Sync $4–8/mo · Publish $8/mo Community plugins only Yes — local vault Yes No
Typora Electron $14.99 one-time No Yes No No
iA Writer Native (AppKit) $49.99 one-time AI-detection only (Authorship) Yes Yes No
Bear Native (Apple) Free · Pro $2.99/mo or $29.99/yr No No — proprietary database Yes No
MarkEdit Native · MIT · ★5.8k Free No Yes No No

Competitor facts and prices gathered from public sources on 2026-10-14 and change without notice — their own websites are the source of truth. MEditor's download size is measured from the release package (13,507,350 bytes); “15 tools / 11 MCP tools” counts are from the codebase.

Why 13.5 MB matters

One native binary. Not a browser in a window.

The Electron apps in this table bundle an entire Chromium runtime and Node.js — which is why they launch slower, use more memory, and feel like a web page wearing a window frame.

  • Real NSTextView editing — native find & replace, text services, and undo, not a JavaScript reimplementation
  • Instant launch; no runtime to unpack, no renderer process per tab
  • Quick Look previews from Finder and Spotlight indexing — the OS knows your documents
  • Works fully offline; your documents and API keys never leave the machine
MEditor workspace with sidebar, outline and live preview
Boundaries

What MEditor
doesn't do (yet).

A comparison page that only lists wins isn't a comparison. Here is what we don't have:

  • No vault graph or backlinks. If you live in a knowledge graph, Obsidian remains the better tool — MEditor is a document workstation, not a second brain.
  • No Windows or Linux build. macOS and iOS only, native on both.
  • Math formulas (LaTeX) aren't rendered yet. On the roadmap; until then, formula-heavy documents preview as source.
  • The release build isn't notarized. First launch takes a right-click → Open. Developer-ID signing and notarization are planned.
  • Pro publishing is early access. The editor itself is free and unrestricted; Pro only lifts the hosted-publishing limits.

Try it on your own documents.

Free and open source. 13.5 MB, macOS 14+. Point the Agent at a repo and watch it work.

Download for macOS 14+ · v0.12.1 Back to home

First launch: right-click the app → Open — macOS shows a one-time warning because the build isn't notarized yet.