Open-source Ulysses alternatives

MarkText is an open-source Markdown editor that prioritizes speed and ease of use, and it runs on Linux, macOS and Windows. It offers a realtime WYSIWYG-style preview in a clean interface meant to reduce distractions while writing. It is built with TypeScript, Electron and Vue and released under the MIT license.

It follows the CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown specs with selective Pandoc support, and adds extensions such as math expressions via KaTeX, front matter and emojis. Paragraph and inline-style shortcuts speed up writing, images can be pasted straight from the clipboard, and documents can be exported as HTML or PDF. Themes such as Cadmium Light and Material Dark are included.

Writers can switch between Source Code, Typewriter and Focus editing modes depending on how they like to work. The project is funded by community sponsorship and accepts contributions and translations. It suits writers, developers and note-takers who want a local Markdown editor without a separate preview pane.

Zettlr is a desktop Markdown editor aimed at academic and long-form writing. It presents itself as a publication workbench, combining note-taking, drafting, reference management and export in one application, with a focus on keeping your notes private and stored as ordinary files on your own computer.

Citations integrate with reference managers such as Zotero and JabRef, and exports rely on Pandoc, LaTeX and Textbundle, with support for LaTeX and Word templates. Other capabilities include snippets for boilerplate text, themes with dark modes and custom CSS, code highlighting, full-text search, and techniques from the Zettelkasten knowledge management method. The interface is translated into over a dozen languages.

Zettlr is built with TypeScript, Electron and Node.js and released under GPL-3.0. Installers are provided for macOS, Windows and most Linux distributions, and the repository documents building from source, command-line switches and contribution workflows. The project is also reachable through a community forum, Discord and Mastodon.

VNote is a free, open-source note-taking application built with Qt and written in native C++. It currently focuses on Markdown, and aims to offer a pleasant editing experience while also providing notes management, so it is more than a simple Markdown editor.

Because it uses Qt, the same application runs on Linux, Windows and macOS. The project topics reference Vim-style editing, UML diagrams and MathJax math rendering, and the maintainers say that formats beyond Markdown are planned. Continuous builds from the master branch and stable releases are published on GitHub and Gitee.

VNote is licensed under LGPL-3.0, with bundled third-party icon sets recorded in a separate notices file. It is a desktop application that runs locally rather than a hosted service. It suits people who want local Markdown notes organized in notebooks, and developers who prefer a native editor over an Electron-based one.

FSNotes is a native notes app for macOS and iOS built around the idea of owning your notes. Each note is stored as a portable Markdown or plain-text file rather than in a proprietary database, so the notes can be opened with any compatible app now or years later.

The app focuses on writing and quick retrieval. It handles several folders, external editors, sync through iCloud Drive or Dropbox, and Git backups if you want them, and connects ideas with tags and double-bracket links. Private notes can be protected with AES-256 encryption, and it renders code blocks, Mermaid diagrams and MathJax math. Search and navigation are designed to stay smooth across large note collections.

FSNotes is written in Swift and released under the MIT licence. The apps are sold through the App Store, and those purchases support continued development, while the source code is open. It suits Apple users who want local Markdown notes with sync through their own storage service.

Hubble is a free, open-source note-taking app that stores notes as Markdown and HTML files in a folder you control. It aims to feel familiar to people used to Notion or Apple Notes, with slash commands, Markdown shortcuts and support for file properties and frontmatter, while keeping everything as plain files.

A key idea is working alongside AI agents. You can point a coding agent at your notes folder, and Hubble reloads live as the agent edits files. Beyond text, the app can display HTML-based apps, so with the right skills installed an agent can turn a folder of notes into a table, a bookshelf or a map, depending on what you ask for.

Hubble ships as a desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, with signed builds on macOS and unsigned builds elsewhere. It is written in TypeScript and licensed under MIT, and it can be compiled from source with Node.js and pnpm. It suits people who keep their notes in Markdown and want an editor that works smoothly with AI coding agents.

SoloMD is a Markdown editor built around a plain folder of .md files. The same notes can be edited in the app, queried through an in-editor AI chat, or driven from outside by MCP clients such as Claude Code, Codex and Cursor, using a bundled MCP server. It positions itself as an alternative to Obsidian and Typora.

Features include wikilinks, a properties inspector for YAML frontmatter, automatic Git commits, a whiteboard based on tldraw, scheduled recipes that run while you are away, and support for many AI providers with your own keys. The app is built with Tauri 2, Vue 3 and CodeMirror 6, targets desktop and mobile platforms, and stores notes, API keys, embeddings and Git history on your own machine with no SoloMD-hosted servers.

SoloMD is licensed under MIT and is free with no subscription. The README discloses that the code, releases and issue replies are produced largely by Claude Code under a human maintainer who sets direction, and it invites readers to inspect the code and correct mistakes. It suits people who keep their notes in Markdown and want AI assistance without a cloud service.

Paperling is a no-setup Markdown reader and editor. You open any .md file, read it rendered nicely, and edit with a live preview in which math, chemistry and diagrams render as you type. An optional AI, free and bring-your-own-model, proposes edits that you accept or reject inline, with no vaults or plugins to configure.

The author built it out of frustration with seeing raw Markdown in basic text editors, and positions it as lighter than tools such as Obsidian when you only want to open a file and edit it. Rendering supports KaTeX math and Mermaid diagrams, there are four themes called Dark, Light, Paper and Dracula, and the interface includes a file explorer and command palette. A small paper character appears in the app to greet and guide new users.

Paperling is built with Tauri, React, TypeScript and Rust for desktop on multiple platforms, with an Android APK available from the releases page. It is licensed under Apache-2.0 and runs locally on your device.

WitNote is a lightweight, local-first Markdown companion for macOS and Windows. Its philosophy is to stay simple: open any local Markdown or text file or a folder instantly, write on the left, and see the rendered result on the right, with GitHub-flavored Markdown and LaTeX math supported. All files stay on your local disk. It is aimed at writers and note-takers who want a quiet, fast editor rather than a heavy workspace.

The AI element is deliberately modest. Rather than an intrusive agent, it works as an offline encyclopedia, translator and writing assistant, and the repository topics point to local models through Ollama. The README says the Apple versions have moved to a native Swift and SwiftUI architecture, available from the Mac App Store, with iOS and iPadOS versions still in development. The open-source edition for Windows and Linux continues as an Electron build.

Mac users who prefer the open-source build can compile it from source. The interface supports multiple languages, including English and Simplified Chinese. The repository metadata does not specify a license, so check the repository before reuse.

Lumen is a free, open-source note-taking app written in TypeScript. Instead of keeping notes in a proprietary database, it syncs with markdown files stored in a GitHub repository, so your notes remain plain text files that you own and can read with any other tool.

The repository topics describe it as local-first, personal knowledge management and zettelkasten software that works with git. It is released under the MIT license, and the project site is uselumen.com. The repository README is very brief, so any further detail is best checked on the project site.