Comparison with existing tools

# Comparison with existing tools


Here is a comparison with similar apps as of October 2026[^moving].

Wymark is a local application. There is no online mode for live collaboration, and no way for one Wymark install to sync documents and their version history with another. The `.md` file is what syncs, through Dropbox, GitHub or whatever you already use, and Wymark's saved versions stay on your machine. If the file lives in a git repository, Wymark can [compare it against a commit](/docs/concepts/git). To share a document with its history, export a [history bundle](/docs/reference/history-bundles) for another Wymark user, or a [Word document](/docs/guide/exporting) with tracked changes and comment threads for anyone else.

[^moving]: Things move fast these days, and I don't intend to keep this document updated.

## Why bother with Wymark?

Adding a new tool to our "notes and writing toolbox" can be high friction, at least when many of us already have our favorites that we _enjoy_ working in. So, why should you bother checking out Wymark if you love, say, [Obsidian](#obsidian), [Typora](#typora), [iA Writer](#ia-writer) or similar? To be frank, mostly if you've missed track changes or a [diff made for prose](/docs/concepts/review) (`git diff` was made for code) and you'd like to annotate markdown text with [comments](/docs/concepts/comments) (that are valid markdown). If this does not sound useful to you, you can probably skip installing yet another markdown editor.

Having said that, I think I have built[^built] an opinionated markdown editor that is pleasant to work in. It solves some of the biggest pain points I've had with my markdown tooling, and now works so well that it _might_ be useful to others, but, as they say, the proof is in the pudding. But hey, the app is free, and will stay so for ever, so feel free to give it a spin 😁

The parts of Wymark that I think make it pleasant to work with include:

- A good [WYSIWYG](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG) ("what you see is what you get") markdown editor (based on [Milkdown](https://milkdown.dev/) and [ProseMirror](https://prosemirror.net/)) with a simple toggle to switch to raw markdown (Wymark calls the two the [Formatted and Source views](/docs/reference/editor#two-views)).
- The WYSIWYG editor supports both [reveal and pure mode](/docs/reference/editor#reveal-at-the-caret-or-pure)
  - Reveal mode reveals markdown formatting characters when the caret is in the relevant text or a selection, like Typora and Obsidian. Most "markdown lovers" prefer this mode, including me.
  - Pure mode does _not_ reveal markdown formatting characters once they've been placed, giving you an editing experience closer to Word or Google Docs, where you use the formatting ribbon or shortcuts like `⌘I`. You can always drop down to raw markdown for full control.
- If you prefer to work in raw markdown and see the rendered result, Wymark also has you covered with [split panes](/docs/guide/workspace#one-editor-or-two) and the WYSIWYG/raw toggle. Like Obsidian, both document views update live, so you can switch between the two with your mouse depending on what you work with (for instance, tables may be easier in WYSIWYG).
- It supports [GitHub's markdown](/docs/reference/markdown), so you'd feel at home if you feel at home in GitHub.
- Good [images](/docs/reference/links-footnotes-images#images), [diagram](/docs/reference/diagrams) and [drawings](/docs/reference/drawings) support. Images can be copy-pasted or drag-n-dropped and resized, as in Word and Google Docs.
- The [Files and Recents](/docs/guide/workspace) in the left panel work pretty okay, and support [`git` integration](/docs/concepts/git).
- The [Zoom mode with Focus mode and Typewriter](/docs/reference/editor#zoom-focus-and-typewriter) works well. Zoom mode allows you to easily go from split panes to a single pane with focus mode and back, depending on whether you're in "writing zen" mode or edit or review mode (which, to my preference, requires two different editor experiences).
- The [diff engine](/docs/concepts/review) (yes, mentioning it again). In my opinion, it _is_ nice to have a live diff of the changes to a document compared to its previous state. It is always just a toggle or hotkey (`⇧⌘E`) away, so you only turn it on when it suits you.
  - The diff engine, in contrast to `git diff`, separates changes made inside Wymark from any [outside edit](/docs/guide/changes-from-outside) on the file.
  - With comments and a connected agent on top, Wymark keeps you in control of AI-collaborated prose. More under [Writing with AI](#writing-with-ai).
- If you ever cross roads with people preferring Word documents over markdown, Wymark aims to have first class [exports to Word](/docs/guide/exporting) that _includes_ tracked changes (from the diff engine) and comment threads.

[^built]: With Claude Code doing much of the typing, on top of Elixir and Phoenix, Milkdown and ProseMirror, CodeMirror, Tauri, Pandoc and Typst, and many smaller libraries.

## Markdown Editors

### Typora

[Typora](https://typora.io) is a great WYSIWYG markdown editor, and has been a major source of inspiration for Wymark. Typora has a lot of nice features and Wymark isn't nearly as "feature complete" (maybe one day, if it gains traction?). If we simplify, Wymark aims to be the Typora that also includes:

- First class support for [track changes](/docs/concepts/review) via its diff engine. It works well with `git`, and Wymark's own versions are kept apart from git's history.
- [Comments in the file](/docs/concepts/comments), like those you may be familiar with from Word and Google Docs.
- [Word export](/docs/guide/exporting) with tracked changes and comments.
- [Split panes](/docs/guide/workspace#one-editor-or-two) with the WYSIWYG editor and the raw markdown editor side by side, both editable.
- [Pure mode](/docs/reference/editor#reveal-at-the-caret-or-pure), which keeps markdown formatting characters hidden (no reveal at the caret or on selection).

### Obsidian

[Obsidian](https://obsidian.md) is a great, versatile markdown editor with backlinks and loads of high quality community plugins. It is a non-goal of Wymark to compete with Obsidian -- if you are happy with Obsidian you should keep using it. Where could Wymark fit your workflow if you're an avid Obsidian user?

- Vaults and shared GitHub repositories mixing code and `.md` documentation may not be best friends. Wymark may be better suited for a "vault per repo" with its good support for [`git` versioning](/docs/concepts/git) and "backlinks" via [relative path links to documents and headings](/docs/reference/links-footnotes-images#links), which also work on GitHub.
- For writing prose -- documentation, blog posts, books, etc. -- rather than notes, you may prefer the writing and editing experience of Wymark. Combine that with the [diff engine](/docs/concepts/review), [comments](/docs/concepts/comments) and the [AI collaboration features](#writing-with-ai), and you might find occasions to reach for Wymark over Obsidian.
- Obsidian has community plugins for parts of this, and they are worth a look. [Document Comments](https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/document-comments) stores comments as HTML comments in the file, much as Wymark does. [Drift](https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/drift) shows changes made outside Obsidian, by an AI agent for instance, and lets you accept or reject each one. Its diff is a text diff in chunks of lines, like `git diff`; Wymark's diff engine works per markdown block, keeps your own edits apart from outside ones, and keeps a baseline and saved versions to compare against.
- What you see in Wymark is what GitHub will show. In Obsidian, that is not always the case.

### iA Writer

[iA Writer](https://ia.net/writer) is a clean, native app that has great typography and some nifty features. One of them, [Authorship](https://ia.net/writer/how-to/track-authors-and-ai), was an inspiration to the diff engine in Wymark. Its paste commands mark text that came from an external source, like an AI chat, and Paste Edits From diffs the paste against your original, so each change gets the right attribution. But to me it was unfulfilling. I was not that bothered with _attribution_ (was it I or was it AI that wrote it), as in the end it is still my text that I sign off for. What I wanted, in addition to the nice AI contrast, was a fine grained accept/reject experience of the prose that came in, whether pasted from a chat or written straight to the file by an agent. Wymark has both, [Paste as Incoming Change](/docs/guide/changes-from-outside) and [changes to accept or reject](/docs/concepts/review) when a write lands on the file. More under [Writing with AI](#writing-with-ai).

### VSCode

You can write markdown in its raw form just fine in [VSCode](https://code.visualstudio.com) and preview the results. To me, though, writing and editing in raw markdown is not the best experience. Even though markdown is much terser to read than LaTeX or similar, it is still not as nice as reading and editing in a WYSIWYG editor. My opinion.

The visual `git diff` in VSCode is also decent for markdown prose, with word level diffs on top of the line diffs. Wymark, in contrast, runs its own diff engine on markdown blocks (not lines), works in both WYSIWYG and raw markdown views, and has [richer diff semantics](/docs/reference/review) including split, merge, move and formatting changes.

### Logseq

[Logseq](https://logseq.com) is a great outliner with backlinks, and I use it every day. But it fills a different need than Wymark, which is a markdown editor for writing prose.

## Writing with AI

Coding with AI has come a long way, and I make no secret of Wymark being a product that I could _not_ have built as a weekend (and summer holiday and many late nights) project without it. But writing with AI -- this still seems largely unsolved[^writing]. AI helps me churn out kilometers of ADRs[^adrs] and implementation specs. Great, this is skimmed by me and mostly read by other LLMs -- approved. But when I ask it to write documentation for this app, **for humans**, it serves up a big bowl of disengaging slop. Certainly, it helps on the mileage, but it is by no means good; what reads fine to an LLM often does not to a human. Do I need to write it all by hand, then? Of course not. Large language models and their harnesses are _tools_, imperfect ones, and we should treat them for what they are. And here is where I think Wymark can help.

Wymark can't help you write better, but it can **put you back in control**. With the features below working together, I'd argue you have a pretty good tool for staying in control of your (AI collaborated) prose:

- [Comments](/docs/concepts/comments) in the file, which the agent reads and replies to.
- A [diff](/docs/concepts/review) that keeps your edits apart from incoming ones (from an agent, a colleague's commit or [a paste from a chat window](/docs/guide/changes-from-outside)), with accept or reject for each change.
- The [`wymark` CLI and its MCP server](/docs/guide/connect-an-agent), which show the agent the changes as you see them.
- Machinery that lets you and the agent work on the `.md` file at the _same time_. A write that lands while you type is [taken as written](/docs/concepts/review#when-the-file-is-written-from-outside-wymark), and nothing is thrown away.
- And, of course, plain markdown, AI's native speak.

This is partly why I built Wymark. I wanted a great markdown editor with the two things I always found missing, comments and track changes, and the need for them grew when I discovered that making an AI say what I want is not easy.

I am not the only one with this need. During the development of Wymark I came across at least three noteworthy projects:

- **[Proof](https://www.proofeditor.ai)**: an online editor for people and agents. Open source for self hosting, free to try, but you'd need to log in to save docs and collaborate (leaving the prose hosted at a third party). Looks nice, but I have not used it much. The main difference is the file. Proof lists "Leave `.md` files behind" as a pro; Wymark keeps your `.md` file on your disk, where `git` and anything else that reads files can see it, and the review can be [measured against a commit](/docs/concepts/git). Wymark's diff engine is always on, so every change is there to review whenever you choose to look; Proof's track changes records only while you have it switched on.
- **[OpenMarkdown](https://openmarkdown.dev)**: a local-first markdown editor with a built-in MCP server. I have not tried it, but it seems to cater to some of the same needs for writing with AI. Its pages describe no review of changes or comments, but it rejects an agent's write to a section you are editing at the same time. Wymark instead accepts every write and keeps whatever it overwrote, so you can choose which version to keep.
- **[MRDown](https://github.com/MR-TABATA/MRDown)**: probably the closest thing to Wymark I have seen. Free, open source, and built to show you what an agent rewrote in your file. I have not tried it, but from its docs, the diff lives in a separate view, and changes seem to be accepted or rejected per _file_, not per markdown block. Wymark shows the changes in the editor and keeps your edits and the agent's apart. A paid tier, [MrkDown](https://mrktools.app/en/md/), adds an AI that explains the diff.



[^writing]: Some good reads on the topic:
    - [I Don't Want To Read What You Didn't Write](https://blog.colinbreck.com/i-dont-want-to-read-what-you-didnt-write/), and the [Hacker News discussion](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49794330) of it
    - [The Safest Job From AI May Be Writing](https://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-safest-job-from-ai-may-be-writing.html)
    - [The Revolt of the Reader](https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/2026/09/05/the-revolt-of-the-reader/)
    - [How To Write With An LLM](https://sockpuppet.org/blog/2026/09/17/how-to-write-with-an-llm/)

[^adrs]: Architecture Decision Records

## Word processors

### Microsoft Word

Wymark will, of course, not compete with MS Word on feature richness. What it does offer that might be to your liking includes:

1. First class [WYSIWYG editor](/docs/reference/editor) experience, but based on [markdown](/docs/reference/markdown). Tired of fighting Word formatting when you just want to focus on your contents? Wymark aims to give you the benefits of markdown but in an editor that does not feel like it's made for coders and engineers. Wymark is for writers.
2. Just like in Word, you can add [comments](/docs/concepts/comments) and [track changes](/docs/concepts/try-a-review). But, importantly, still working with [plaintext markdown documents](/docs/guide/getting-started#saving).
3. Wymark's [pure mode](/docs/reference/editor#reveal-at-the-caret-or-pure) aims to give the full Word-ish WYSIWYG experience, but in markdown.

If Word or Google Docs is your home turf, think of Wymark as a stepping stone. Markdown is gaining traction, in part because it is what AI speaks natively, and Wymark lets you write it the way you are used to. You do not have to leave Word behind either. Whenever someone needs a Word document, [export one](/docs/guide/exporting#what-word-shows-as-a-native-revision), with your tracked changes and comment threads.

### Google Docs

For the sake of this comparison, we will assume Microsoft Word and Google Docs are similar. The most notable difference between them is that Google Docs lives in the browser (you share a link, not a file). Wymark has no web app, it is purely a desktop app for [macOS and Windows](/docs/guide/getting-started#requirements)[^windows]. For other differences, see the comparison with MS Word.

## Is it native?

Some users seem interested in this, and how Wymark is built is no secret. If your definition of native is an app built with the operating system's own UI toolkit (Swift and AppKit on macOS, C# and WinUI on Windows), then no. If you wonder if Wymark is running on Electron, then the answer is also no.

However, Wymark runs on your operating system's native web engine, namely [WebKit on macOS and WebView2 on Windows](/docs/guide/getting-started#requirements)[^windows]. Wymark is built with the following stack:

- Elixir is the programming language in the "backend" of Wymark, Phoenix is the web framework.
- TypeScript/JavaScript for the frontend.
- Tauri, a Rust framework, connects the Elixir (BEAM) application to the operating system's web engine and provides the native parts, like menus and file dialogs.

Why is the download then around 110 MB, and over 300 MB once installed, you might ask? Mostly the two export engines, Pandoc and Typst, which make the [Word and PDF exports](/docs/guide/exporting). They are bundled because Wymark needs precise control over the Word export, to put tracked changes and comments in the right places. (Typora, for instance, asks you to install Pandoc yourself.) Together they are about two thirds of the installed app, and Wymark itself, with the runtime it needs, is the remaining third. What that third does on your Mac, and how to check it yourself, is on the [privacy page](/docs/reference/privacy#how-to-check-this-yourself).

Linux? Maybe, some day. The problem is not Wymark's stack, but that I can not test it well enough. The risk is in how its web engine ([WebKitGTK](https://webkitgtk.org/)) behaves in daily use, on a system I do not use every day. I.e., I fear the maintenance burden and bug surface. So Linux is not part of the beta.

Of the markdown editors above, Typora on macOS runs on the system's web engine. The others are built on Electron, as are the Typora builds for Windows and Linux.

[^windows]: Windows version coming soon.

<p style="text-align: right"><em>Rasmus Nes - October 2026</em></p>