Use case · pricing

A markdown editor without a subscription

Most good markdown editors now want a monthly or yearly fee. Some bundle into a subscription you pay forever for a stack of apps you mostly don't use. This page is the honest answer — including where the buy-once model has real costs, not just where it wins.

Mac · Windows · one license, both desktops · lifetime $19 launch / $29 retail

Buy once. Own it. No renewal.

Markd.ly Pro is a single payment: $19 at launch, $29 at retail, lifetime. One purchase covers the Mac and Windows desktop builds. There is no annual renewal, no monthly fee, and no separate cloud charge. When you stop paying — because you never start a recurring payment — nothing turns off. The editor you bought stays the editor you have.

The reason this matters with markdown specifically: a .md file you wrote five years ago should still open instantly in five more years. A subscription editor that lapses can leave you locked out of the tool that organizes your own files. Markd.ly avoids that on two fronts — the license is permanent, and the files were always plain .md on your disk, openable in any editor regardless of Markd.ly's state.

What the free tier already does (no payment at all)

Before Pro, Markd.ly Free is a complete local markdown editor on every public platform — Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android. Create, open, edit, and save local .md files. Live preview. Mermaid diagrams and KaTeX math render for free. On Mac there is a CLI render path and read-only MCP access for AI tools, also free. You can do real work without ever paying.

Pro adds the deeper desktop toolset: Pandoc-compatible export (DOCX, PDF, EPUB, Reveal.js slides), vim mode, AES-256-GCM encrypted documents, a snippet library with variables, a custom CSS / theme editor, advanced workspace search, and MCP write access for AI agents. Pro is desktop-only (Mac + Windows). The deepest Pro toolset is on the Mac direct-download build today; the Windows Pro tools are rolling in across the 1.x series, not all shipped yet.

The honest cost of buying once

A one-time license has a real trade-off, and it would be dishonest to skip it. Markd.ly has no sync and no cloud. Subscription editors often fund continuous cloud sync, mobile parity, and a steady release cadence with that recurring revenue. Markd.ly does none of that — there is no sync service, no account requirement, no cross-device anything. If you need your notes to follow you between a laptop and a phone automatically, a one-time local editor is the wrong tool and a synced subscription app is the right one. Markd.ly also has no paid mobile tier — mobile is a free local editor only — and no plugin marketplace. Those are deliberate boundaries, not coming-soon promises.

Who this is for — and who should not buy

Writers, consultants, PMs, and developers who keep documents as files and resent paying rent on a text editor. People consolidating off a bundle subscription where a markdown editor is one of the few apps they actually open. Anyone who wants the tool they use for their own files to keep working without a billing relationship.

If automatic sync between your devices is a hard requirement, a synced subscription editor will serve you better — be honest with yourself about that before you buy. If you only ever edit on a phone, the free mobile editor is the whole product for you and there is nothing to purchase.

One payment. Yours for life.

Native Mac & Windows editor. Complete free tier; optional one-time Pro at $19 launch / $29 retail. No subscription, ever.

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