| Category | Markdown document editor | Knowledge base (PKM) |
|---|
| Backlinks / graph | No (by design) | Yes (core) |
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| Plugin ecosystem | No (by design) | Yes: 8,030 community plugins and 795 themes |
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| Storage | Plain .md files wherever you keep them | Plain .md files inside a vault folder |
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| Native (non-Electron) | Yes (native) | No (Electron) |
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| Runs on | Mac (macOS 14 or later), Windows 10 (1809) or later, Linux (x64), iPhone and iPad (iOS 17 or later), Android 8.0 or later | Mac (macOS 12 or later), Windows, Linux (x64 and ARM64), iPhone and iPad (iOS 15.6 or later), Android 5.1 or later |
|---|
| Account needed | Yes: one Bravely Account sign-in (Apple, Google or email) | No: an account only for Sync, Publish and other paid add-ons |
|---|
| Linux desktop | Yes (x64 .deb and AppImage; no arm64) | Yes (x64 and ARM64 AppImage, .deb, Snap) |
|---|
| Price | One-time $19.99 | App free without limits; Sync from $4/user/mo; Publish from $8/site/mo; optional Commercial license $50/user/yr |
|---|
| Vim mode (normal/insert/visual, core motions + operators) | Yes (desktop) | Yes (built-in Vim key bindings setting) |
|---|
| Pandoc export (DOCX/EPUB/LaTeX/Reveal.js) | Yes (desktop): Linux converts on your computer; Mac and Windows convert on our server, so they need a connection | No: community plugins add them; PDF export is built in |
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| Encrypted documents (AES-256-GCM) | Yes (desktop): per document, on disk | No (notes are plain text on disk); Sync is end-to-end encrypted (AES-256) |
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| Mermaid diagrams and math | Yes (every platform) | Yes (built in) |
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| Live preview | Editor, Preview and Split views | Live Preview and Reading view |
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| Cross-device sync | Not automatic: tap Add to Cloud, then open it on your other devices | Yes, with Obsidian Sync (from $4/user/mo billed annually) |
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