The best Markdown readers for Mac, for reading not editing

Which Markdown reader should I use on a Mac?

The right Markdown reader for your Mac depends on whether you only read, also write, or already work in an editor. This table compares nine ways to read .md files on a Mac: who each suits, the price, whether it edits, what it opens and its main limit. Prices and platforms were checked 28 September 2026.

reader for reading. editor for writing. both is fine.

Why do people recommend Markdown editors when I only want to read?

People recommend Markdown editors because most Markdown apps on a Mac are editors that happen to have a preview. That's great if you write Markdown. It's clutter if you only read what your AI wrote.

A reader opens straight to the formatted page. There's no split screen, no file tree, and nothing to set up first. If you mostly read, a reader is less to look at. If you write all day, an editor is the right tool, and you may not need a separate reader at all.

One Clear Reader

Who it suits: One Clear Reader suits people who get .md files, plans and reports from Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or Cursor and want to read them without hunting for them.

Price: free forever for reading, search and Markdown editing. Pro is optional: $19.99 a year, or $29 once at launch for the first 500 ($59 after that). Every Pro feature is free for 30 days, no card.

Real strength: One Clear Reader gets you to the file. Paste the path your AI gave you (quotes, ~/, :142 and all) and it opens formatted. The welcome screen lists files changed in the last 24 hours, including Claude Code's plans folder and temp folders that normal search skips. It also opens Word, PDF, EPUB, web pages and CSV in the same window, and has ready-made reading profiles for dyslexic and ADHD readers.

For reviewing AI work, you can add notes to specific words and copy them all back to your AI as one prompt with the file path (3 notes a document free, unlimited with Pro).

Real limits:

• The current build runs on Apple silicon Macs only. No Intel yet.
• No Quick Look extension, so pressing Space in Finder still shows plain text.
• PDFs open in their original layout, but with no notes, no text settings and no in-app Find.
• Footnotes ([^1]) show as plain text.
• Save as PDF, Save as Word and editing Word files in place are Pro.
• Image files don't open on their own. Pictures show only inside a Markdown document.

Marked 3

Who it suits: Marked 3 suits writers who already have an editor they love and want a polished preview and export beside it.

Price: direct, $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year (intro $2.99 and $29.99), or a permanent unlock at $89.99 (intro $69.99). On the Mac App Store, a free download with in-app purchases of $2.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $69.99 permanent. Also on Setapp, with a free trial (Marked pricing). Marked 2 is still sold for $14.99 once (Marked pricing), "with minimal future updates" (Brett Terpstra).

Real strength: exports. PDF, Word, EPUB, HTML, RTF and more, with a lot of control over styles (Marked). It also watches a folder you choose and shows the newest file, which its docs suggest for Claude and Cursor plans (Marked help).

Real limit: it's "NOT AN EDITOR", in its own words on the App Store. To fix a typo you switch to another app. PDFs and Word files are converted to Markdown for the preview, so a PDF loses its layout (Marked help). For a closer look, see One Clear Reader vs Marked.

Typora

Who it suits: Typora suits people who write Markdown themselves and want it to look formatted as they type.

Price: $14.99 once for up to 3 devices, with a 15-day trial. Mac, Windows and Linux (Typora).

Real strength: the Markdown turns into formatting as you type, so you write and read in one clean window. Diagrams and maths are built in, and the price is one-time.

Real limit: it's a writing app, so opening a file is opening a document to edit. Turning Markdown into Word needs Pandoc, a separate install (Typora support).

Obsidian

Who it suits: Obsidian suits people building their own notes that link to each other.

Price: free, with no sign-up. Sync ($4 a month, billed yearly) and Publish are optional (Obsidian pricing).

Real strength: free, your notes stay as local files, and diagrams and maths are built in (Obsidian help). Community plugins add much more.

Real limit: it works on a "vault", a folder you add to Obsidian. A one-off file your AI saved in Downloads or a temp folder doesn't fit that well. Search looks inside the vault only (Obsidian help). More in One Clear Reader vs Obsidian.

VS Code's Markdown preview

Who it suits: VS Code's Markdown preview suits developers who already have VS Code open all day.

Price: free.

Real strength: open a .md file and press ⇧⌘V for the preview, or ⌘K V to see it beside the text. It now draws Mermaid diagrams and maths with no extensions (VS Code docs). It also keeps a Local History of your changes.

Real limit: it's a full code editor. If you don't already use it, it's a lot of app for reading one file. PDF export needs an extension, and it sends usage data by default unless you turn that off (VS Code docs).

MacMD Viewer

Who it suits: MacMD Viewer suits people who want a simple, read-only window for the plans their AI agent writes, and nothing else.

Price: $19.99 once for one Mac, $39.99 for 3 keys, team packs from $129. No free trial, but a 14-day refund. Direct, Homebrew and Setapp (MacMD Viewer pricing).

Real strength: read-only by design, with diagrams, live reload and a Quick Look preview. It runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs, macOS 14 or later (MacMD Viewer).

Real limit: Markdown only, and you can't fix a typo in it. Getting a PDF means printing to PDF.

Peekdown

Who it suits: Peekdown suits developers who want to mark up an AI plan and hand the notes back, for very little money.

Price: $4.99 once on the Mac App Store, macOS 15 or later (App Store).

Real strength: you can strike, comment on and highlight the formatted text, then copy it as structured prompts for your AI. It also shows what changed as a diff and adds a Quick Look preview (Peekdown, App Store, checked 28 September 2026).

Real limit: it needs macOS 15 or later, and it opens Markdown, MDX and plain text only. Export is through Print.

A Quick Look extension (QLMarkdown)

Who it suits: QLMarkdown suits anyone who just wants the spacebar preview in Finder to show a formatted page.

Price: free and open source. Download it from GitHub or install with brew install --cask qlmarkdown. It needs macOS 12 or later (checked 27 September 2026).

Real strength: it draws tables, Mermaid diagrams and maths right in Quick Look, with nothing new to learn.

Real limit: it's a quick peek. There's no search, no editing, and it closes when you click away. You have to open the app once, then check it's turned on in System Settings under Extensions, Quick Look (QLMarkdown). How to preview Markdown in Quick Look walks through it.

TextEdit and Quick Look, built in

Who it suits: TextEdit and Quick Look suit a quick check on a short file, on a Mac with nothing extra installed.

Price: included with macOS.

Real strength: it's already there, and a .md file is plain text, so you can always read the words.

Real limit: neither one formats Markdown. Apple's guides list no Markdown support (TextEdit guide), so you see every # and ** symbol, and tables arrive as rows of pipes.

When is another Markdown app better than One Clear Reader?

Another Markdown app beats One Clear Reader in several common cases. Here's our honest steer, with facts checked 28 September 2026.

• You write all day. Pick Typora ($14.99 once) or iA Writer ($49.99 once on Mac, 7-day trial, iA). They're writing tools first, and better at it than our editor.
• You're building a notes collection. Obsidian is free and made for linking notes. One Clear Reader isn't built as a notes app.
• You already work in VS Code. Its preview draws diagrams and maths now. If your AI runs inside VS Code, it may be all you need.
• You have an Intel Mac. One Clear Reader doesn't run on it yet. MacMD Viewer runs on Intel, and so does the free MacDown 3000 editor (MacDown 3000).
• You need polished exports with custom styles. Marked 3 is the stronger export tool.
• You want the spacebar preview. QLMarkdown is free. We don't have a Quick Look extension yet.
• You need footnotes. Obsidian and Marked handle them. We don't yet.

When is One Clear Reader the better Markdown reader?

One Clear Reader is the better choice when your files come from AI and you mostly read them. You don't need to know where the file went: paste the path, type part of the name, or pick it from the list of recent AI files. PDFs, Word files and EPUBs open in the same window. Tired eyes get ready-made profiles like Neuro-friendly and Paragraph Focus, free (more on reading with dyslexia or ADHD). And when you want the AI to change something, you add notes and copy them back as one prompt.

It's free to start, with every Pro feature free for 30 days, no card. Download One Clear Reader.

Questions people ask