FocusWriter Alternatives for Mac

FocusWriter is not available for Mac but there are plenty of alternatives that runs on macOS with similar functionality. The best Mac alternative is Zettlr, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to FocusWriter and loads of them are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Mac alternatives to FocusWriter are ghostwriter, QOwnNotes, Bear and iA Writer.

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Alternatives list

  1. Zettlr icon
     259 likes

    Unified writing platform offering note-taking, easy citations with Zotero integration, LaTeX/Word templates, snippets, themes, dark modes, code highlighting, multi-language support, and knowledge management with Zettelkasten for seamless writing from notes to books.

    206 Zettlr alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
     
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    1
  2. ghostwriter icon
     114 likes

    ghostwriter is a feature-rich text editor using Markdown syntax which makes it suitable for note-taking, document redaction, simple HTML website creation and much more.

    144 ghostwriter alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • Haiku
     
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  3. QOwnNotes icon
     100 likes

    Plain text notepad with markdown support and todo list manager for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows, that works together with the notes application of ownCloud.

    294 QOwnNotes alternatives

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
    • Qt
     
  4. Bear icon
     98 likes

    Flexible note-taking and writing tool featuring advanced markdown with in-line images, cross-note links, live preview, hashtags, Focus Mode, plain text storage, iCloud sync, one-tap formatting, smart data recognition, and multiple export formats for portability.

    267 Bear alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Online
    • iPhone
    • iPad
     
  5. iA Writer icon
     97 likes

    The key to good writing is not that magical glass of Bordeaux, the right kind of tobacco or that groovy background music. The key is focus. What you need to write well is a spartan setting that allows you to fully concentrate on your text and nothing but your text.

    125 iA Writer alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • iPhone
    • iPad
     
  6. Dendron icon
     71 likes

    Dendron is an open-source, local-first, markdown-based, note-taking tool built on top of VSCode. It supports all the usual features you would expect like tagging, backlinks, a graph view, split panes, and so forth.

    222 Dendron alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Visual Studio Code
     
  7. Pages icon
     213 likes

    Word processor providing real-time collaboration, over 90 templates, iCloud integration, support for Word and EPUB files, over 700 shapes, advanced formatting tools, change tracking, mathematical equations, multimedia insertion, wireless printing, and flexible export options.

    83 Pages alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Online
    • iPhone
    • iPad
     
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    1
  8. Ulysses icon
     70 likes

    Ulysses is a text editor for creative writers. Used by bloggers, poets, students and published novelists all over the world, it offers an integrated environment to brainstorm, draft, revise and even submit text on a professional level.

    146 Ulysses alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • iPhone
    • iPad
     
  9. novelWriter icon
     29 likes

    novelWriter is a Markdown-like text editor designed for writing novels and larger projects of many smaller plain text documents. It uses its own flavor of Markdown that supports a meta data syntax for comments, synopsis and cross-referencing between files.

    79 novelWriter alternatives

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Qt
    • Python
     
  10. Quoll Writer icon
     41 likes

    Focus on your words not the interface. Quoll Writer is a writing application that helps you focus on your words. Clean and uncluttered. Feature rich. Features are where you would expect them to be.

    93 Quoll Writer alternatives

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
     
  11. Carnet icon
     43 likes

    Carnet is a complete and rich note taking app for Android and Linux that can be synced with NextCloud (selfhosted) or the official Carnet server.

    Cost / License

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • Self-Hosted
    • F-Droid
    • Snapcraft
    • Mac
     
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    1
  12. Heynote icon
     19 likes

    Block-organized, privacy-focused scratchpad for developers with language-specific syntax highlighting and auto-formatting, supporting JavaScript, JSON, Markdown, notes, API responses, and daily planning, all in a persistent local buffer with minimalist interface.

    61 Heynote alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
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