R Markdown is described as 'The rmarkdown package helps you create dynamic analysis documents that combine code, rendered output (such as figures), and prose. You bring your data, code, and ideas, and R Markdown renders your content into a polished document that can be used to:' and is an app. There are nine alternatives to R Markdown for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, Self-Hosted and BSD apps. The best R Markdown alternative is Quarkdown, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like R Markdown are LaTeX, Markdown, YAML and XML.