Zettlr Alternatives

Zettlr is described as 'Comprehensive writing tool for notes, citations, and drafting with privacy-first features and multi-language support, perfect for diverse writing tasks' and is a very popular Note-taking tool in the office & productivity category. There are more than 100 alternatives to Zettlr for a variety of platforms, including Mac, Windows, Linux, Web-based and iPhone apps. The best Zettlr alternative is Obsidian, which is free. Other great apps like Zettlr are Joplin, Logseq, Notesnook and AppFlowy.

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Alternatives list

  1. Reflectr icon
     3 likes

    Freely express your thoughts, ideas, and observations without the pressures of social media and sharing. Leverage AI-generated insights, including mood indicators, tags, emojis, comments, daily recaps, and writing tips to reflect, grow and be more productive.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
     
  2. Plainva icon
     1 like

    Plainva is an open-source, local-first editor for plain Markdown vaults. It aims to open existing Obsidian-compatible vaults directly from cloud storage and preserve file ownership.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  3. NoteSR icon
     1 like

    NoteSR is a secure and offline-first note-taking Android app that creates an encrypted storage space on your device. You can write text notes, attach any type of file to them, and open files directly inside the app — all fully encrypted using AES-256.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Android
    • F-Droid
     
  4. Shy Editor icon
     3 likes

    Shy Editor is an online text editor and writing environment that was designed for maximum writer productivity. It is used every day by novelists, non-fiction writers, students, academics, bloggers, content creators, journalists, and more.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  5. Howl icon
     6 likes

    Howl is a general purpose editor that aims to be both lightweight and fully customizable. It is built on top of the very fast LuaJIT runtime, and can be extended in either Lua or Moonscript. It has a minimalistic UI driven mainly by the keyboard.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
     
  6. DocxManager icon
     8 likes

    A document manager and site builder/generator for Word users. You can open Word documents in tabs, manage documents on a project basis, full-text search documents across multiple project folders, attach tags, notes, stars, and so on to the documents.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  7. Novellier icon
     2 likes

    Novellier is a complete writing suite designed for novelists, screenwriters, and storytellers. Unlike traditional word processors, it lets you manage entire book series within a single project—switch between novels while sharing characters, locations, and resources across all of...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Online
     
  8. zk icon
     1 like

    zk is a plain text note-taking assistant meant for use alongside a separate text editor program.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
     
  9. CrabPad icon
     1 like

    CrabPad is a fast, free Markdown editor built with Rust. Local-first, keyboard-driven, with Zen Mode, Command Palette, live preview, and support for KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, and GFM. Available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
     
  10. Ideon icon
     1 like

    Ideon is an open-source, self-hosted alternative to tools like Heptabase and Kosmik, specifically designed for technical projects. It provides an infinite spatial canvas where users can organize information visually rather than in linear documents or folder structures.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Docker
     
  11. Fountain is inspired by Markdown syntax, intended as a simple markup syntax for writing, editing and sharing screenplays in plain, human-readable text.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
    • BSD
    • Objective-C
     
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