Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Glow

Read markdown on your CLI…with pizzazz!

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Glow launched in 2020; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1GS
Glow – Syntax highlighting for Clojure source code▲29
2015 · blog.venanti.us · its alternatives →
2
Marked QL▲159
Instant markdown previews in Finder
Jul 2026 · markedapp.com · its alternatives →
3
OpenMarkdown▲189
A feather-light, local-first Markdown editor built for you and your agent.
Jul 2026 · openmarkdown.dev · its alternatives →
4
Typed▲256
The stunning markdown and writing app for Mac
2014 · realmacsoftware.com · its alternatives →
5
Textual Markdown – a Markdown “browser” in the terminal▲254
Hi HN, This is a TUI app which displays interactive Markdown documents. Interactive in the sense that you can scroll code fences / tables / and click links. There's a Table of Contents extracted from the MD, and a very rudimentary browser like forward + back. I'm thinking it could be the starting point for a variety of hypertext like applications in the terminal. Very much a work in progress.
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
6
Markdown Preview▲211
Markdown Editor with instant preview using GitHub CSS.
2022 · freecodetools.org · its alternatives →
7IS
I spent 10 months building a Markdown editor for Mac, iOS and web▲69
25d ago · markdown.beauty · its alternatives →
8
Markdownify▲80
A markdown editor in your browser
2021 · markdownify.vercel.app · its alternatives →
9LF
LightPaper for Mac – Free Markdown editor▲132
I'm not the author of the app (nor i have any connection with them, just a random user). iA Writer and Writer Pro aren't well suited for me as a developer. They feel quite "strange" to me. Mou is a good option (free too) but still missing some features. So far this, this editor is the most complete user-friendly. Hope it helps!
2013 · clockworkengine.com · its alternatives →
10
MacDown▲115
Open source Markdown editor for OS X influenced by Mou.
2014 · macdown.uranusjr.com · its alternatives →
11
Rich-CLI – A CLI toolbox for highlighting, Markdown, JSON and rich text▲126
Rich-cli is a command line toolbox for fancy output in the terminal - Textualize/rich-cli
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
12
Markdown Editor▲76
Writing Github readme's and markdown easier
2018 · chromewebstore.google.com · its alternatives →
13
Docbase▲110
Render your markdown documentation into beautiful sites
2016 · opensource.appbase.io · its alternatives →
14
Marky – A lightweight Markdown viewer for agentic coding▲75
Hey HN, In this age of agentic coding I've found myself spending a lot of time reviewing markdown files. Whether it's plans or documentation that I've asked my agent to generate for me, it seems that I spend more time reading markdown than code. I've tried a few different solutions to make it easier to read such as Obsidian however I've found their Vault system to be quite limiting for this use case and I've found TUI solutions to not quite be as friendly to read as I've wanted so I made Marky. Marky is a lightweight desktop application that makes it incredibly easy to read and track your…
Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
15
Markvis▲118
Make visualization in markdown.
2017 · markvis.js.org · its alternatives →
16
Write.md – A free, open-source, themeable Markdown editor for macOS▲107
A free, open-source Markdown editor for macOS with customizable appearance profiles, optional Vim keys, and local writing corrections.
Aug 2026 · writemd.app · its alternatives →
17
TOAST UI Editor▲119
Markdown WYSIWYG editor
2018 · its alternatives →
18
ReadmeStack▲99
Free Markdown web editor synchronized with GitHub
2023 · its alternatives →
19
Macdown▲87
Open source Markdown editor for macOS. Contribute to MacDownApp/macdown development by creating an account on GitHub.
2014 · github.com · its alternatives →
20
MagicDown▲96
A minimal markdown editor making your writing look magical ✨
2018 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
21
Markdown Editor and Reader for Mac▲7
I read Markdown all day, mostly Claude .md, and other AI outputs. Every app I have tried felt janky or too much work to just read an md file. I just wanted to open a .md file and read it the way Preview opens a PDF. So I built Kite, a Markdown reader for Mac. It has QuickLook just like Preview and I have baked in features that help people reading lot's of AI markdowns. It one-time purchase, no subscription. I put it on TestFlight so you can try it before paying anything. I would really like this crowd to try to break it. Tell me which files render wrong,what feels off, what is missing.…
Jun 2026 · kitemarkdown.com · its alternatives →
22
JotDown▲81
A Markdown editor with built-in productivity functions
2015 · its alternatives →
23MU
Markdown-UI – Write UI/UX with Markdown Syntax▲65
2015 · jjuliano.github.io · its alternatives →
24
leaf – a terminal Markdown previewer with a GUI-like experience▲46
Terminal Markdown previewer — GUI-like experience. - RivoLink/leaf
Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →