UnmarkedOur pick
For Markdown documents on a Mac, Unmarked is the pick: tables you edit as a grid, a Read mode for the finished file and slides from your headings, free. Pay $49.99 for iA Writer when you want help with the sentences themselves (Style Check, Focus Mode, Authorship), or need it on Windows and iOS as well.
| Question | Unmarked | iA Writer |
|---|---|---|
| While you write | A styled page. The Markdown marks fade back except at the cursor | A plain-text editor with Auto-Markdown. Preview shows the styled version |
| Reading | Read mode, with its own font, size and width | Preview, beside the editor or full-screen, styled by a template |
| Tables | A grid. Pick a range of cells and type over it or clear it. Move and align whole rows and columns | Pipe syntax, with a menu command that creates the cells. Smart Tables compute formulas in Preview |
| Slides | Built in. Present plays the document full screen | A separate app, iA Presenter |
| Help with the prose | Spell and grammar check | Authorship, Style Check and Focus Mode |
| Price | Free | $49.99 once on the Mac after a seven-day trial. Windows, iPhone and iPad are separate purchases |
Plain text or a styled page
iA Writer's editor is plain text. You write the Markdown as Markdown, and Preview (⌘R) shows it styled, beside the editor or full-screen.
Unmarked formats the page while you write. Headings take their size and emphasis shows as emphasis, while the Markdown marks recede until you put the cursor on them. Select text and a small format bar appears. The Insert menu adds a table, a code block or a task list. Underneath, the file is still plain Markdown.
A reading view set up for reading
In iA Writer, Preview runs through a template, and that template also decides how export and print look. Unmarked keeps those apart. Read mode (⌘E) has its own font, size, line spacing and width, chosen separately from the ones you write in, while exports keep a fixed document style.
The outline follows along and marks the heading you're reading, and a live word count sits in the status bar. A long spec or a running set of meeting notes reads like a document, with nothing to edit in the way.
Tables as a grid, slides from the same file
iA Writer tables are pipe syntax. A menu command creates the cells, and Smart Tables can compute formulas that show in Preview. In Unmarked's Write mode, that same pipe table is a grid. Press Tab to move cell by cell, or drag across a range and type over it. Rows and columns can be moved, duplicated and aligned without touching a pipe, and Word export makes it an editable Word table.
iA makes its slides in a separate app, iA Presenter. In Unmarked, Present (⌥⌘P) uses the headings you already wrote as slide breaks, and closing the slides drops you back where you were.
Which one fits your work?
Choose Unmarked if
- You'd rather write on a styled page than in plain text.
- You want reading set up apart from writing, with its own font and width.
- You edit tables cell by cell, and sometimes a whole range at once.
- You want slides without buying iA Presenter.
Choose iA Writer only if
- Authorship, Style Check or Focus Mode is part of how you write.
- You also write on Windows, iPhone or iPad.