UnmarkedOur pick
Choose Unmarked when the file you're reading is also one you need to fix. You can type straight into its table cells, play the file as slides and pay nothing. Pick Marked 3 if you're keeping another editor and want its proofreading tools, export profiles, EPUB or Word files with tracked changes.
| Question | Unmarked | Marked 3 |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A reader and editor for one Markdown file | A preview and publishing tool for files you write in another app |
| When another app changes the file | Read and Write both pick up the new text and hold your place | The preview redraws and scrolls to the first change, can mark every edit and can follow a whole folder |
| Editing | Write mode, styled in place, in the window you're reading | The built-in Dingus for quick fixes. Writing happens in your editor |
| Tables | A grid for cells, ranges, rows and columns | Rendered from your Markdown, or built from a CSV file |
| Full screen | Present shows the file as slides | Reading Mode, autoscroll and speed reading. No slide mode |
| Proofing and export | Spelling and grammar as you write. Exports PDF, HTML and Word, plus Copy as Rich Text | Readability and keyword checks, export profiles, EPUB and Word with tracked changes |
| Price | Free | $2.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $69.99 once, at introductory prices. Marked 2 is $14.99 |
Both follow the file. Unmarked is also where you write it.
Marked was built to watch. Open a file or point it at a folder, and each time your editor or an AI agent saves, the preview redraws and scrolls to the first thing that changed. Turn on diff markers and it marks every change so you can step through them.
Unmarked follows outside changes too. Let an editor, a script or an AI assistant save the file and the window picks up the new text shortly after, with your place held. What you do next is the difference. Tick a task box in Read and the file saves. Press ⌘E and you can rewrite the paragraph or fix a table cell without leaving the window.
Tables and slides happen in the document
Marked draws the tables you write elsewhere. It can also build one from a CSV file and redraw it whenever the CSV is saved.
In Unmarked's Write mode a table is a grid. Click a cell and type. Highlight a range and replace it in one go. Rows and columns are added, duplicated and reordered from the grid itself, and a table copied from a web page pastes in as Markdown rows.
Present plays this file full screen as slides, with the tables, code and diagrams you see in Read.
Ready to send, or ready to publish
Unmarked handles the usual ways a document leaves your Mac: a paginated PDF that can carry page numbers and a header, a Word file with real headings and tables, self-contained HTML and rich text you can paste into Mail or Slack.
Marked 3 is built for publishing work. It scores readability, flags word repetition and passive voice, saves export settings as reusable profiles, writes EPUB and produces Word files with tracked changes and comments. If that's your job, Marked earns its price.
Marked 2 is still sold for $14.99, and its developer plans only minimal updates, so the same choice applies to it.
Which one fits your work?
Choose Unmarked if
- You want to read a file and fix it in the same window.
- Something else writes the file, like an AI agent or a build script, and you want to correct its work where you see it.
- You edit tables often enough to want a grid.
- You need slides, not Reading Mode or autoscroll.
Choose Marked only if
- You're keeping your current editor and want readability, repetition and keyword checks beside it.
- You publish EPUB, send Word files with tracked changes or follow an AI agent across a whole folder.