UnmarkedOur pick
Pick Unmarked when a Markdown file has to turn into something other people read, like a deck or a Word document. It opens the file from Finder in its own window, edits tables as a grid and has Present, Word and HTML export built in. Pick Obsidian when the value is in the links between your notes and you want that library on your phone and your other computers too.
| Question | Unmarked | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Made for | One Markdown document you read, edit and send | A library of linked notes you work in every day |
| Opening one file | Opens from Finder in its own window and saves back to the same file | Opens from Finder's Open With menu into your current Obsidian window and stays in its folder. Needs the 1.14 installer |
| Tables | A grid in Read and Write. In Write, select a range of cells to clear, cut, paste or copy as Markdown and rich text | Right-click a table in Live Preview to add, delete, sort, move or align rows and columns |
| Slides | Present starts a slide at every H1, H2 or divider already in the file | The core Slides plugin breaks the note at the --- lines you add |
| Export | PDF, Word with editable equations and tables, and self-contained HTML with MathML | PDF. No Word or HTML export built in |
| Across your notes | One document per window, navigated by its own headings | Links, backlinks, graph view, Bases and plugins |
| Platforms and price | Mac. Free | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android. Free. Sync is $4 a month billed yearly |
The same file, two kinds of window
Obsidian 1.14 can open a single Markdown file from Finder. It opens in your current Obsidian window and stays in its folder, with images and links resolved from there. What differs is the window around the file, and what you can do with the file next.
In Unmarked, the file is the window. The outline lists this document's headings and nothing else, and the status bar keeps a live word count. Press ⌘E to switch between Read, which shows the finished page, and Write, where the text is styled as you type and the Markdown marks appear only around the cursor.
Edit a table a block at a time
Obsidian handles tables from a right-click menu in Live Preview. You add or delete rows and columns, sort them, move them and set alignment there.
Unmarked draws the table as a grid in Read and Write. In Write, drag across cells or use the keyboard to select a rectangle. Clear it, replace it, cut it or paste a block into it. Copy it and you get Markdown plus rich text that keeps its rows and columns when it lands in Mail or Docs. Hover bars insert rows and columns.
Hand it off without rebuilding it
Obsidian's Slides plugin presents a note once you've added --- lines where each slide should break. Unmarked's Present reads the structure the file already has. Every H1 or H2 starts a slide, and so does a divider. Tables, diagrams, colored code and typeset math come along, and the file itself never changes.
For files, Obsidian builds in PDF. Unmarked writes PDF too, plus Word and HTML. The Word file opens with its headings in Word's outline, its tables editable and each equation as a real Word equation. The HTML is one self-contained file, its equations written as MathML that a browser draws with no internet connection.
Obsidian draws math in its editor as well as in Reading view. Unmarked's Write shows the LaTeX you typed, and Read, the slides and every export typeset it.
When the links are the work
If your notes point to each other and you find your way by those links, Obsidian is the better home. Backlinks, graph view, Bases, plugins, Sync and apps for every major platform are the reasons to pick it. Unmarked keeps to one document at a time, and it shows [[wiki links]] as you typed them and callouts as ordinary quotes.
The two can share a file. Obsidian refreshes its vault when a file changes outside it, and Unmarked's window follows a file that another app edits. A note can stay in your vault and still go out from Unmarked as a deck or a Word file.
Which one fits your work?
Choose Unmarked if
- A note has to become slides, a Word file or a web page for people who don't use Obsidian.
- You edit tables by the block: select a range of cells, clear it, paste over it, copy it out.
- You open Markdown files from Finder one at a time and want each one in its own window.
- Equations and colored code need to arrive intact in Word and HTML.
Choose Obsidian only if
- Links, backlinks, graph view and Bases are how you find your way around your notes.
- You want the same library on Windows, Linux, iPhone or Android, kept in step by Sync.