MacDown
MacDown is a free, lightweight Markdown editor for macOS designed for writing, previewing and exporting Markdown documents. It features live preview rendering, syntax highlighting for code blocks using Prism, support for GitHub Flavored Markdown and CommonMark standards, math notation (LaTeX-style), auto-completion with customisable bracket pairing, and export to HTML or PDF. The app targets writers, developers, technical bloggers and anyone who works regularly with Markdown files. It is distributed under the MIT open-source licence and runs on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.
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1 suggestionMacDown 3000 is an actively maintained continuation of the original MacDown project and ships as a Universal Binary with native Apple Silicon support. The latest version is optimised for M-series Macs while retaining full compatibility with Intel Macs. To update: download the latest installer from macdown.app, or if you installed MacDown via Homebrew, run `brew install --cask macdown-3000` to get the native build. The native version will run significantly faster and use less battery than the older Intel build under Rosetta 2. If you are on an older version of MacDown from before 2026, updating to MacDown 3000 will bring you native Apple Silicon support, modern macOS compatibility, and ongoing maintenance.
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