# Best writing & notes apps for Mac

> Distraction-free editors, notebooks and PDF tools for people who think in text. 19 native apps, hand-picked by MacWorthy. Facts checked 2026-10-19.

Editor's picks: iA Writer.

## Compared

| App | Price | Mac App Store | Homebrew | Open source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [iA Writer](https://macworthy.com/apps/ia-writer/) | One-time purchase | Yes | No | No |
| [Ulysses](https://macworthy.com/apps/ulysses/) | Subscription | Yes | No | No |
| [Bear](https://macworthy.com/apps/bear/) | Free + Pro | Yes | No | No |
| [Drafts](https://macworthy.com/apps/drafts/) | Free + Pro | Yes | No | No |
| [Craft](https://macworthy.com/apps/craft/) | Free + Pro | Yes | `craft` | No |
| [Tot](https://macworthy.com/apps/tot/) | Free + Pro | Yes | No | No |
| [MarkEdit](https://macworthy.com/apps/markedit/) | Open source | No | `markedit` | MIT |
| [Agenda](https://macworthy.com/apps/agenda/) | Free + Pro | Yes | No | No |
| [NotePlan](https://macworthy.com/apps/noteplan/) | Subscription | Yes | No | No |
| [Scrivener](https://macworthy.com/apps/scrivener/) | One-time purchase | Yes | `scrivener` | No |
| [Day One](https://macworthy.com/apps/day-one/) | Free + Pro | Yes | No | No |
| [PDF Expert](https://macworthy.com/apps/pdf-expert/) | Subscription | Yes | `pdf-expert` | No |
| [Highlights](https://macworthy.com/apps/highlights/) | Free + Pro | No | No | No |
| [Cirrus](https://macworthy.com/apps/cirrus/) | Free + Pro | Yes | No | No |
| [HushNotes](https://macworthy.com/apps/hushnotes/) | One-time purchase | No | No | No |
| [Inkstone](https://macworthy.com/apps/inkstone/) | One-time purchase | Yes | No | No |
| [Traverse](https://macworthy.com/apps/traverse/) | Free + Pro | Yes | No | No |
| [Clearly](https://macworthy.com/apps/clearly/) | Free | Yes | No | No |
| [Markdown Preview](https://macworthy.com/apps/markdown-preview/) | Open source | No | `markdown-preview` | MIT |

## The apps

- **[iA Writer](https://macworthy.com/apps/ia-writer.md)** (editor's pick): Focused Markdown writing, nothing more. iA Writer strips writing down to text and typography. Focus mode, syntax highlighting for style and clean export make it a favourite of authors and journalists.
- **[Ulysses](https://macworthy.com/apps/ulysses.md)**: A complete writing environment for long work. One library for every draft, with goals, outlines and publishing to WordPress, Ghost and Medium. Ulysses is built for books, theses and newsletters.
- **[Bear](https://macworthy.com/apps/bear.md)**: Beautiful notes, linked and tagged. Bear pairs a polished Markdown editor with nested tags and backlinks. It is fast, lovely to look at and syncs over iCloud.
- **[Drafts](https://macworthy.com/apps/drafts.md)**: Where text starts, before it knows where it goes. Drafts opens to a blank page instantly. Capture first, then send the text anywhere with actions you can script yourself.
- **[Craft](https://macworthy.com/apps/craft.md)**: Documents that look designed by default. Blocks, cards and pages make it easy to build structured documents and personal wikis. Sharing to the web is one click.
- **[Tot](https://macworthy.com/apps/tot.md)**: Seven dots. Seven notes. That's it. Tot is a tiny text scratchpad in your menu bar with exactly seven colored notes. It is constraint as a feature.
- **[MarkEdit](https://macworthy.com/apps/markedit.md)**: TextEdit, if it spoke Markdown. A free, open-source Markdown editor that opens instantly, stays lightweight and behaves like a proper Mac app.
- **[Agenda](https://macworthy.com/apps/agenda.md)**: Notes that live on a timeline. Agenda ties notes to dates and calendar events, so meeting notes, plans and follow-ups sit where they happened.
- **[NotePlan](https://macworthy.com/apps/noteplan.md)**: Tasks, calendar and notes in plain Markdown. NotePlan treats your day as a Markdown file with tasks and time blocks, linked to project notes. Your data stays as plain text.
- **[Scrivener](https://macworthy.com/apps/scrivener.md)**: The novelist's corkboard, binder and typewriter. Scrivener breaks long manuscripts into scenes you can rearrange freely, keeps research beside the draft and compiles to print or e-book.
- **[Day One](https://macworthy.com/apps/day-one.md)**: A private journal for a lifetime of entries. Day One captures photos, places and weather alongside your writing, with end-to-end encrypted sync and a satisfying On This Day.
- **[PDF Expert](https://macworthy.com/apps/pdf-expert.md)**: Read, annotate and edit PDFs without a fight. Fast rendering, real text editing, forms and signatures in an interface that feels more like Preview than Acrobat.
- **[Highlights](https://macworthy.com/apps/highlights.md)**: Turn PDF highlights into notes. Highlights reads papers and books with you, then exports your annotations to Markdown, Obsidian, DEVONthink and more.
- **[Cirrus](https://macworthy.com/apps/cirrus.md)**: A Markdown note that pops up over whatever you are doing. Press a global shortcut and a floating Markdown note opens above the current app; Escape sends it away. Notes can also hide as a tab on a screen edge or in the notch, lines ending in = are calculated inline, and everything syncs through your own iCloud. Free for three notes.
- **[HushNotes](https://macworthy.com/apps/hushnotes.md)**: Floating sticky notes that stay out of screen shares. HushNotes keeps notes above every app, full-screen ones included, while hiding them from screen sharing, recordings and screenshots. A shortcut captures selected text from any app, and another hides every note at once. Notes are local, with optional iCloud.
- **[Inkstone](https://macworthy.com/apps/inkstone.md)**: A WYSIWYG editor for the Markdown files already on your Mac. Inkstone opens any folders of .md files as spaces with tabs and splits, rendering Markdown in place as you type. It handles tables, footnotes, math and wikilinks across folders, and has focus and typewriter modes. No account and no sync service of its own.
- **[Traverse](https://macworthy.com/apps/traverse.md)**: An outliner that keeps its work in OPML files. Traverse edits outlines stored as local OPML files, viewed as an indented list or as columns that follow one branch. Focus, filters, numbering and custom attributes add structure when needed, and outlines export to Markdown, CSV and PDF. Templates and snippets are part of Pro.
- **[Clearly](https://macworthy.com/apps/clearly.md)**: A Markdown editor that opens plain .md files. Clearly edits Markdown files with syntax highlighting, then flips to a preview that renders tables, KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams and callouts. It includes a Quick Look extension, PDF export, a menu bar scratchpad and an iPhone version.
- **[Markdown Preview](https://macworthy.com/apps/markdown-preview.md)**: Read .md files as formatted documents. Markdown Preview opens Markdown files as clean, readable pages with a clickable outline of headings, and adds a Quick Look extension so a press of Space in Finder renders them too. When you want to edit, it hands the file to the editor you choose.

HTML version: https://macworthy.com/categories/writing/