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Zettlr
Zettlr · founded 2017
What it is
Zettlr is a writing workbench for projects that may run from early notes through journal submissions or book manuscripts. It began as a Markdown editor for academic researchers and is also used by students, journalists, authors, and others writing substantial amounts of text. The app works offline on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and the maker says files remain on the user's computer. It supports standard Markdown and can export to formats available through Pandoc. Citation manager connections include Zotero, JabRef, and Juris-M, with more than 9,000 citation styles supported. For linked-note work, Zettlr offers note IDs, wiki-style links, related files, navigation, and a graph view. Pandoc-powered profiles can apply templates to papers and prepare presentations for Beamer, reveal.js, or PowerPoint. The app also renders LaTeX equations and Mermaid charts, and allows extensive settings and custom CSS. Zettlr is free and open source. The maker says app data is not collected and update checks can be disabled; older releases are unsupported, and nightly releases may contain many bugs. Help is available through a manual, forum, Discord, and GitHub error reports.
For and against
For
- Works offline on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- Supports more than 9,000 citation styles.
- Links notes with IDs, wiki-style links, and graph view.
- Free and open source.
Against
- Older releases are unsupported.
- Nightly releases may contain many bugs.
- Windows 10 or newer is required.
- macOS 12 or newer is required.
The verdict
Zettlr combines Markdown writing, citation support, linked notes, and Pandoc-based publishing workflows in a free desktop app. Users who need older releases should note that they are unsupported.
Who it suits
Zettlr suits researchers, students, journalists, and authors managing substantial writing projects. Its citation integrations and Pandoc workflows may also suit users preparing papers or presentations.
Plans and prices
Free
Free and open source software · no payment required to download
Read 8 Oct 2026 · zettlr.com
On the record
- Audience
- Zettlr began as a Markdown editor built for academic researchers and is also used by students, journalists, authors, and others writing substantial amounts of text.zettlr.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Citation managers
- Zettlr supports Zotero, JabRef, and Juris-M, and the site says it supports more than 9,000 citation styles.zettlr.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Customization
- The app renders LaTeX equations and Mermaid charts and supports extensive settings and custom CSS.zettlr.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Formats and export
- Zettlr supports standard compatible Markdown and export to formats supported by Pandoc.zettlr.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- The maker identifies LanguageTool integration and reference manager support for Zotero, JabRef, and Juris-M.zettlr.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Note sharing
- Yeszettlr.com · read 20 Sep 2026
- Offline access
- Yeszettlr.com · read 20 Sep 2026
- Privacy
- The maker says app data is not collected, files stay on the user's computer, and update checks can be disabled.zettlr.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Publishing workflows
- Its Pandoc-powered profile system can export papers with templates and create presentation profiles for Beamer, reveal.js, or PowerPoint.zettlr.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Zettlr is a publication workbench for writing projects from initial notes through journal submission or book manuscripts.zettlr.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Release limits
- The maker says older releases are unsupported and warns that nightly releases may contain many bugs.zettlr.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Support
- Users can seek community help through the forum and Discord, consult the manual, or report errors on GitHub.zettlr.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Supported systems
- The download page provides installers for Windows 10 or newer, macOS 12 or newer, and Linux distributions and formats including Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora/Red Hat, and AppImage.zettlr.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Website analytics
- The maker says its website uses Matomo with anonymization and GDPR-oriented settings, stores the data on a server in Germany, and does not sell it to third parties.zettlr.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Writing and notes
- Zettlr supports Zettelkasten workflows with note IDs, wiki-style internal links, related files, navigation, and graph view.zettlr.com · read 8 Oct 2026
