On this page · 5 sections #
Short answer
Both are free, open source, native and under 10MB — this is a close call, not a rout. QuickMD if you’re Mac-only and want PDF export and theme variety. MDHero if you need Windows too, or want tabs, folder pins, an editor with split preview, and clean handling of pasted AI output.
Most Markdown viewer comparisons pit something lightweight against a 300MB IDE, which makes for an easy argument and a useless one. QuickMD and MDHero are the opposite case: two free, open-source, native apps of almost identical size, built by people who clearly wanted the same thing — a Markdown file to open instantly and look right.
So the differences are narrower and more interesting.
At a glance #
| QuickMD | MDHero | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Licence | Open source | Open source (MIT) |
| Size | ~10MB | ~8MB |
| Platforms | macOS only | macOS, Windows (Linux from source) |
| Built with | SwiftUI | Tauri + Rust |
| KaTeX math | Yes | Yes |
| Mermaid diagrams | Yes | Yes |
| Dark mode | Yes | Yes |
| Colour themes | Seven | Light / dark |
| PDF export | Yes | No |
| Tabs | No | Yes, with drag-to-reorder |
| Folder pins | No | Yes |
| Built-in editor | No | Yes — View / Split / Edit |
| AI paste handling | No | Yes |
| Presentation mode | No | Yes — Marp |
Where QuickMD is genuinely better #
PDF export. MDHero doesn’t have it. If part of your routine is turning Markdown into a PDF to send someone, QuickMD does that natively and MDHero will make you route through a browser or another tool. That’s a real gap, not a rounding error.
Seven colour themes. MDHero gives you light and dark, done well, and that’s it. QuickMD offers considerably more visual variety, which matters more than feature lists suggest if you’re reading for hours.
Pure SwiftUI. QuickMD is built with Apple’s native UI framework, so it inherits Mac behaviours automatically and feels unmistakably like a Mac app. MDHero uses Tauri, which means a system webview for rendering — very light, very fast, but a slightly different flavour of native. Some people care about that distinction; most won’t notice.
Mac App Store distribution. QuickMD is on the App Store, so installation is one click with no security prompts to reason about.
Where MDHero is genuinely better #
It runs on Windows. This is the biggest single difference. QuickMD is macOS-only by design. If you work across both, or share a recommendation with colleagues who don’t use Macs, MDHero is the only one of the two that covers it — and it builds from source on Linux as well.
Tabs and folder pins. QuickMD opens a file. MDHero opens a working set: multiple tabs with drag-to-reorder, plus pinned folders so a project’s Markdown is one click away. If you’re reading one README, this is irrelevant. If you’re moving between a dozen docs, it changes the experience.
A real editor, not just a viewer. MDHero has a View / Split / Edit switcher — Split puts the editor and a live preview side by side — with line numbers, find in every mode, and a warning before you discard unsaved changes. QuickMD is a viewer; for edits you go elsewhere.
AI output handling. Paste mode (Cmd+Shift+V
) takes raw Markdown from ChatGPT or Claude and renders it directly, unescaping the literal \n
characters that AI output often carries. There’s also right-click AI Lookup for sending selected text to a model. If a good share of what you read is AI-generated, this is the feature that actually saves time — see copying ChatGPT output with formatting intact.
Presentation mode. Add marp: true
to a file’s front matter and MDHero opens it as a native slideshow, no CLI required.
Which one should you use? #
Choose QuickMD if: you’re on macOS and staying there, you export to PDF regularly, you want theme choice, or you want the App Store install and a strict SwiftUI app.
Choose MDHero if: you use Windows at all, you read many files at once, you want to edit as well as read, or you paste a lot of AI output.
A defensible third option: keep both. They’re free, they’re small, and they don’t conflict. Set one as your default handler for .md
files and open the other when you need what it does better. There’s no cost to this beyond about 18MB.
A note on who's writing this
I build MDHero, so treat the framing with appropriate suspicion. What I can promise is that the facts above are accurate — including the ones that don’t flatter MDHero, like the missing PDF export. QuickMD is a good app, and if the trade-offs above point you to it, use it.
The wider field #
If neither fits, the comparison worth reading next is the full roundup of free Markdown viewers for 2026, which covers MarkView, Marked, Typora and the rest with the same trade-off framing. For Mac-specific options including Quick Look, there’s the complete Mac guide; for Windows, how to open .md files on Windows.
Frequently asked questions #
### What is the main difference between QuickMD and MDHero? #
QuickMD is macOS-only, built in SwiftUI, and includes PDF export and seven colour themes. MDHero runs on macOS and Windows, adds tabs, folder pins, a built-in editor with split preview, and paste handling for AI output, but has no PDF export. Both are free, open source and under 10MB.
### Which app is smaller? #
MDHero is around 8MB and QuickMD around 10MB. At that scale the difference is not meaningful — both launch instantly, and either is a fraction of the size of Electron-based alternatives that run 90MB to 300MB.
### Does QuickMD work on Windows? #
No. QuickMD is built with SwiftUI and runs on macOS only. If you need the same Markdown viewer on both macOS and Windows, MDHero covers both, and builds from source on Linux.
### Can MDHero export to PDF? #
No. QuickMD has built-in PDF export and MDHero does not. If exporting Markdown to PDF is part of your routine, that is a genuine reason to choose QuickMD, or to keep it alongside MDHero.