StackEdit and Dillinger vs MarkdownPaper

The short answer

If you are writing in the browser and want the file to live in Google Drive, Dropbox or GitHub, use one of the editors. If you are reading, printing or passing on a document someone else wrote, open it in MarkdownPaper, where the page comes first and nothing about the document leaves your browser.

Where StackEdit and Dillinger are the better choice

• Writing in the browser. Source and preview sit side by side and scroll together. Dillinger's editor is Monaco, the one inside VS Code, with Vim and Emacs keys. MarkdownPaper opens as a page, and its editor and split view are there for fixing a document rather than drafting one.
• Cloud storage. StackEdit syncs a file with Google Drive, Dropbox and GitHub, checking every minute, and can keep one file in several places at once. Dillinger connects to GitHub, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and Bitbucket. MarkdownPaper keeps documents in your browser and has no sync.
• Publishing. StackEdit publishes straight to Blogger, WordPress, Zendesk, Gist, GitHub and more, through templates you control. MarkdownPaper does not publish anywhere.
• Workspaces of files. StackEdit keeps folders of documents in the browser, available offline. MarkdownPaper keeps a flat library of what you have opened.
• Both are free and open source, and both have been used by a great many people for more than ten years.

Where MarkdownPaper is the better choice

• Reading is the default. Open or paste a document and it is a page, not one half of a split screen. Text is set to a measure counted in characters, 74 by default, in a serif made for reading, the contents sit in the page margin, and the few controls fade out while you read.
• Nothing leaves your browser, including the PDF. MarkdownPaper renders in your browser and prints to PDF there too, with real page margins. Both editors build their PDFs on a server: StackEdit's PDF export sends the rendered document to its server and, according to its source, is offered to sponsors, and Dillinger's PDF export sends the Markdown to its server to render.
• Nothing to sign in to. No account for anything. Paste a GitHub link and the reader fetches the file itself, without asking for your GitHub account for a public one.
• Handing it on. A rendered page copies into Google Docs with its tables intact, a saved HTML file carries its own fonts, and a share link carries the whole document inside the link, never on a server.
• A desktop app when you want one. The MarkdownPaper desktop app opens .md files with a double click and follows a file as another program rewrites it, for documents that live on disk rather than in cloud storage.

Side by side

StackEdit or Dillinger?

If you are choosing between the two editors rather than against a reader: Dillinger is the one under active development. Its source was rebuilt on a current web stack and was still changing in 2026, and it connects to more cloud services. StackEdit's code last changed in May 2023, with version 5.15.4; it still works as a site, and it is the one to pick for syncing a file to several places or publishing to a blog, which Dillinger does not list among its features.

Price

StackEdit and Dillinger are free, and both are open source. The MarkdownPaper web reader is free too, with no account and no limits.

The MarkdownPaper desktop app: Coming soon to the Mac App Store and the Microsoft Store. $6.99 launch price, paid once, with no subscription. About the desktop app.

Using both

Write in whichever editor keeps your file where it needs to live. When it is done, or when someone else needs to read it, paste its text into the web reader or open the file there, and read it as a page, print it, or copy it into a document. If you write in a code editor instead, the VS Code comparison covers that.

Questions

Is StackEdit still maintained?

Its source code on GitHub was last changed in May 2023, at version 5.15.4, and the repository has not been archived. The site still runs. Whether that matters depends on what you use it for: syncing and publishing depend on Google, Dropbox and blog services continuing to accept it.

Does StackEdit or Dillinger upload my document?

Your text is stored in your browser in both. It goes elsewhere when you choose to: syncing or publishing sends it to the service you connect, and both editors' PDF export sends it to their own server. MarkdownPaper sends your document nowhere; the only request that involves a document is fetching a link you paste.

Can I use MarkdownPaper as an online Markdown editor?

For fixing a document, yes: press E for a focused editor, or open a split view beside a live page. For drafting long pieces or keeping files in cloud storage, one of these editors will serve you better.