head to head · open source
MiaoYan vs MarkFlowy
MiaoYan has 8,719 GitHub stars, 522 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MarkFlowy has 2,426 stars, 98 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. MiaoYan leads on adoption by 259% (8,719 vs 2,426 stars). MiaoYan is written in Swift under MIT; MarkFlowy is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. MiaoYan has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, MarkFlowy 4%. MiaoYan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (editor, local-first, markdown, notes-app), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| MiaoYan | MarkFlowy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.7K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Swift | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 522 | ⑂ 98 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick MiaoYan if
- You weight community size — 8.7K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick MarkFlowy if
- You want the MarkFlowy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and MarkFlowy fits your workflow better
About MiaoYan
English 简体中文 MiaoYan Lightweight Markdown note taking app for macOS Features Fantastic : Local first, no data collection, split editor & preview, wikilink backlinks, LaTeX, Mermaid Beautiful : Minimalist design, three column layout, dark mode, macOS 26 glass, distraction free Fast : Swift 6 native, better performance than Electron based apps Simple : Lightweight, version history, keyboard shortcuts, auto formatting Installation 1. Mac App Store (paid, automatic updates): 2. Homebrew : 3. GitHub Releases : download the latest DMG from GitHub Releases (macOS 11.5+) All three options share the same codebase and…
read the full MiaoYan overview →
About MarkFlowy
MarkFlowy beta Modern and intelligent Markdown editor. [![App Version][version badge]][release] [![Downloads][downloads badge]][release] [![Build Status][build badge]][build] [![Code of Conduct][coc badge]][coc] [![Commit Activity][commit badge]][commit] [![issues closed]]( [![PRs Welcome][prs welcome badge]][prs welcome] [![TypeScript version icon]]( [![Rust version icon]]( [![License][license badge]][license] [![codefactor]]( English 简体中文 日本語 Features High Performance: The rebuilt editor dramatically improves opening speed for large documents. A 2 MB Markdown file opened in around 1 second in testing. Built in…
read the full MarkFlowy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is MiaoYan or MarkFlowy more popular?
MiaoYan has 8,719 GitHub stars and MarkFlowy has 2,426. MiaoYan has the larger community by that measure.
Are MiaoYan and MarkFlowy free?
Both are open source. MiaoYan is licensed under MIT and MarkFlowy under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between MiaoYan and MarkFlowy?
MiaoYan is written in Swift and MarkFlowy in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, MiaoYan or MarkFlowy?
Choose MiaoYan if you want the larger community (8,719 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose MarkFlowy if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.