# Zettlr

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Zettlr and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free Markdown editor people switch to from Obsidian and enjoy; the most common caveat is crashing when Markdown changes behind the scenes.

## Why people recommend it

- Preferred over previous editors (2 comments): "I recently switched from Obsidian to Zettlr due to some rendering and performance issues on Linux, and it's been a great experience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46574974)) "I switched to Zettlr last year and I like it much better." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47489806))
- Great overall experience (2 comments): "I recently switched from Obsidian to Zettlr due to some rendering and performance issues on Linux, and it's been a great experience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46574974)) "it's been a great experience" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587294))

## What people warn about

- Crashes when Markdown changes behind the scenes (1 comments): "I really like Zettlr, but I find it is always crashing when markdown changes behind the scenes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47883809))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [SmallDocs](https://hackerapproved.com/p/smalldocs.md): 21 recommend
- [OpenKnowledge](https://hackerapproved.com/p/openknowledge.md): 20 recommend
- [Typora](https://hackerapproved.com/p/typora.md): 19 recommend
- [Margin Markdown editor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/markdown-editor-for-mac-ios-and-web.md): 15 recommend
- [iA Writer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ia-writer.md): 14 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Zettlr", https://hackerapproved.com/p/zettlr/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).