Iliad vs Typora: two Markdown editors that hide the syntax

Iliad wrote this. We make Iliad, so read our claims about it with that in mind. Every claim about Typora below comes from Typora's own pages, linked at the end, and was checked on October 14, 2026.

Typora and Iliad start from the same idea. You write Markdown, the syntax steps aside, and you see formatted prose instead of asterisks. Both keep your writing as plain .md files in a folder you choose. The difference is what happens around the text. Typora is a mature, focused editor with no AI. Iliad is younger and Mac only, and it is built for writing next to AI: help when you ask for it, and a page-by-page review of what an agent such as Claude Code changed.

In short. Choose Typora if you want a polished Markdown editor on Mac, Windows or Linux, with rich export and no AI in the room. Choose Iliad if you write on a Mac, use AI for some of the work, and want to see and approve every change it makes.

At a glance #

Where Typora is the better choice #

It runs on more computers. Typora works on macOS, Windows and Linux. Iliad needs a Mac with Apple Silicon. If you switch between a Mac and a Windows laptop, Typora is the one that follows you.

Export is a real strength. Typora exports to HTML, PDF, Word, ODT, EPUB, LaTeX and several more formats, mostly through Pandoc, and you can add your own export commands. Iliad has no built-in export yet. If your work ends as a PDF or a Word file, Typora gets you there from the same window.

It is mature. Typora has shipped steadily for years. Its 2026 releases (1.13 in April, 1.14 in July) added MathJax 4, newer Mermaid diagrams, a floating toolbar and better file-tree navigation. It has themes, focus and typewriter modes, diagrams and resizable tables. Iliad is at version 0.7 and has fewer of these refinements.

No AI at all can be the point. Typora's site does not mention AI, apart from a fix for pasting math from AI tools. If you want a writing space with nothing that offers to write for you, Typora gives you exactly that.

Where Iliad is different #

AI that waits to be asked. Iliad has built-in AI, free with a daily limit or on your own Groq key, but it never suggests on its own. You press a key for a sentence or a paragraph at the cursor, or select text and ask the ✦ AI menu to shorten or rewrite it. The result appears in place, and you accept it with Tab or reject it with Esc. Nothing is sent until you ask.

A review of what your agent wrote. Many writers now ask Claude Code or Codex to edit their drafts. Typora reloads the file when it changes on disk, so you see the new version but not what changed. Iliad shows each change in the page, the old text struck through above the new, and you keep or restore each one. A restore never overwrites work you did since.

Comments your agent can read, and write. You can comment on any passage in Iliad. Comments live in a plain Markdown file next to the document, so an agent can read them and act on them. Since version 0.7, an agent can also leave its own comments, marked ✦, when you ask for feedback instead of edits, and you can read them all in the margin beside the text.

Free and open source. Iliad costs nothing and its code is public under the MIT license. Typora is a paid, closed-source app, though at $14.99 for three devices it is not expensive.

Who should choose which #

Choose Typora if you write on Windows or Linux, need PDF, Word or EPUB export, want a stable editor with years of polish, or simply want no AI anywhere near your text.

Choose Iliad if you write on a Mac, want AI help that only appears when you ask, or already use an agent like Claude Code on your drafts and want to review its changes line by line instead of rereading the whole file.

Using both #

Both apps read and write plain .md files, so you do not have to choose forever. You can keep one folder of documents, draft and review in Iliad, and open the same file in Typora when you need its export. Neither app locks the text in.

Sources #