Grasmere vs Zettlr

Zettlr and Grasmere are the two Markdown editors on this site’s list of Scrivener alternatives that have citations built in, so they’re the pair academics compare. Zettlr is free and open source, runs everywhere, and stands on Pandoc. Grasmere is a paid Mac app that does the same jobs without Pandoc and adds a few of its own. Grasmere is ours.

In a sentence each

Zettlr is a free, open-source Markdown editor for Mac, Windows and Linux, made with academics in mind, with Pandoc citations from a CSL JSON or BibTeX library and export through an embedded Pandoc. Grasmere is a Mac app for long writing in Markdown files, with sources by DOI and ISBN, citations in four styles, a Word review round trip and a Publish stage.

Side by side

	Zettlr	Grasmere
Runs on	Mac, Windows, Linux	Mac, macOS 26 or later
Price	Free, GPL v3, donations welcome	$14.99 once
Your files	Markdown in your folders	Markdown in your folders
Reference library	A CSL JSON, BibTeX or BibLaTeX file you keep, usually from Zotero with Better BibTeX	A Markdown file per source, made from a DOI, ISBN or web address, or imported from BibTeX or CSL JSON
Citing	Pandoc syntax, `[@Author2015, p. 123]`	A link to the source, picked by typing `[@`
Styles	Any CSL style, thousands of them	APA 7, Harvard, Chicago author-date, MLA 9
A book from chapters	Projects: a folder with a file list you keep in order	Chapter cards dragged into order; Publish stage
Word output	Through Pandoc	Built in, with a title page and Word styles
Word input	Import, with one setting to accept, reject or keep all comments	Each tracked change and comment placed on your text, to accept or reject one at a time
PDF	Needs LaTeX installed; a simpler PDF without	Built in, manuscript or book form. LaTeX in 1.6
Reading sources	Not described in its documentation	Web pages and PDFs read and highlighted beside the draft

Zettlr’s facts are from its own site and documentation, read on 9 November 2026.

Where Zettlr is better

Any citation style. If your journal has a CSL file, or you need Vancouver, IEEE, OSCOLA or Chicago notes, Zettlr writes it. Grasmere writes four author-date styles.
Free, open, everywhere. The source is public, it costs nothing, and it runs on Windows and Linux.
Pandoc underneath. Anything Pandoc can export, Zettlr can, and your citations are in Pandoc’s syntax, which other tools read.
Zettelkasten. IDs and links for a card index of notes.

Where Grasmere is better

No library to maintain. A source is made from a DOI, and the reference details live in a Markdown file beside your chapters, not in a .bib file kept in step by another app.
Review. Zettlr imports a Word file with one blanket choice for its comments. Grasmere shows each tracked change and comment where it belongs and lets you accept or reject it.
Publishing without LaTeX. A folder of chapters becomes a manuscript-format or book PDF, or one Word document, with nothing installed.
Sources in the app. Save a web page or drop a PDF, read it beside the draft, highlight, and quote with the citation attached.

Moving across

Zettlr’s files are Markdown, so open the folder. Import your .bib or CSL JSON with Project ▸ Import Sources, then Project ▸ Convert Pandoc Citations turns each [@key] into a link to the matching source. Going the other way, each source’s front matter holds the reference fields, and in 1.6 the Publish stage writes a .bib alongside LaTeX.

Download for macOS Free for 14 days, then $14.99 once · macOS 26+

Which to choose

Choose Zettlr if you need a style Grasmere doesn’t write, work on Windows or Linux, or want open-source software and are at home with Pandoc and LaTeX. Choose Grasmere if you write APA, Harvard, Chicago author-date or MLA on a Mac, send drafts to people who use Word, and would rather not run a toolchain.

Last updated 10 November 2026.