Comparison

Xmd vs Markdown Lite

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Xmd

Features
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Xmd turns a URL or a PDF into a clean Markdown file — ready to drop into Obsidian, Logseq, Bear, iA Writer, or your own notes vault. Paste a link, pick a PDF, hit Convert. That's it. WHY Xmd • Smart per-source extraction. Xmd detects WordPress, news articles, documentation sites, PDFs, X / Twitter threads, Reddit, App Store, Google Play and Amazon — and picks the right technique for each, not a one-size-fits-all clipper. • Works on X / Twitter. Longform articles AND tweet threads. Most clippers can't read X because it's a JavaScript app; Xmd renders the page in a real WebView and walks the DOM. • More than articles. Beyond web pages and PDFs, Xmd recognizes structured pages too — Reddit discussions, App Store / Mac App Store / Google Play listings, and Amazon product pages — and turns them into clean Markdown. App Store listings can include the app's public user reviews. • PDFs done right. Paragraphs are recomposed instead of being shredded into one line per visual row. • Built-in OCR for scanned PDFs. When a PDF page has no text layer (a scan, a photo of a document), Xmd falls back to on-device OCR via Apple's Vision framework — Italian and English out of the box. No cloud round-trip, no separate app. • Cookie banners handled. Iubenda, OneTrust, Didomi and IAB TCF prompts are auto-dismissed so they don't pollute your Markdown. • Documentation-aware. On docs.* / readthedocs / github.io sites, fenced code blocks keep their language hints. • Show WebView toggle. For SPA-heavy or login-protected pages, interact with the page first, then extract. • Extensible. Hit a site Xmd doesn't recognize yet? Build your own extractor — map a few fields with CSS selectors and a template, or an advanced one for trickier pages. Test it against a live URL, then import/export to share. BUILT-IN MCP SERVER ON MAC (FOR ANY AI AGENT) On Mac, Xmd doubles as a Model Context Protocol server. Open the MCP tab, hit Start, and any MCP-compatible AI agent — Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Zed, custom clients you build yourself — can call: • convert_url_to_markdown • convert_pdf_path_to_markdown • scrape_url — run targeted extraction on any page • save_extractor / list_extractors — teach Xmd a new site, reusable from then on Because the server reuses Xmd's real WebView, your agent can fetch JavaScript-rendered pages that pure HTTP-fetch tools can't — pull exactly what it needs from a page, then save it as a reusable extractor so Xmd handles that site automatically next time. One-click config snippet, live request log, all local on 127.0.0.1. No cloud relay, no API key, no subscription. This makes Xmd probably the easiest way to give an LLM agent first-class web and PDF reading capabilities on macOS. PRIVATE & LOCAL No account. No subscription. No cloud round-trip. Extraction happens on your device. Files stay on your device. NATIVE EVERYWHERE SwiftUI on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro. Share Sheet extension on iOS — send a link from Safari, get a Markdown file back. Keyboard shortcut to convert (⌘↩). Save as .md or copy to clipboard. GREAT FOR • Note-takers building a personal knowledge base in Obsidian / Logseq / Bear • Researchers archiving sources in a readable, diff-friendly format • Writers collecting reference material • Engineers saving documentation pages offline • Mac users who run AI agents locally (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Zed, custom MCP clients) and want them to read the live web and PDFs Made with care. Built to be extended — bring your own extractors.

About

Markdown Lite

Features
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Markdown 本地编辑器是一款专注于本地文本文件的轻量工具,适合在 iPhone 和 iPad 上快速查看、编辑和保存 Markdown、TXT、JSON、XML、CSV 以及常见源码文本。 你可以新建空白文档,打开系统文件中的文本,直接编辑内容,并在预览模式下查看 Markdown 渲染效果。应用支持覆盖保存、另存为、分享、关闭确认、多窗口叠加编辑,以及自动存档,减少后台被关闭或误操作造成的内容丢失。 主要功能: - 编辑和预览 Markdown 文件 - 支持多种纯文本格式 - 新建、打开、保存、另存为和分享 - 多窗口叠加编辑,可快速切换 - 输入法上方 Markdown 常用符号快捷栏 - 自动存档未保存内容 - 支持浅色、深色和跟随系统外观 应用不需要账号,不接入广告,不收集用户数据。你的文件内容保存在本机或你主动选择的位置。

Screenshots

Xmd4 screens
Markdown Lite4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Markdown Lite at Free against Xmd's $9.99. Markdown Lite also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 4 weeks). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Markdown Lite is free to download; Xmd costs $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Xmd ships an update every 4 weeks, Markdown Lite every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
Xmd versus Markdown Lite: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterXmdMarkdown Lite
Price$9.99Free — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMarco Tini立明 倪

In-app purchases

None

Xmd

No in-app purchases

None

Markdown Lite

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Xmd free?
Xmd costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Markdown Lite free?
Markdown Lite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Xmd or Markdown Lite have ads?
Neither Xmd nor Markdown Lite shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Xmd or Markdown Lite?
Xmd ships an update every 4 weeks, and Markdown Lite every 3 days. Most recently, Xmd was updated on October 16, 2026 and Markdown Lite on October 13, 2026.

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