Marked QL alternative for Mac. Free Markdown Quick Look, and an editor behind it.
Is there a free alternative to Marked QL?
Yes. TypeFire previews Markdown in Finder with Quick Look for free, and opens the file in a live editor on double click. Marked QL is $9.99 on the App Store or part of Setapp.
TypeFire also adds a notes app that adopts the folder, a clipboard manager and a text expander, from one install with nothing to enable, on macOS 13 and later.
What changes when the preview comes with an app
Marked QL previews. These are the things people wanted next.
Free, with no trial to run out
Marked QL is $9.99 on the App Store, or part of a Setapp subscription. TypeFire's Quick Look preview and Markdown editor are free, and Quick Look is not part of Pro.
Double click opens the file, rendered, editable
Space shows the document. Double click opens the same file in a Markdown editor that renders as you type and saves it byte for byte. Marked QL only previews. TypeFire also writes.
The folder can become a vault
A folder of .md files opens in place as notes, with wikilinks, backlinks, tags, daily notes and a graph. Nothing is imported or copied.
Nothing to enable
TypeFire's extension registers when the app is installed. There is no first launch and no switch to find in System Settings.
A preview that runs no script and fetches nothing
Markdown can carry HTML, and HTML can carry a script or a remote image. TypeFire's preview runs none of it and makes no network request, so a file from anyone renders as a document and does nothing else.
A clipboard manager and a text expander in the same install
Clipboard history and snippets come with the same app, under one Accessibility permission.
TypeFire compared with Marked QL
Prices and capabilities as of October 2026.
| TypeFire | Marked QL | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $9.99, or Setapp |
| macOS floor | 13 Ventura | 13 |
| Where to get it | Direct download | Mac App Store, Setapp, free trial |
| Headings, lists, tables, code, task lists | Yes | Yes |
| Opens and edits the file | Yes, live preview editor | No, preview only |
| Notes vault over the folder | Yes | No |
| Clipboard manager and text expander | Yes | No |
| Follows your app's theme | Light, dark, Warm, Cool and Dim | Shares settings with Marked 3 |
Marked QL's price and requirements checked 10 October 2026 on markedapp.com.
What TypeFire adds
Not available in Marked QL at any price.
Free
The preview and the editor are free, and Quick Look is not part of Pro.
An editor on double click
The same file, rendered as you type, saved byte for byte.
The folder as notes
Wikilinks, backlinks, tags and a graph over the files you already have.
Clipboard and snippets
Both in the same app, one permission.
Turn anything you copy into something you type
Right-click a clip, choose Save as snippet, give it an abbreviation. The thing you copied once becomes something you type three characters to get, forever. The same conversions run across all three surfaces: a clip becomes a note, and a note you keep rewriting becomes a snippet. Snippets, notes and clips live in one app, which is what makes each of those a single click rather than an export and an import.
- 01
Copy something
It lands in Clips alongside everything else you copied today.
- 02
Save as snippet
It leaves your rolling history and enters your permanent library.
- 03
Give it a trigger
Type
invfrom then on and never look it up again.
A clipboard manager you can tell what to ignore
A clipboard manager sees everything you copy, so TypeFire gives you the controls: switch image capture off, name apps to skip, and see the password managers it always ignores. None of them is behind Pro.
Turn image capture off
One switch. Text keeps being captured and pictures stop, and the images you already saved stay where they are.
Name apps to skip
Add any application and TypeFire ignores what you copy in it. Choose from the apps it has already seen, with clip counts, or browse to any app on your Mac. Each app gets one of three settings: allow it, block images only, or block everything you copy there. The middle one is what most people want for a work tool, keeping the text and losing the screenshots.
The password managers, now visible
TypeFire has always ignored password managers. That list is in Settings now, twenty-three apps including 1Password, Bitwarden, KeePassXC, Dashlane and Apple Passwords, blocked by bundle ID in code rather than by a setting you have to find. It shows which of them you have installed, and any one can be overridden.
Encrypted on your Mac
Clips are stored in an encrypted database on your Mac. The key is generated on your machine and kept in the macOS Keychain. Images sit beside it, readable only by your own account.
Secrets expire in minutes
Card numbers and high-entropy strings are detected and deleted after five minutes by default, adjustable in Settings. Everything else follows the retention you choose.
An on-device AI option
Apple Intelligence and local models through Ollama or LM Studio run entirely on your machine. If you pick Claude, OpenAI, or Gemini instead, text goes to that provider directly; TypeFire operates no server in that path.
Eighteen dollars. Once.
TypeFire Pro is a single payment that unlocks unlimited clips, Selection Prompts, Prompt Chains, notes sync, note version history and saving from AI apps through MCP. There is no subscription and no per-seat pricing.
Free tier, then one payment
No free tier at all
One time
No free tier
One time
Or $29.99 a year, or $99.99 lifetime
Five snippets free, then a subscription
Quick Look, the editor, notes, the clipboard and snippets are all free. Pro is $18 once, and Quick Look is not in it.
The graph is free, and it needs nothing
Press ` and TypeFire draws every note, snippet and clip on one canvas, using the links, tags and folders already in your files. Nothing to download and nothing to switch on. A connection you made is drawn solid, one TypeFire worked out is drawn dashed.
Turn on Weave and search starts matching what you meant rather than the exact words you typed. It runs on your Mac, with no account and nothing uploaded.
Moving from Marked QL
Still not answered?
$9.99 on the Mac App Store, with a free trial, and it is included in Setapp.
It needs macOS 13 or later and works without Marked. TypeFire's Quick Look preview and Markdown editor are free.
No. Marked QL works on its own, and shares preview settings with Marked 3 if you have it.
Yes. Only one app can preview Markdown when you press Space, so from version 6.2 TypeFire takes that role once and tells you if it turned Marked QL off.
Keep Marked QL installed, and switch the Markdown preview between them any time in TypeFire's Settings, Markdown, Preview Markdown in Finder with. TypeFire never takes it back after you pick.
Headings, lists, nested lists, tables, task lists, code blocks, blockquotes, links and the pictures beside the file, styled like TypeFire's own editor in light and dark.
Yes. It runs no script, makes no network request, and reads only the file being previewed and the pictures beside it.
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