A Typora alternative that
previews in Finder too
Free text expander, clipboard manager and markdown notes. $18 once for unlimited clips, notes sync and AI prompts.
Why people move from Typora
The specific reasons people give for switching.
Typora stops at its own window
You still cannot press space on a .md file in Finder and read it rendered. TypeFire installs a Quick Look extension, so every Markdown file on your Mac previews properly whether TypeFire created it or not.
No text expansion
Writing Markdown means retyping the same link formats, callouts, front matter and code fences. TypeFire expands abbreviations into any of those, in Typora too if you keep using it.
One file at a time
Typora is a document editor. TypeFire treats your Markdown as a library: collections, tags, favourites, full-text search, and a Spotlight-style launcher over the lot.
No AI in the editor
Highlight a paragraph and rewrite, translate or shorten it in place, with Apple Intelligence or a local model so it can stay on your machine.
You pay before you know
Typora is $14.99 after a 15 day trial. TypeFire's Markdown editing, Quick Look and text expander are all free with no countdown.
TypeFire compared with Typora
Prices and capabilities as of August 2026.
| TypeFire | Typora | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free for editing and Quick Look | $14.99, 15-day trial |
| Markdown editor | Yes, with View/Edit toggle | Yes, inline WYSIWYG |
| Can be default .md app | Yes | Yes |
| Quick Look preview in Finder | Yes | No |
| GitHub Flavored Markdown | Yes, tables and task lists | Yes |
| Inline WYSIWYG editing | No, View/Edit toggle | Yes, and better |
| Text expander | Yes, unlimited, free | No |
| Clipboard manager | Yes, free for 10 clips | No |
| AI on selected text | Yes, Pro | No |
| Export to PDF, HTML, Word | HTML | Yes, extensive |
Typora pricing from typora.io, August 2026. Both apps keep your Markdown as plain files on disk.
Where Typora is genuinely better
Three things Typora does better. If any of them is your deciding factor, use Typora.
Inline editing is better
Typora hides the syntax as you type, so headings, bold and code render in place with no preview pane at all. It is the best implementation of that idea on the Mac and TypeFire does not attempt it: we use a View/Edit toggle instead.
Export options
PDF, HTML, Word, OpenOffice, epub, LaTeX, with themes and templates. If you publish out of your editor, Typora is far ahead.
It is a writing app
Focus mode, typewriter mode, outline panel, word count goals. Typora is built for long-form writing sessions. TypeFire is a utility that happens to edit Markdown very capably.
What TypeFire adds
Not available in Typora at any price.
A notes vault, not just an editor
4.0 opens a whole folder of markdown, including an Obsidian vault, with wikilinks, backlinks, quick capture and a global hotkey that reaches any note from inside another app.
Live rendering that does not rewrite the file
Markdown renders as you type while the buffer stays raw, so callouts, embeds, footnotes and your own emphasis characters survive a save untouched.
Quick Look for every .md file
Press space on any Markdown file in Finder and read it rendered with syntax-highlighted code blocks, whether TypeFire made it or not.
A text expander for Markdown itself
Link formats, front matter blocks, callouts, tables and code fences behind three-character abbreviations, working in Typora as well as everywhere else.
Your Markdown as a searchable library
Collections, tags, favourites and a Spotlight-style launcher across every snippet, rather than one open document.
AI on your selection
Rewrite, translate, shorten or explain highlighted text in place. Chain several passes onto one trigger.
A clipboard manager in the same app
Everything you copied while writing, searchable, including the text inside screenshots.
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. Clipboard managers have no snippet engine, text expanders do not watch your clipboard, and no note app has either, which is why the loop only closes here.
- 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. Until 4.0 the only control over that was a password-manager exclusion you could not see. There are three now, none of them gated, and the limits of the strongest one are stated rather than buried.
Turn image capture off
One switch. Text keeps being captured and pictures stop. Images you have already saved are kept rather than deleted, which is not what most people expect a privacy toggle to do, so it is worth saying.
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 database, owner-only files
Clips are stored in an encrypted SQLite database on your Mac. The key is generated on your machine and kept in the macOS Keychain. Image files sit alongside the database with owner-only permissions.
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.
Where blocking by app stops being a guarantee
macOS does not tell an application which other application wrote to the clipboard. TypeFire matches on the app that was in front at the time, plus any app that identifies itself using the standard convention. That covers the overwhelming majority of real cases and it is not absolute. The protection that does not depend on a guess is the concealed-content marker: password managers mark what they copy, and TypeFire never stores it whatever else is set.
The app list also covers what you copy, not screenshots you save as a file. A PNG on your desktop records nothing about what was on screen, so TypeFire matches those to an app where it can and skips them when it does. It is right in the ordinary case and it is not a promise: to keep saved screenshots out entirely, turn off Save screenshots to Clips.
Eighteen dollars. Once.
TypeFire Pro is a single payment that unlocks unlimited clips, Selection Prompts, Prompt Chains, notes sync and note version history. 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
Lifetime, or $3.99/mo
Subscription, forever
Typora is $14.99 for the editor. TypeFire gives you Markdown editing and Quick Look free, with Pro at $18 once for AI and unlimited clips.
Moving from Typora
Still not answered?
It is a capable Markdown editor with a View/Edit toggle, GitHub Flavored Markdown rendering including tables and task lists, syntax-highlighted code blocks, search across the rendered preview, and the ability to be set as the default app for .md files.
What it is not is a WYSIWYG writing app: Typora hides the syntax as you type and has focus mode, typewriter mode and extensive export. If long-form writing is the job, Typora is the better editor and we would rather say so.
Yes. Press Command O in the editor window to open any Markdown file, or set TypeFire as the default handler for .md so double-clicking one opens it.
TypeFire registers against the standard Markdown file type, so it works with files from Obsidian, Typora, iA Writer, a git repo or anywhere else.
No. Typora renders Markdown inside its own window.
Pressing space on a .md file in Finder still shows raw source with visible hashes and asterisks unless you install a separate Quick Look plugin. TypeFire installs one as part of the app.
Yes, and it is a sensible combination. Keep Typora for long-form writing, and let TypeFire handle Quick Look previews in Finder, snippet expansion inside Typora, and the clipboard.
They do not conflict, since only one app needs to be the default .md handler.
Edit it, preview it, expand into it
Markdown editing, Quick Look in Finder and an uncapped text expander, all free. Pro is $18 once for AI prompts and unlimited clips.
Free text expander, clipboard manager and markdown notes. $18 once for unlimited clips, notes sync and AI prompts.
⌃⌘⇧V your clips⌃⌘⇧T your snippets