spacebarA QLMarkdown Alternative
Two free, open-source Quick Look extensions that render Markdown in Finder, with different aims
- Free, GPL-3.0
- cmark-gfm, many syntax options
- R Markdown, MDX, Quarto
- A preview only
- Free, MIT
- markdown-it, KaTeX and Mermaid offline
- The folder in a sidebar
- Click to edit; live updates
QLMarkdown (opens in a new tab), by sbarex, is a long-standing Markdown previewer with a deep set of options. spacebar is newer and does more inside the preview: editing, live updates and a file browser. If QLMarkdown serves you well, there is no need to switch.
At A Glance
| Feature | spacebar | QLMarkdown |
|---|---|---|
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Install | A notarized .dmg, or one Terminal command | Homebrew cask or a download; notarized and signed |
| Renderer | markdown-it | cmark-gfm, with many extensions you switch on in its settings |
| Math and Mermaid | KaTeX and Mermaid, bundled | MathJax and Mermaid, linked from a CDN or embedded, your choice |
| Themes | Six, each light and dark, plus your own CSS | A GitHub-style theme, light and dark, plus your own CSS |
| Editing | Click a paragraph to edit; ticked tasks save to the file | A preview only; its app has an editor for trying settings |
| Wikilinks | Open the linked note in the panel; embeds, callouts and tags too | Rendered as links; GitHub alerts and MkDocs admonitions as callouts |
| Beyond .md | Space also opens folders, code, config, JSON, plists, archives and .dmg files, and, with the Space helper, every file but apps and packages; a sidebar previews HTML, video, images, PDFs and CSV beside the file (every file type); folder previews on by default | R Markdown, MDX, Quarto, API Blueprint, Cursor rules, TextBundle and .mermaid files |
| Also | Live updates, a table of contents, ⌘F to find, Copy and Raw; word count and reading time are off by default; footnotes, heading anchors and ⌘Z undo across edits | A table of contents sidebar; a command-line tool and a Shortcuts action that convert Markdown to HTML; emoji shortcodes |
Checked against spacebar 0.5.0 and QLMarkdown 1.5.7 on 2 October 2026. Spot a mistake? Tell us on X (opens in a new tab).
Which To Pick
Pick QLMarkdown If
- You want to install and update with Homebrew
- You preview R Markdown, MDX, Quarto or API Blueprint files
- You convert Markdown to HTML from the command line or Shortcuts
- You rely on extras like emoji shortcodes or sub- and superscript
Pick spacebar If
- You fix typos or tick tasks without an editor (how editing works)
- You watch a file change, like an agent’s plan
- You read a note beside its folder, or browse an Obsidian vault
- You want one previewer for code, config, plists and zips as well as Markdown, and every file but apps, packages and
.rtfdwith the optional Space helper (it needs Accessibility) - You want math and diagrams offline, nothing to set up
See how Quick Look apps compare.
spacebar is a free Quick Look replacement. More: Markdown in Quick Look, Mermaid diagrams, Obsidian vaults and Claude Code’s plans.
Switching
Quick Look uses one previewer for a file type, so turn QLMarkdown’s extension off or macOS may keep using it. spacebar’s installer lists other Markdown previewers that are on and says how to turn them off, and its Settings shows QLMarkdown while it’s on, with a way to turn it off.
Or paste this in Terminal
curl -fsSL https://spacebar.patebryant.com/install.sh | sh
To go back, run curl -fsSL https://spacebar.patebryant.com/uninstall.sh | sh and turn QLMarkdown on again.
Questions
Is QLMarkdown still maintained?
Yes. Its latest release, 1.5.7, came out on 2 October 2026, as of 3 October 2026.
Can I run QLMarkdown and spacebar together?
Yes, but Quick Look uses one previewer per file type, so one of them wins for .md. Keep both on and let QLMarkdown cover what spacebar doesn’t claim, such as R Markdown and MDX, or turn one off.
Do I need to set anything up for math and diagrams?
No. KaTeX and Mermaid come bundled with spacebar and work offline. QLMarkdown lets you link MathJax and Mermaid from a CDN or embed them.
How do I go back to QLMarkdown?
Run curl -fsSL https://spacebar.patebryant.com/uninstall.sh | sh and turn QLMarkdown on again.