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The best markdown-it alternatives

5 tools that do a similar job to markdown-it, 5 of them open source. Each entry says what it does and who it suits, so you can pick the one that fits instead of the most famous.

You're replacing

markdown-it

A fast Markdown parser for JavaScript that follows the CommonMark spec and can be extended with plugins.

  1. 1

    remark

    Open source · MIT · ★ 13k

    A simple tool that turns Markdown text into a browser-based slideshow.

    Best for: People comfortable with HTML and CSS who want slides written in Markdown; Developers or teachers who want a presentation they can version-control as plain text

  2. 2

    Showdown

    Open source · MIT · ★ 14.9k

    A JavaScript library that converts Markdown to HTML and HTML back to Markdown.

    Best for: JavaScript developers adding Markdown rendering to a web page; Node.js developers converting Markdown files on a server

  3. 3

    react-markdown

    Open source · MIT · ★ 15.9k

    A React component that renders Markdown text as React elements, without raw HTML injection.

    Best for: React developers who need to display Markdown content such as comments, docs, or posts; Beginners who want safe Markdown rendering without writing HTML parsing code

  4. 4

    Turndown

    Open source · MIT · ★ 11.5k

    A JavaScript library that converts HTML into Markdown, in Node.js or the browser.

    Best for: Developers who need to convert HTML content, such as web pages or rich text editor output, into Markdown; Node.js or browser projects that want a JavaScript-only conversion step

  5. 5

    Vditor

    Open source · MIT · ★ 11.4k

    A browser-based Markdown editor with rich-text, live-render and split-view modes.

    Best for: Developers who want to embed a Markdown editor in a web app; Teams building a blog, forum or content tool that needs in-browser editing

How we pick: tools in the same category that solve the same problem, projects that name each other as alternatives, and open-source projects that describe themselves as an alternative to markdown-it. We don't take payment for placement.