Compared
Notula and HackMD
HackMD is the closest thing to Notula on this list: collaborative Markdown, comments, GitHub integration. The difference is where the document actually lives.
What HackMD is better at
-
Real-time co-editing
Several people in one document at once, in the browser, which is genuinely the thing HackMD is for. Notula is asynchronous because it is built on git.
-
Nothing to install
A link opens it, on any machine and any operating system, for someone who has never heard of it.
-
Presentation mode and diagrams in the browser
Slides straight out of a document. Notula renders mermaid in the document and has nothing like slides.
-
Somebody else runs it
A hosted service with a free tier, so there is nothing to operate and nothing to install. Notula is free too, but it has no server at all, which is only an advantage if you did not want one.
What Notula is better at
-
The repository is the source, not a sync target
HackMD's GitHub integration pushes and pulls between its copy and yours. In Notula there is one copy, in your working tree, and every save is a commit you can see.
-
Comments live in the repository too
Not in a service's database. They are committed beside the document as an append-only log, so they arrive with a clone and outlive any account.
-
Private repositories with no third party in them
Notula drives the git already on your machine, so the SSH key you already use is the one it uses. Nothing leaves your network.
-
It works offline
There is no server to be down and no session to expire.
Side by side
| Capability | HackMD | Notula |
|---|---|---|
| Comment on a passage, reply, resolve | ||
| Real-time co-editing | — | |
| Runs in a browser, nothing to install | — | |
| Presentation mode | — | |
| The repository is the only copy | — | |
| Comments committed to the repository | — | |
| Works offline | — | |
| No third-party service holds the document | — | |
| WYSIWYG with no syntax on screen | — |
Both columns are filled in, including the rows Notula loses. A table where one column is ticks all the way down is an advert, and the first four rows of this one are things the other tool does and Notula does not.
Which one to use
Use HackMD when
People need to be in the same document at the same moment, or the readers cannot install anything. HackMD is built for exactly that and Notula is not.
Use Notula when
The documents are already in the repository and you would rather not have a second copy of them in a service, especially one your security review has to look at.
Try it against a real repository
Free, with no account and no server. Open a repository you already have and the documents in it are a tree in about a second.
Apple silicon and Windows x64 above. Intel and Arm builds, and what to do if macOS calls it damaged.