VS Code

4.9

·Free·

50M+ downloads

FreeOpen SourceExtensionsDeveloper

About VS Code

Visual Studio Code is a free, lightweight but powerful code editor from Microsoft. While primarily designed for coding, it has excellent built-in Markdown support with split-pane preview, and becomes a full-featured Markdown editor with the right extensions.

For developers, VS Code is the natural choice — you can write code and documentation in the same environment, with unified Git integration and settings sync.

Key Highlights

Free and open source from Microsoft
50M+ users — the most popular code editor
Built-in Git integration for version control
Excellent IntelliSense and language support
Markdown Preview Enhanced extension adds KaTeX and Mermaid
Works seamlessly alongside your development workflow

Recommended Extensions

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Markdown Preview Enhanced

Preview with KaTeX, Mermaid, and more

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markdownlint

Linting and style checking for Markdown

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Markdown All in One

Keyboard shortcuts, TOC, auto preview

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Foam

Knowledge base and note-taking (Obsidian-like)

Platform Support

macOS

Windows

Linux

Web

Features

Live PreviewExtension

WYSIWYG Mode

Math (KaTeX)Extension

Mermaid DiagramsExtension

Plugin System

Cloud SyncExtension

Local Storage

Graph ViewExtension

Git Integration

Export PDFExtension

Export HTMLExtension

Mobile App

Offline Support

Pricing

Completely Free

Open source (MIT license)