Comparison
A QLMarkdown alternative for modern macOS
QLMarkdown pioneered Markdown previews in Quick Look. If you want the same Finder convenience with native Mermaid and LaTeX rendering and no web view, Glance is a fast, free alternative.
Glance vs QLMarkdown vs built-in Quick Look
| Glance | QLMarkdown | Built-in | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free | Free |
| Renders Markdown on Space | |||
| Rendering | Native | Web view | — |
| Mermaid diagrams | |||
| LaTeX math | |||
| Syntax-highlighted code | |||
| Open source | |||
| Works offline | |||
| No telemetry |
Compared in May 2026 to the best of our knowledge. QLMarkdown is actively developed and highly configurable — check its GitHub for current capabilities.
Where Glance differs
QLMarkdown is a capable, open-source extension with a rich settings panel. Glance takes a different stance: render everything natively at document open — no WKWebView, no JavaScript — so previews appear instantly and look like the rest of macOS. Mermaid diagrams and LaTeX equations are first-class, rendered to native images rather than handed to a browser.
The trade-off is openness and configurability. QLMarkdown is open source and tunable; Glance is closed source and deliberately zero-config. Both are free, offline, and free of telemetry.
Switch to native Markdown previews
Free beta v0.1.9 — 8.3 MB — macOS 14+
If you're switching
Install Glance, open it once, then disable any other Markdown Quick Look extension in System Settings ▸ General ▸ Login Items & Extensions ▸ Quick Look so macOS uses Glance. Full steps are on the preview Markdown in Finder guide.
Want the broader picture? See the Markdown Quick Look for macOS overview, or compare against the full editor Marked.
FAQ
For the core job — pressing Space on a .md file in Finder and reading it rendered — yes. Both add a Quick Look extension to macOS. Glance differs by rendering natively instead of through a web view, and by handling Mermaid diagrams and LaTeX math out of the box.
No. QLMarkdown is open source; Glance is a closed-source app distributed as a signed, notarized DMG. Glance is still free, offline, and telemetry-free.
It's best to keep one Markdown Quick Look extension enabled at a time, since macOS picks one renderer per file type. If you switch to Glance, disable the other in System Settings ▸ General ▸ Login Items & Extensions ▸ Quick Look.
No. Install it, open it once, and previews work. There are no settings to tune for basic rendering.
Ready to glance?
Free beta v0.1.9 — 8.3 MB — macOS 14+