MacDown 3000 vs MacMD Viewer on Apple Silicon (2026)

Short version: if you want MacDown on Apple Silicon, install MacDown 3000. If you want a reader that sits next to your editor, see MacMD Viewer pricing: $19.99 one-time, 14-day money-back, no subscription.

What is MacDown 3000?#

MacDown 3000 is a free, open-source Markdown editor for macOS that continues the original MacDown codebase, maintained by Schuyler Erle since November 2025. It ships a universal binary that runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel, needs macOS 11 Big Sur or later, and is MIT licensed. The latest stable release is 3000.0.7 (13 July 2026), installable with brew install --cask macdown-3000.

Its own site calls it "essentially MacDown Continued". It is not a GitHub fork in the technical sense (the repository schuyler/macdown3000 was created fresh), but it carries Tzu-ping Chung's MacDown forward under the same MIT licence. Facts on this page were verified 9 October 2026.

Does MacDown run natively on Apple Silicon?#

The original MacDown does not. It has never shipped an arm64 build, so on an M-series Mac it runs through Rosetta 2. Its last stable release is v0.7.3, published 3 January 2020, and the last commit on master is dated 30 April 2021.

The native build was written; it was never merged. Pull request #1234, "feat: Initial Universal build support for Apple Silicon", was opened on 29 January 2021 and is still open. The repository is not archived (9,835 stars, 578 open issues). It simply stopped.

MacDown 3000 does run natively. Its first beta, 3000.0.0-beta.0 in November 2025, lists "native arm64 builds with full compatibility alongside Intel x86_64 builds" as a headline change. If your search was "MacDown for Apple Silicon", that is the answer.

The Rosetta timetable, with dates#

Sources: Apple — using Intel-based apps on a Mac with Apple silicon; AppleInsider, June 2025; MacRumors on the macOS 26.4 Rosetta warnings, 16 February 2026.

Rosetta is not a performance tax you can decide to tolerate. It has an end date, and the original MacDown has nothing in progress to be on the other side of it.

MacDown on Homebrew: macdown vs macdown-3000#

The macdown cask is now disabled:

disable! date: "2026-09-01", because: :fails_gatekeeper_check

Since 1 September 2026, brew install --cask macdown no longer installs it. The cask was still pinned to 0.7.2, not 0.7.3. Homebrew's analytics show the drop: 17,622 installs over 365 days, 2 over the last 30 (formulae.brew.sh/cask/macdown, data generated 8 October 2026).

The replacement is brew install --cask macdown-3000. That cask is active, not deprecated, tracks 3000.0.7, also installs a macdown command-line tool, and recorded 6,293 installs over 365 days and 467 over the last 30 (formulae.brew.sh/cask/macdown-3000). The two casks declare each other as conflicts, so remove one before installing the other.

What the disabled cask does not mean: an existing install of MacDown keeps launching. fails_gatekeeper_check is Homebrew's own check on the downloaded artifact failing, not macOS blocking the app. Read it as the packaging path closing.

MacDown 3000 vs MacMD Viewer#

This is where I have to be straight, because I build MacMD Viewer. MacDown 3000 closed most of the gap this page used to describe. Its changelog records Mermaid upgraded to 11.12.1 (3000.0.3-beta.1), a Quick Look extension for Markdown files and automatic reload when an external editor modifies the file (both 3000.0.5, with Quick Look fixes through 3000.0.7). It also renders math notation and keeps MacDown's Prism highlighting.

So the honest difference is not a feature list. It is the job:

• MacDown 3000 is an editor with a preview pane. You write on the left, read on the right, in one app, for free.
• MacMD Viewer is a reader. It never edits the file. You keep VS Code, Cursor, Obsidian, Zed or a coding agent for writing, and MacMD Viewer renders the result in its own window, reloading when the file is saved.

If MacDown is how you write, MacDown 3000 is your migration path and you do not need to buy anything. If you stopped writing in MacDown years ago and only kept it to open .md files, a viewer is the better fit. For a wider list of tools, my MacDown alternatives roundup covers five options, editors included.

Mermaid: why the version matters#

The original MacDown does render Mermaid (Preferences → Rendering → Mermaid), but it bundles Mermaid 8.4.3, from December 2019. Diagram types added after that fail there:

MacDown's version was read from its bundled mermaid.min.js on 29 July 2026; the app has not shipped since, so it still holds. MacDown 3000 ships 11.12.1 per its changelog, which covers the modern types too. MacMD Viewer's Mermaid support is 11.13.0, also inside Quick Look.

QuickLook and live reload in MacMD Viewer#

MacMD Viewer includes a QuickLook extension: select a .md file in Finder, press Space, and it renders without opening an app. The original MacDown never had one; MacDown 3000 now does.

Live reload is the other half of the pairing. Edit a file in VS Code, Vim, or any other Markdown editor, save, and the open document in MacMD Viewer updates. That is the two-window workflow I built it for: the editor you already like on one side, a clean rendered page on the other.

Code blocks are highlighted in both apps. In MacMD Viewer the code colours are part of the document theme, so switching theme or switching macOS between light and dark repaints the code with the rest of the page.

What MacDown 3000 does better#

• Editing. It is a full editor with a live split pane. MacMD Viewer is read-only by design.
• Math. MacDown and MacDown 3000 render math notation with TeX-like delimiters such as $$...$$ (MacDown features page, macdown.app). MacMD Viewer has no math rendering. If your documents contain equations, MacMD Viewer is the wrong tool.
• Free and open source. It costs nothing, and you can read and build the source.
• Older Macs. It runs on macOS 11 and later; MacMD Viewer needs macOS 14.

When MacMD Viewer is the better fit#

• You write Markdown elsewhere (an IDE, Obsidian, an AI coding agent) and only need to read it well
• You want Space-bar previews in Finder and a separate reading window that reloads on save
• You export to PDF and want Mermaid diagrams and highlighted code kept in the file
• You are on macOS 14 or later and prefer a viewer that cannot modify your files

That trade is $19.99 once. The full comparison with other readers is in the best Markdown viewers for Mac roundup, and the price, licence and refund terms are on the pricing page.

Migrating from MacDown#

1. If you write in MacDown: run brew install --cask macdown-3000, or download it from macdown.app. Your files and habits carry over.
2. If you only read in MacDown: install MacMD Viewer (brew install --cask macmd-viewer also works) and set it as the default app for .md in Finder's Get Info panel.
3. Use QuickLook for quick checks: press Space on a .md file in Finder.

Your Markdown files do not change either way. There is no proprietary format.

Methodology details#

Checked on 9 October 2026. Original MacDown: GitHub API for MacDownApp/macdown (releases, last master commit, PR #1234, archive status) and the Homebrew macdown cask JSON. MacDown 3000: macdown.app, the GitHub API and CHANGELOG.md for schuyler/macdown3000 at 3000.0.7 (3000.0.8-rc.1 is a pre-release and was not used), its LICENSE file, and the macdown-3000 cask JSON. MacMD Viewer: v1.6.4 and the Mermaid build bundled in the app. I did not run MacDown 3000's Mermaid or Quick Look myself; those rows come from its changelog.

I build and sell MacMD Viewer, so read the verdict with that in mind. Where MacDown 3000 is the better tool, this page says so.

The Bottom Line#

The original MacDown is finished on Apple Silicon: no arm64 build, a pull request open since 2021, a disabled Homebrew cask, and a translation layer that loses full support after macOS 27. MacDown 3000 is its free, universal successor, and if you edit in MacDown it is the right install. If you want a reader to pair with the editor you already use, MacMD Viewer is $19.99 one-time on macOS 14+: see pricing.