Real-time, browser-based, free

A collaborative Markdown editor that works like Google Docs

Vela Docs is a free, browser-based editor for .md files with real-time cursors, inline comments, and share-by-link. The collaboration model is Google Docs; the document format stays as plain Markdown so the file remains portable.

Drop a file or click to upload
Up to 1 MB · stays in your browser

Drop any .md file to open it solo, or click Share once you're ready to bring in a collaborator.

How the collaboration works

Real-time cursors

Each collaborator's cursor appears in the document as a colored caret with their name. Sub-100 millisecond sync over a WebSocket, powered by Yjs CRDT. Concurrent edits at the same position merge without conflicts.

Inline comments

Highlight any sentence to leave a comment. Threads anchor to the text range, not a paragraph offset, so they survive edits. Reply, resolve, or mute notifications, the same way Google Docs does it.

Share-by-link with roles

Click Share to get a docs.vela.partners URL. Anyone-with-link can view; invited individuals get edit access. Email invites use magic links so collaborators don't need a password.

Local-first until you share

Drop a .md file anonymously, edit as much as you want, never touch a server. Sharing is the first moment the file leaves your browser. Good for sensitive drafts and AI outputs you'd rather not leak.

Export anywhere

The document IS a .md file. Click Download to grab the current state as clean Markdown — no proprietary format conversion. Drop the result into GitHub, Notion, Obsidian, or any other Markdown tool.

Vela Docs vs. HackMD, HedgeDoc, Notion, and StackEdit

All four are real options for collaborative Markdown, and all four solve different shapes of the problem. Here's an honest side-by-side for the common case: a small team reviewing an AI-generated .md draft.

 Vela DocsHackMDHedgeDocNotion
Free for teamsyeslimitedlimitedself-hostself-hostlimitedlimited
Sign-in required to viewshare-link viewers noshare-link viewers noyesyesguest noguest no
Sign-in required to commentyesyesyesyes
Real-time cursorsyesyesyesyes
Inline comments on text rangeyesyesyesyes
Export to clean .mdyesyesyesmessymessy
Local-first storageyesnoself-hostself-hostno
No installyesyesself-hostself-hostyes

Comparison is for the standard SaaS tier of each tool as of 2026. HedgeDoc is the open-source HackMD fork; the self-hosted column reflects that you run it yourself.

Common questions

What is a collaborative Markdown editor?
A collaborative Markdown editor lets multiple people edit the same .md document at the same time in a web browser, the way Google Docs does for prose. You see other people's cursors move as they type, leave inline comments on specific sentences, and resolve them together. The output stays as plain Markdown that you can download.
What's the best free collaborative Markdown editor for non-developers?
For non-developers specifically, the friction is usually the signup wall, the developer-y UI, or the need to install something. Vela Docs avoids all three: open the browser, drop a .md file, share the link, and a colleague can read it without an account. Editing requires sign-in (Google or magic link) but takes one click. HackMD and HedgeDoc both require accounts for any interaction, which adds friction for the reviewer.
How does Vela Docs handle conflicts when two people edit at once?
Vela Docs uses Yjs, a CRDT (Conflict-free Replicated Data Type) library, so concurrent edits merge automatically without a manual resolution step. If Alice types at the end of a paragraph while Bob types at the start of the same paragraph, both characters land in the right order; nobody gets a "someone else made changes" dialog. The same idiom powers other CRDT-based editors like Notion and Linear.
Can a viewer leave comments without an account?
Currently, leaving comments requires signing in (Google or magic-link email). Reading the document does not. The asymmetry is intentional: anonymous comments tend toward spam, and the magic-link sign-in is one click.
How is this different from HackMD?
HackMD requires an account to read or write. It's also more developer-y in UI: dual-pane source + preview by default, lots of keyboard shortcuts, MathJax / Mermaid integrations. Vela Docs is built for the case where the file came from an AI assistant and the team includes non-developers. The pitch is "like Google Docs, but for the .md files AI gives you" rather than "a better web IDE for Markdown".
How is this different from Google Docs?
Google Docs is a proprietary document format that lives in Google's cloud. You can't easily export to clean .md. Vela Docs is the inverse: the document IS a .md file, the format stays portable, and you can download it any time. If your team works in Markdown by default (engineering specs, README files, AI-generated drafts), Vela Docs preserves that without making you copy-paste in and out of Google Docs.
Is the file stored on a server?
Only when you click Share. Before that, the file lives in your browser's IndexedDB. After Share, it's stored in Firestore (Google Cloud, encrypted at rest and in transit) so collaborators can fetch it. You can delete the file from the dashboard at any time, which removes it from the server.
Does it work on mobile browsers?
Yes for viewing and commenting. Editing on mobile Safari and mobile Chrome works for short edits; for long writing sessions, a desktop browser is more comfortable due to keyboard size, not because of the editor itself.

Working with HTML instead? Collaborative HTML editor.

Just need to view? Markdown viewer online.