A short, honest list of Markdown-to-PDF tools
The list of Markdown-to-PDF converters is long. The list that actually matters is short. Here's what I'd recommend depending on what you're trying to do.
For a document you're going to send to a client
Use a converter that ships templates and themes — proposal, report, resume — so you are not building the layout from scratch. The browser tool you are reading the docs for does this; so does Marked (Mac-only, paid) and Pandoc (free, requires setup).
md2document
- Browser-based, no install. Works on every OS.
- 11 templates, 4 themes. Cover page, ToC, page numbers built in.
- DOCX export from the same source.
- Free. No upload.
- Open it
Marked 2 (Mac)
- Native Mac app. ~$15.
- Lots of CSS-template options. Customizable.
- Mac-only. No DOCX out of the box.
- Best when you live in Mac apps and want a native preview.
Pandoc
- The reference Markdown converter. CLI-driven.
- Most flexible — math, citations, custom filters, multi-format output.
- Setup: install Pandoc + a TeX engine (MacTeX, MiKTeX, TeX Live).
- Best when you maintain books, papers, or a build pipeline. See the trade-off page.
For converting one .md file once in a while
md2document or Dillinger
- Both are browser-based, both are free.
- md2document keeps your Markdown in your tab. Dillinger uses a server.
- md2document has templates, themes, and DOCX. Dillinger is a single-button export.
For the "I write Markdown in VS Code" case
md2document, paired with VS Code
The classic answer is the "Markdown PDF" extension. It works, but it bundles a 200MB Chromium and the output looks like a screenshot of the editor. The browser converter is faster, smaller and produces better-looking PDFs. See the VS Code workflow.
For a CI pipeline that emits PDFs
Pandoc. There is no real competition here — and that is fine, because nobody else is trying to be the Pandoc of CI pipelines.
The honest verdict
Most documents that get written in Markdown are proposals, memos, reports, resumes and letters. For those, an in-browser converter with templates is the correct tool. For everything that does actually need a programmable build pipeline or LaTeX-grade math, Pandoc is. Most of the other entries on most other "best of" lists are noise.