# Mernyx vs Mermaid Live Editor: where your file lives

Same Mermaid syntax, different job. Mermaid Live Editor renders a snippet in a browser tab; Mernyx opens the .mmd on your disk, lets you drag the nodes, and writes your edits back into it.

[Buy Mernyx Pro — $19](https://checkout.dodopayments.com/buy/pdt_0NqGkcihHxe79ekZgVhC4?redirect_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmernyx.com%2Fthanks%2F)

[Download free](https://releases.mernyx.com/Mernyx-1.0.0.dmg)

## Why Mernyx

What Mernyx does on the three rows where the two tools part ways.

### Your file

Reads and writes local files.

### Changing it on the canvas

Supported

### Working offline

Compiling, layout and export happen on your Mac, so it works the same with no network.

## When Mermaid Live Editor is the right choice

It is a good tool, and for a lot of work it is the better one.

Reaching for mermaid.live when you want to see what a snippet draws is the right call: it opens instantly, it needs nothing installed, and the diagram is on screen before you have finished typing. If your work stays a snippet, that is all you will ever need. Mernyx earns its place when the .mmd is a file you keep — when the change has to survive a save, a commit and a review. Nothing here says one is better than the other. They are on different sides of the same line: a snippet you are trying, and a file you are editing.

## Mechanism by mechanism

One row per feature. The left column is Mernyx; the right one is the tool this page is about.

- Drawn natively
  - ✓ Mernyx: Every node is a real CoreGraphics view, laid out by a local engine. No WebView, no JavaScript bridge, no Electron.
  - ◐ Mermaid Live Editor: Mermaid.js in a browser tab: the diagram is SVG laid out by the page.
- Your file
  - ✓ Mernyx: Reads and writes local files.
  - ◐ Mermaid Live Editor: The source lives in a text box on the page, and you copy the result back yourself.
- Finder preview
  - ✓ Mernyx: Supported
  - ○ Mermaid Live Editor: Not supported
- Finder thumbnail
  - ✓ Mernyx: Supported
  - ○ Mermaid Live Editor: Not supported
- Changing it on the canvas
  - ✓ Mernyx: Supported
  - ✓ Mermaid Live Editor: Supported
- Working offline
  - ✓ Mernyx: Compiling, layout and export happen on your Mac, so it works the same with no network.
  - ○ Mermaid Live Editor: It is a web app, so it needs the network.
- No account needed
  - ✓ Mernyx: No account needed
  - ✓ Mermaid Live Editor: No account needed
- AI
  - ✓ Mernyx: Bring your own key: you supply the endpoint and the key, completely free of restrictions.
  - ◐ Mermaid Live Editor: AI spends credits. There is no bring-your-own-key option.
- Sharing
  - ✓ Mernyx: Share the file
  - ✓ Mermaid Live Editor: Share the file
- Icons
  - ✓ Mernyx: Supported
  - ✓ Mermaid Live Editor: Supported

## Questions

### Do Mernyx and Mermaid Live Editor draw the same thing?

They read the same Mermaid syntax — the diagram itself is not where the difference is. The difference is where the source lives: in a text box on a web page, or in the .mmd file on your disk.

### Does Mernyx write a different file format?

No. What Mernyx writes is ordinary Mermaid — a style rule for a colour, standard syntax for a node. The file stays valid for every other Mermaid renderer, including mermaid.live and GitHub.

## Try it free.

Download it, open a file you already have, and see whether the canvas earns its $19 when you need to change something.

[Buy Mernyx Pro — $19](https://checkout.dodopayments.com/buy/pdt_0NqGkcihHxe79ekZgVhC4?redirect_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmernyx.com%2Fthanks%2F)

[Download free](https://releases.mernyx.com/Mernyx-1.0.0.dmg)