5 Markdown Editors for React Compared by Bundle Size, Maintenance, and Integration

Markdown editors are crucial for integrating clean and efficient editing capabilities into React applications, particularly for documentation platforms, CMSs, or collaborative writing tools. Five React Markdown editors are evaluated based on criteria such as maintenance status, integration complexity, bundle size, and TypeScript support. @uiw/react-md-editor stands out for its minimal bundle size and active maintenance, offering features like GitHub Flavored Markdown parsing and a customizable toolbar. MDXEditor allows for component embedding in Markdown content but has a larger bundle size and documented inline rendering issues. react-markdown-editor-lite and react-simplemde-editor, despite their historical popularity, face risks due to a lack of recent updates and unresolved issues. Milkdown provides extensive customization and is built on ProseMirror but requires significant development effort and manual UI construction. Each editor offers unique advantages and limitations, making them suitable for different use cases, with integration into systems like Strapi’s React-based admin panel being straightforward through custom field plugins.