Overleaf alternative for Mac: offline LaTeX editors compared

Disclosure up front: Purplelink makes ModernTex, one of the editors compared here. I have tried to write this the way I would want to read it: Overleaf is the right tool for a lot of work, and the free options below are good enough for most people. ModernTex's entry sticks to what the app does today, including what it does not do.

When Overleaf is the right choice

People go looking for an Overleaf alternative after a slow compile, a timeout on the free tier, or a flight with no Wi-Fi. Before you switch, it is worth being clear about what Overleaf does better than anything you can install.

• Real-time collaboration. Several people can type in the same document at once and see each other's cursors, with comments and tracked changes alongside. No desktop LaTeX editor does this as well. If your paper has four co-authors editing the methods section in the week before a deadline, that is Overleaf's job.
• Zero install. Overleaf runs the TeX distribution on its own servers. Nothing to download, no 5 GB MacTeX package, nothing to update. It also means a co-author on Windows, a student on a Chromebook and you on a Mac all compile with the same setup.
• Institutional licences. Many universities pay for Overleaf through a site licence, which gives everyone on campus the premium features. If yours does, the usual free-tier complaints (compile time limits, collaborator caps, no Git) may not apply to you at all.
• Journal templates. The template gallery is large, and some publishers link to their Overleaf template directly from their author instructions.

If you mostly co-author, and you are always online, you may not need an alternative. What follows is for everyone else.

What you gain and give up by going local

Writing LaTeX on your own Mac changes a few concrete things.

You gain:

• Offline work. The distribution and the editor are on your disk. Trains, planes and bad conference Wi-Fi stop mattering.
• No compile limits. A long thesis with many figures compiles for as long as it needs to. On a recent Mac, local compiles are usually quick.
• Your files, on your disk. The project is a folder of ordinary files. You can back it up, version it with Git, or keep sensitive material (unpublished data, reviewer identities, embargoed results) off a third-party server.
• A native app. Mac keyboard shortcuts, system spell-check, dark mode, and a window that behaves like every other window on your machine.

You give up:

• Live co-editing. Nothing on this list matches Overleaf for several people in one document at once.
• The zero-setup start. You install a TeX distribution and keep it updated, roughly once a year when a new TeX Live ships.
• Identical builds for everyone. Your TeX Live year, fonts and settings are yours, so a co-author's machine can behave slightly differently.

The options, compared

Every local option needs a TeX distribution installed separately, except where the table says otherwise. "Synced PDF preview" means clicking in the source jumps to the matching spot in the PDF and back, which in most editors is done through SyncTeX. "BibTeX completion" means the editor suggests citation keys from your .bib file as you type \cite{.

TeXShop

TeXShop ships inside MacTeX, so if you have installed MacTeX you already have it. Source on one side, PDF on the other, a Typeset button, and SyncTeX in both directions. It has been maintained for over twenty years and nearly every Mac LaTeX tutorial assumes it. What it lacks is polish: the interface is dated, and there is no built-in citation search. Choose it if you want a free, dependable default and do not mind plain.

TeXstudio

TeXstudio is free, open source and runs on macOS, Windows and Linux. It has more built in than TeXShop: a structure panel, completion for commands, labels and citation keys, table and figure wizards, and an error list you can click through. It is a cross-platform Qt app, so menus and shortcuts do not follow Mac conventions. Choose it if you also work on a Windows or Linux machine and want the same editor on each.

Texifier (formerly Texpad)

Texifier is the established paid native Mac editor, with an iOS app for writing on an iPad. It can typeset as you type and does not require a separate MacTeX install, which makes it the smoothest move for someone leaving Overleaf who does not want to manage a distribution. It is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription; check the developer's site for the current price. Choose it if you want a polished Mac app and an iPad companion.

VS Code with LaTeX Workshop

If you already write code in VS Code, the LaTeX Workshop extension turns it into a capable LaTeX setup: build recipes, an embedded PDF viewer with SyncTeX, citation completion and Git in the sidebar. Microsoft's Live Share extension lets a co-author join a live editing session, which is the closest a desktop editor gets to Overleaf, though it is a session you host rather than a shared document that is always there. Choose it if VS Code is already open all day.

Emacs with AUCTeX, or Vim with VimTeX

Both are free, run anywhere, and are among the most capable LaTeX environments available, with project-aware citation lookup and inverse search through a Mac PDF viewer such as Skim. The price is the learning curve of the editor itself. Choose one if you already use it for everything else.

ModernTex

ModernTex is the native macOS LaTeX editor we make, built for journal articles, conference papers and dissertation chapters rather than general-purpose editing. It handles multi-file manuscripts with root file detection, keeps the PDF in sync in both directions, completes citations by searching your .bib by author or title, and explains compile errors in plain language. It also has submission-readiness checks (anonymization, page limits, required sections), an anonymized export for double-blind review, version snapshots, and visual editors for TikZ figures and tables that write the LaTeX for you.

What it does not do: real-time collaboration. It is a single-user app, and two people cannot type in the same file at once. It runs only on macOS 14 or later, has no iPad app, and it is new, first released in 2026, so it has far less of a track record than TeXShop or Texifier. It needs a TeX distribution; if none is found when you compile, it offers to install TinyTeX for you. Choose it if you write manuscripts alone on a Mac and the submission-focused features are the ones you keep wishing for. The trial is the full app for seven days, and keeping it is $10 once.

How to move a project from Overleaf to a Mac editor

A LaTeX project is portable by design, so the move takes minutes. Most of the work is matching the settings Overleaf chose for you.

1. Download the source. In the Overleaf editor, open the Menu and choose Download > Source. You get a zip of every file in the project. Unzip it into a folder you will keep, not your Downloads folder.
2. Install a TeX distribution. MacTeX is the full TeX Live for macOS, about 5 GB, and includes every package a template is likely to load. TinyTeX and BasicTeX are far smaller and add packages as you need them with tlmgr install. If disk space is not a problem, MacTeX saves you a round of "file not found" errors.
3. Note Overleaf's settings before you leave. In the Overleaf Menu, check the Compiler (pdfLaTeX, XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX) and the Main document. Set the same compiler in your editor, and open the same main .tex file, or mark it as the root file.
4. Check the bibliography tool. Overleaf runs latexmk, which picks BibTeX or Biber automatically. If your preamble loads biblatex, your editor needs to run Biber; if it uses \bibliography{} with a .bst style, BibTeX. Most editors can run latexmk too, which removes the guesswork.
5. Enable shell escape if you need it. Overleaf compiles with shell escape on, so packages such as minted or some svg workflows just work there. Locally they fail until you add -shell-escape to the compile command. Turn it on only for projects that need it.
6. Check fonts under XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX. A fontspec line that names a font works only if that font is installed on your Mac. Overleaf's servers have a different font set from macOS, so install the font or switch to one you have.
7. Compile and compare. Build once and compare the PDF against the last Overleaf PDF. Page count and reference list are the quickest checks.

If you are on a machine without a TeX install and need one PDF today, our LaTeX to PDF tool compiles a project in the browser; this guide covers multi-file projects.

Keep Overleaf for collaboration, edit locally

Many research groups do not choose one or the other. They keep the shared draft on Overleaf, where co-authors comment and edit, and each person who prefers a local editor works on a copy on their own machine.

The clean way to do this is Git. Overleaf offers Git integration (clone the project with git, edit locally, push back) and GitHub sync (link the project to a GitHub repository). Both are premium features: they are available on Overleaf's paid plans and through many institutional licences, not on the free tier. Check your account before you plan around them.

A few habits keep this working:

• Pull before you start, push when you stop. If a co-author edits the same lines on Overleaf while you edit locally, Git will ask you to resolve a conflict. Short sessions and frequent pushes keep conflicts rare.
• Agree on one main file and one compiler. Everyone should build the same way, or someone's PDF will differ.
• Leave generated files out. Commit .tex, .bib, images and class files. Keep .aux, .log, .bbl and the PDF out of the repository with a .gitignore.
• Sections you own are easiest. If each author writes in their own \input file, local editing and live editing rarely collide.

On a free Overleaf account, the fallback is manual: download the source, edit locally, then upload the changed files back, replacing the old versions. It works for occasional use, but it is easy to overwrite a co-author's edit, so tell them first. Any local editor on this page, including ModernTex, fits this workflow, since each one edits ordinary files in a folder.

Which to choose

• Co-authors edit at the same time? Keep Overleaf, at least for the shared draft.
• Want free and standard on a Mac? TeXShop.
• Also use Windows or Linux? TeXstudio.
• Want a polished Mac app with an iPad version? Texifier.
• Already live in VS Code, Emacs or Vim? Stay there and add the LaTeX extension.
• Writing papers alone on a Mac and want help getting them submission-ready? ModernTex, $10 once.

For a longer look at fourteen Mac editors, including Octree, Texmaker, LyX and others not covered here, see the best LaTeX editors for Mac.