In This Review
MarsEdit has been the go-to Mac blogging client for over two decades. Built by Daniel Jalkut at Red Sweater Software — a one-person Mac development shop — it has outlasted dozens of competitors, survived the shift from RSS to social media, and come out the other side as the most capable dedicated blogging client on the platform.
We tested MarsEdit 5 over six weeks of real publishing to WordPress, Ghost, and Micro.blog. Here is everything you need to know.
What Is MarsEdit?
MarsEdit is a desktop blogging client for Mac. The concept is simple: instead of writing posts in a browser tab on your WordPress or Ghost dashboard, you write them in a dedicated native Mac application that connects to your blog over the internet.
You get a proper writing environment — keyboard shortcuts, offline support, media management, post history — without any of the friction of a web interface. When you’re ready, you publish directly from the app with one click.
What’s New in MarsEdit 5
Version 5, released in 2023, brought meaningful improvements without breaking what worked in version 4. The headline additions:
- Redesigned toolbar — cleaner, more compact, customizable
- Improved rich text editor — better handling of complex HTML and shortcodes
- Apple Silicon native — fully optimized for M-series Macs, zero Rosetta overhead
- Enhanced media browser — faster image upload and management
- Improved WordPress compatibility — better handling of Gutenberg blocks and block-based themes
- macOS Sonoma and Sequoia support — stays current with Apple OS releases
Version 5 is a paid upgrade from version 4, priced at a discount for existing users. The upgrade cost is reasonable given the pace of development — Red Sweater ships regular maintenance updates between major versions at no charge.
Features Deep Dive
Publishing Integration
This is where MarsEdit separates itself from every alternative. The app connects natively to:
- WordPress — via XML-RPC or REST API
- Ghost — native Ghost API integration
- Micro.blog — first-class support, better than any other desktop client
- Tumblr — full post and media support
- Movable Type / TypePad — legacy support still intact
- Any MetaWeblog or AtomPub compatible blog
Setup takes approximately 90 seconds. Enter your blog URL, authenticate, and your entire post history loads in the sidebar immediately. Drafts, published posts, scheduled posts — all accessible and editable from the desktop without opening a browser.
The Preview Engine
MarsEdit’s preview system is its most underrated feature. Rather than rendering a generic preview, it fetches your actual site’s CSS and renders your post exactly as it will appear to readers — your fonts, your spacing, your theme’s exact styling.
This sounds like a small detail. In practice it eliminates an entire class of publishing errors. You know before you publish whether an image is too wide, whether a heading breaks awkwardly, whether a blockquote looks right in your theme. No other app in this category matches this level of preview fidelity.
Writing Experience
MarsEdit supports three writing modes:
- Rich Text — WYSIWYG editing with formatting toolbar
- HTML — raw HTML editing with syntax highlighting
- Markdown — write in Markdown, converts to HTML on publish
You can switch between modes at any time within the same post. The Markdown implementation is solid — standard CommonMark with support for tables, footnotes, and fenced code blocks.
Media Management
Images are handled directly inside MarsEdit. Drag an image into the editor, set the size and alignment, and MarsEdit uploads it to your WordPress media library automatically on publish. No separate browser tab. No manual FTP. No copy-pasting image URLs.
The media browser lets you browse your existing WordPress media library and reuse previously uploaded images in new posts — a feature that saves meaningful time when you’re managing a content-heavy site.
Post Management
The left sidebar shows your complete post history — every published post, every draft, every scheduled post — with search and filtering. This is particularly useful for editing old posts, which in a browser requires navigating to the WordPress admin, finding the post, waiting for the editor to load. In MarsEdit it’s two clicks.
Performance on Apple Silicon
MarsEdit is fully native on Apple Silicon. On an M3 MacBook Pro, launch time is consistently under two seconds. The app uses roughly 80MB of RAM during typical use — lightweight by any standard.
We ran MarsEdit alongside Ulysses and iA Writer for six weeks on the same machine. MarsEdit was consistently:
- Fastest to launch
- Fastest to load post history from WordPress
- Most stable — zero crashes in six weeks of daily use
- Lowest memory footprint of the three apps
This matters because a blogging client is an app you open and close dozens of times per week. Every second saved on launch adds up. On Apple Silicon, MarsEdit feels instant.
Pricing & Value
MarsEdit 5
One-time purchase · Mac only · 30-day free trial included
Try MarsEdit Free for 30 Days →* Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
At $59.95 as a one-time purchase, MarsEdit is exceptional value. Consider the math against the alternatives:
| App | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MarsEdit 5 | $59.95 | $0 | $0 | $59.95 total |
| Ulysses | $39.99 | $39.99 | $39.99 | $199.95 total |
| iA Writer | $49.99 | $0 | $0 | $49.99 total |
Over five years, MarsEdit costs less than one year of Ulysses. For a tool you’ll use daily for years, this is the most straightforward value proposition in the category.
The 30-day free trial is genuine — full functionality, no feature restrictions, no credit card required. You get a complete picture of whether MarsEdit fits your workflow before spending anything.
Alternatives to Consider
Ulysses ($39.99/year) — Better choice if you write across Mac, iPhone, and iPad and need everything synced. The writing experience is more polished. The subscription cost is the tradeoff. Full comparison →
iA Writer ($49.99 one-time) — Better choice if you want pure Markdown focus and file-based storage. Weaker publishing integration than MarsEdit. Better distraction-free writing environment. Full comparison →
WordPress web editor (free) — If you only write occasionally and don’t mind browser-based editing, the built-in WordPress editor is capable. MarsEdit earns its price through speed, offline capability, and the preview engine — if those don’t matter to your workflow, save the money.
Final Verdict
MarsEdit 5 earns its reputation. It is fast, stable, and deeply integrated with the platforms bloggers actually use. The one-time pricing is generous for what you get. The preview engine is genuinely unique. The performance on Apple Silicon is excellent.
The weaknesses are real — no iOS app, a UI that shows its age, no long-form organization — but none of them affect the core job. If the core job is writing and publishing posts to a Mac-centric workflow, MarsEdit does it better than any alternative at any price.
If you blog on Mac and haven’t tried MarsEdit, the 30-day free trial removes every excuse. Download it, connect it to your WordPress site, and write your next post in it. You’ll either buy it immediately or you’ll know it’s not for you — both outcomes in 30 days for free is a fair deal.
MarsEdit 5
One-time purchase · Mac only · 30-day free trial · No subscription
Try MarsEdit Free for 30 Days →* Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
