Find your fit
Who it is for
A small team documenting meetings, procedures or working ideas can co-edit a note and share its link. Before inviting guests, select a note permission and check what an unsigned visitor can actually see or change.
Technical teams comfortable operating a web service can host HedgeDoc with their own authentication, database and upload storage. A production instance needs account policy, HTTPS and a backup plan.
If deliverables must be PDF files or a separately editable slide deck, check the workflow first. HedgeDoc 1.x has presentation mode, but built-in PDF export was removed.
The work it supports
Core capabilities
Create a Markdown note in the browser and share its link for simultaneous editing. HedgeDoc can format the text and render documented diagrams or embedded content, with 1.x syntax as the relevant reference.
Select among the 1.x note permissions for the owner, signed-in users and guests. Only the owner can change a note’s permission; an administrator can also set defaults and decide whether anonymous visitors can create or edit notes.
Use the editor or live-view URL while collaborating, and the separate published link when a read-only view is wanted. The published view refreshes on reload instead of streaming edits; permission settings still govern access.
Revision history can return a note to an older state after an unwanted edit. This helps at the note level, while a database, upload and configuration backup remains the recovery plan for the whole instance.
Presentation mode displays a note as slides. The documented API can return raw Markdown for a note or a ZIP of a current user’s notes, which is useful for a sample portability check.
The production guide covers external login choices such as LDAP, SAML and OAuth2. It also flags limits in the built-in username/password system, so validate account management and access rules for the intended audience.
Built-in PDF export was removed in 1.x. Use browser print-to-PDF if that output is needed, and test the result with a representative note.
Operate one active server process per database. The FAQ cautions that running multiple HedgeDoc processes against the same database can cause missing or broken content.
Understand the offer
Pricing and getting started
HedgeDoc is presented as open source under AGPL 3.0, with a bundle and Docker image for self-hosting. The site’s demo is a test drive; it does not establish a hosted production subscription.
Budget separately for the server, database, uploads, authentication and backups that your deployment uses. The public pages do not establish a fixed managed-service price for this listing.
Look a little closer
Before you choose
Try a fictional team note: edit from two browsers, share an editor link and a published link, then view both signed in and signed out. This reveals the practical effect of the selected permission and instance defaults.
Test recovery at both levels: revert an unwanted note edit, then verify an instance backup includes database, uploads and configuration. Export a sample Markdown note and its linked media if migration matters.
For production, review HTTPS, login provider, anonymous access and single-active-process setup. Check the 1.x documentation before relying on features described only in HedgeDoc 2 materials.
8 distinct sources behind this profile. Research observed Oct 27, 2026. Features and offers can change.
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