# nTilia or Zettlr: field notebook or academic writing studio?

> nTilia or Zettlr for research? Mobile field notebook or academic writing on desktop: citations, export and DOIs, compared honestly.

Canonical: https://ntilia.com/en/compare/zettlr

## The short answer

Zettlr is a free, open-source Markdown editor for desktop, built for academic writing: Zotero citations, thousands of styles, Pandoc export to Word, PDF or LaTeX. nTilia is an offline notes app for field work, on the phone: records, audio transcribed on the device, then an article published with a Zenodo DOI. To write your thesis at your desk, choose Zettlr; for your field notebook and its citable publication, choose nTilia.

## nTilia and Zettlr, side by side

| Criterion | nTilia | Zettlr | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free; Pro at $14/mo | Free and open source | Zettlr’s edge |
| Platforms | Phone and computer (installable app, PWA) | Desktop only: Windows, macOS, Linux | nTilia’s edge |
| Files | Markdown in the app; ZIP export per Mission, .md import | Markdown files on your disk, wherever you keep them | Zettlr’s edge |
| Citations while writing | [@citekey] from a local Zotero / BibTeX file | Zotero, JabRef, Juris-M; over 9,000 citation styles | Zettlr’s edge |
| Export | Mission .docx export (science profile), preprint PDF | Pandoc export: Word, PDF, LaTeX, journal templates, slides | Zettlr’s edge |
| Field and audio | Offline capture on the phone, photo, place and GPS; on-device Whisper transcription (Pro) | No audio recording or transcription | nTilia’s edge |
| Sync | Included (25 articles a month on Free); not end-to-end, so the published journal stays readable; “device” notes never synced | No imposed sync; you manage it yourself | Tie |
| Citable publishing | Public journal, abstract and ORCID co-authors, Cite block, one-click Zenodo DOI (Pro) | No built-in publishing | nTilia’s edge |

## Choose nTilia if…

- you take your field records on the phone, often without a network;
- you record interviews to transcribe without sending them to the cloud;
- you want to publish a citable field note, with a DOI;
- you want to declare an abstract and ORCID co-authors without leaving the editor.

## Choose Zettlr if…

- you write a paper, dissertation or thesis on a computer;
- you need one specific citation style among thousands;
- you export to Word, LaTeX or a journal template;
- you care about free software and files on your own disk.

## Two stages of the same work

Zettlr shines at the desk, when it is time to write: citations managed from Zotero, thousands of styles, Pandoc export to whatever format the journal requires. It is free, open-source software that leaves your files wherever you keep them.

nTilia comes in earlier, in the field: offline records on the phone, photo and GPS, interviews transcribed on the device. Then it publishes: abstract, ORCID co-authors and a Zenodo DOI.

## Using them together

Both speak Markdown. Export an nTilia Mission as a ZIP of .md files and open them in Zettlr to write the long article. The [@citekey] entries typed in nTilia stay readable.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Zettlr have a mobile app?

No, Zettlr runs on desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux). nTilia runs on phone and computer, offline.

### Can nTilia replace Zettlr for writing a thesis?

No. For long-form writing with precise citation styles and Pandoc export, Zettlr is a better fit. nTilia serves field work and the publication of citable notes.

### Can I move my notes from nTilia to Zettlr?

Yes: export the Mission as Markdown files and open them in Zettlr.

### Which one gives me a DOI?

nTilia, from Pro: one click deposits the article on Zenodo (preprint PDF and Markdown source) and the DOI comes back in the Cite block. Zettlr has no built-in publishing.

## Sources, checked on 2026-09-26

- [Zettlr](https://zettlr.com)