slash-editorGetting Started
Comparison
How slash-editor relates to Tiptap, BlockNote, Novel, and Plate — licensing, UI delivery, engine, and features.
Every editor here is good software; the right pick depends on the engine you want, how you want UI delivered, and which features you need under an open-source license. Facts below were checked against each project's pricing page, LICENSE, and npm registry on 2026-09-29 — verify before relying on them, since pricing and packaging change.
| slash-editor | Tiptap | BlockNote | Novel | Plate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine | Tiptap v3 / ProseMirror | ProseMirror | Tiptap v3 / ProseMirror | Tiptap v2 / ProseMirror | Slate |
| Core license | MIT | MIT | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Commercially licensed pieces | None | Platform plans (cloud collab, comments, Notion-like template, …) | @blocknote/xl-* (AI, multi-column, exporters): GPL-3.0 or commercial | None | Plate Plus (premium components/templates) |
| UI delivery | shadcn registry (source in your repo) | Source copied by @tiptap/cli | Styled npm packages (Mantine, shadcn, Ariakit) | npm package | shadcn registry |
| Document format | Plain Tiptap JSON | Tiptap JSON | BlockNote block JSON | Tiptap JSON | Slate JSON |
| Real-time collab (Yjs) | Yes, bring your own provider | Yes (OSS extension); cloud on paid plans | Yes | No | Yes |
| Comments | Yes, bring your own thread store | Paid plans | Yes | No | Yes (extra UI in Plate Plus) |
| AI | Stream adapter, bring your own model | Paid plans / add-on | xl-ai (GPL-3.0 or commercial) | Autocomplete | Yes (extra UI in Plate Plus) |
| Mermaid diagrams | Yes | No official extension | @blocknote/diagram-block | No | Yes (code-drawing) |
When slash-editor fits
- You want Notion-style block UX on Tiptap/ProseMirror, with any Tiptap extension still working because the document stays plain Tiptap JSON.
- You want the rendered UI as source in your repo, styled by your shadcn tokens.
- You need collaboration, comments, and AI without a commercial license or hosted service — each backend piece is an adapter you implement.
When something else may fit better
- Vue or other frameworks today: Tiptap supports them directly; slash-editor's UI and hooks are React-only (the core has no React dependency).
- You prefer Slate: Plate is MIT, mature, and also ships a shadcn registry.
- You want batteries-included styled components and a larger community: BlockNote.
- A hosted collaboration/AI backend you don't run yourself: Tiptap's platform.
Coming from another editor? See Migrating.