Honest Comparison

Mina vs Novel

Notion-style WYSIWYG editor with AI autocomplete

01Quick Stats

Mina

StarsNew
Bundle~45KB
LicenseMIT
ActivityActive
FrameworkReact

Novel

Stars16.1k
Bundle~100KB
LicenseMIT
ActivityStale (Feb 2025)
FrameworkReact
02Feature Comparison
Feature
Mina
Novel
Active development
Yes
Stale since Feb 2025
AI provider
Any provider
OpenAI only
Block types
12+ types
~8 types
Editor variants
Full + Compact
Single variant
Export formats
HTML, JSON, MD
HTML, JSON
Aesthetics
Clean
Beautiful
AI integration
Built-in, any provider
OpenAI only
Vercel ecosystem
Independent
Native
Community
New
16.1k stars
Bundle size
~45KB
~100KB
03Strengths

Where each editor shines

An honest look at what each editor does best.

Mina wins

Active development — Novel has been stale since February 2025

Provider-agnostic AI — use OpenAI, Anthropic, or any LLM

More block types and richer editing features

Two editor variants for different use cases

More export formats including Markdown

Smaller bundle size (~45KB vs ~100KB)

Novel wins

Beautiful default aesthetics and design

OpenAI autocomplete deeply integrated as a core feature

Vercel ecosystem — easy deployment with Next.js

VSCode extension for local editing

Larger community with 16.1k stars

04Code Comparison
Mina — 9 lines
import { Editor } from "@/components/ui/rich-editor"

function App() {
  return (
    <Editor
      initialContent={content}
      onChange={({ json, html }) => save(json)}
    />
  )
}
Novel — 17 lines
import { Editor } from 'novel'
import { defaultExtensions } from 'novel/extensions'
import { defaultEditorContent } from './content'
import 'novel/styles.css'

function App() {
  return (
    <Editor
      defaultValue={defaultEditorContent}
      extensions={defaultExtensions}
      completionApi="/api/generate"
      onUpdate={(editor) => {
        save(editor?.getJSON())
      }}
      className="min-h-[500px]"
    />
  )
}
05The Verdict

Choose Mina if...

  • You need an actively maintained editor
  • You want AI features with any provider, not just OpenAI
  • You need multiple editor variants (full page + compact)
  • You want a smaller bundle size

Choose Novel if...

  • You want the most beautiful default design
  • You're building exclusively with OpenAI + Vercel
  • You want a VSCode extension for editing
  • You don't mind that development has stalled

Ready to build?

Try Mina Rich Editor — 3 lines of code, zero ProseMirror.

Installation coming soon

MIT License · 2025–2026 Mina Massoud