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Tectonic vs MacTeX: catalog facts
Tectonic	MacTeX
Free Free and open source under the MIT licence.	Free Free download from the TeX Users Group.
Command line	macOS
No full TeX distribution needed Fetches missing LaTeX packages automatically	Complete, preconfigured TeX Live in one installer Includes Mac GUI editors such as TeXShop
Needs network access to fetch support files it has not cached Built on XeTeX, so documents relying on other engines may need changes	Full install is very large macOS only; requires macOS 11 or later
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Closed source
License: MIT	License not stated
No account needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.