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Tectonic vs TeX Live: catalog facts
Tectonic	TeX Live
Free Free and open source under the MIT licence.	Free The open-source distribution is available without a license fee.
Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
No full TeX distribution needed Fetches missing LaTeX packages automatically	Comprehensive package coverage with its own package manager The same distribution on Linux, macOS and Windows
Needs network access to fetch support files it has not cached Built on XeTeX, so documents relying on other engines may need changes	A full installation is several gigabytes Annual releases mean packaged versions can lag upstream
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: MIT	License not stated
No account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

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