CatchTeXCatchTeX vs Mathpix: which one fits your work?
Mathpix Snip is the best-known tool for turning maths into LaTeX, and it is very good. CatchTeX is a smaller, offline alternative built for one job: getting tables, equations, plots, diagrams and references out of papers into LaTeX. Here are the real differences, including where Mathpix is the better choice.
Updated 2026-10-05
The short answer
- Choose CatchTeX if you work on Windows, Mac or Linux, want your unpublished papers to stay on your own computer, need tables, plots or block diagrams (not only equations), and prefer paying once.
- Choose Mathpix if you need an iPhone, Android or web app, handwriting recognition, whole-document conversion to Markdown or Word, or an API.
Side by side
| CatchTeX | Mathpix Snip | |
|---|---|---|
| Where recognition runs | On your PC, fully offline | Mathpix cloud servers (snips are uploaded) |
| Price | Free edition (10 snips a day, every mode); Pro $29 once, all 1.x updates | Free: 10 images and 10 PDF pages a month (twice that with an .edu e-mail). Pro: $4.99 a month or $49.90 a year* |
| Platforms | Windows 10/11, macOS (Apple silicon), Linux | Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, web |
| Equations | amsmath, your choice of environment, keeps the paper's number as \tag | Excellent, including handwriting |
| Tables | booktabs, merged headers, maths in cells, doubtful cells marked | LaTeX and Markdown tables |
| Numbers from PDFs | Read from the PDF's text layer: exact | OCR of the snipped image |
| Plots | pgfplots with the measured data points | Not converted to data |
| Block diagrams | TikZ code | Not converted to TikZ |
| Reference lists | BibTeX, each entry checked against Crossref, dblp, arXiv, OpenAlex | Text recognition |
| Checked before you copy | Every result compiled with built-in pdfLaTeX | Rendered preview |
| Whole PDF to LaTeX / Word | No: snip by snip | Yes |
| Handwriting | No | Yes |
| API for developers | No | Yes |
*Mathpix prices as listed on mathpix.com on 5 October 2026 (Organization plan: $9.99 a month for 2 users); check their pricing page for current figures. Mathpix is a trademark of its owner; CatchTeX is not affiliated with Mathpix.
Privacy: offline is the main difference
Mathpix sends each snip to its servers for recognition. For most published papers that is fine. For an unpublished manuscript, a thesis under embargo, industry or defence research, or a document under a non-disclosure agreement, it may not be allowed. CatchTeX's recognition, maths model and LaTeX preview all run on your own computer; it goes online only for the optional reference check, and only after you allow it. Details in the privacy policy.
Cost over time
A Mathpix Pro subscription at $49.90 a year costs about $150 over a three-year PhD. CatchTeX Pro is $29 once, with every 1.x update included. For light use, compare the free tiers: Mathpix gives 10 images and 10 PDF pages a month; the CatchTeX free edition gives 10 snips every day, with every mode.
What CatchTeX does that Mathpix does not
- Plots to pgfplots with real data. Snip a line plot and get an
\addplotwith the measured coordinates, axes, ticks and legend, so you can restyle it to match your document. - Block diagrams to TikZ. Boxes, summing junctions, arrows and labels become editable TikZ nodes and paths.
- Exact numbers from PDFs, read from the file's text layer rather than recognised from pixels.
- References checked against scholarly databases before they go into your .bib file.
Where Mathpix is the better tool
- You work on an iPad or phone: CatchTeX is a desktop app (Windows, Mac, Linux).
- You convert handwritten notes, or whole PDFs to Markdown or Word at once.
- You need an API to build your own product.
Try both
Both have free tiers. Take one table, one equation and one plot from a paper you are working on and compare the output in your own document. That will tell you more than any comparison page.