holatex.app

What It Is

HoLaTeX is a set of developer and writing tools for LaTeX-related workflows. HoLaTeX Office lets users generate LaTeX equations and graphics inside Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Google Docs, Google Slides, and Atlassian Confluence; HoLaTeX Mobile is a LaTeX editor and compiler for iPhone/iPad. Its core selling point is not cloud collaboration, but local compilation and saving data inside documents.

Core Capabilities and Ecosystem

The Office version supports generating mathematical equations, TikZ, CircuiTikZ, PGFPlots, chemistry diagrams, and more with LaTeX, and has been updated to support pdfTeX and new packages from TeX Live 2025. Its bundled packages cover common research and engineering writing needs, including AMSMath, TikZ/PGF, PGFPlots, chemfig, mhchem, mathtools, and graphicx. The mobile version supports PdfTeX/XeTeX, TeX Live 2023, offline compilation, iCloud integration, syntax highlighting, line numbers, relative-path input, and file sharing, making it more capable than a typical equation editor.

Security and Deployment

HoLaTeX clearly emphasizes local operation: LaTeX code and output are stored in the document or locally on the device and are not sent to external servers; the Office version only stores subscription status. This is valuable for confidential documents, unpublished papers, and enterprise knowledge bases. However, the main documentation does not state whether it is open source, nor does it provide a self-hosted server option.

Pricing and Support

HoLaTeX Office costs USD 24/user/year, tax included, with a 30-day free trial and no credit card required. Payments are processed by Paddle, and enterprise volume licensing plus special education/university pricing are available. The mobile version also offers a 1-month trial, but the final pricing is not disclosed. The website provides a contact email, package version tables, examples, and terms information. The basic documentation is sufficient, but more systematic tutorials and troubleshooting guides are lacking.

Pros, Cons, and Who It’s For

Its advantages are privacy-friendly design, integration with office workflows, bundled common macro packages, and a lower learning curve than setting up a full LaTeX environment. Limitations include incompatibility with older versions of Word/PowerPoint, and the Office side is better suited for embedding equations and graphics rather than serving as a full Overleaf-style collaboration platform. It is suitable for teachers, students, researchers, engineers, and teams that frequently write technical documentation.

Access from China

The main content does not provide information about availability from mainland China, so this is unknown. If access or Paddle payments are unstable, alternatives include Overleaf, TeX Live/TeXstudio, local MiKTeX, MathType, or the built-in equation tools in Office/Google.