Textastic Code Editor vs a
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Textastic Code Editor
A powerful text and code editor for mobile devices, offering syntax highlighting for over 80 languages, code completion, and formatting tools. It allows connection to various servers and cloud storage for seamless file management and editing.
- Syntax highlighting for 80+ languages
- SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, and Dropbox client
- Built-in SSH terminal
- Code completion and formatting
- External keyboard and trackpad support
- Split View and Slide Over multitasking
Read full descriptionHide full description
Textastic is a comprehensive and versatile text and code editor for iPad and iPhone. It supports syntax highlighting for more than 80 programming and markup languages. Connect to SFTP, FTP, and WebDAV servers or to your Dropbox account. Use the built-in SSH terminal to work directly on your server. Features: - Syntax highlighting for more than 80 languages, including HTML, JavaScript, CSS, C++, Swift, Objective-C, Rust, XML, Markdown, PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, Lua, YAML, JSON, SQL, shell scripts, and many more (full list available on the website) - Compatible with Sublime Text 3 and TextMate 1 syntax definitions and themes - Code completion for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C, Objective-C, and PHP - SFTP (SSH), FTP, FTPS (FTP over SSL), WebDAV, and Dropbox clients - SSH terminal connections - Code formatter for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and JSON - Git repositories from the Git client app Working Copy can be opened as external folders in Textastic - Emmet support - JavaScript console - iCloud Drive file synchronization - WebDAV server for easy file transfer between Textastic and your Mac or PC over Wi-Fi - Symbol list for quick navigation within a file - Full support for external keyboards, trackpads, and mice - Configurable keyboard shortcuts - Additional keys above the virtual keyboard for frequently used programming characters - Cursor navigation wheel for easy text selection - Move the cursor using swipe gestures - Split View and Slide Over multitasking on iPad - Open multiple files in tabs - Multiple windows on iPadOS - Dark Mode support - Support for common text encodings such as UTF-8, UTF-16, and ISO-8859-1 - Support for different tab widths and soft tabs (spaces instead of tabs) - Custom fonts - Find and Replace, including regular expression search - Find in multiple files - File information such as character and word counts - Local and remote web preview for HTML and Markdown files Pricing: Textastic requires a monthly or yearly subscription or a one-time purchase. Each subscription includes a 7-day free trial with full access to all features. Privacy Policy: https://www.textasticapp.com/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
a
Run a full Unix-like terminal environment on your iOS device. Execute a wide range of commands, edit files, and even program using included interpreters and compilers. Supports multitasking and integration with Shortcuts.
- Local Unix terminal emulator
- SSH client
- File transfer (scp, curl)
- Text editing (vim, ed)
- Scripting languages (Python, Lua, Perl, JS)
- C/C++ compiler
- TeX distribution
Read full descriptionHide full description
a-Shell is a complete local terminal emulator, allowing to run most Unix commands on your iOS device. You can transfer files using scp and curl, edit them with vim and ed, process them using grep, awk and sed. You can work with git repositories using lg2. Most commands are compiled for iOS native Arm64 format, making them fast and well integrated with the BSD Unix that powers iOS/iPadOS. a-Shell includes Python, Lua, Perl, JavaScript, C, C++ for programming and TeX (texlive 2025, with Tikz and LuaTeX) for text processing. There are also multiple network utilities: nslookup, ping, whois, ifconfig... Type help for help, help -l to get the full list of commands. a-Shell can be controlled from Shortcuts: run commands in order, process files in a-Shell, get the results as text or files, transfer files to other apps... a-shell uses iOS 13+ “multiple windows” ability, so you can run multiple shells at the same time, with different commands, in different directories. You can edit a file in one window with vim and process it in the other with python. Compile your C or C++ programs to webAssembly using clang or clang++, and execute the resulting binary. A complete webAssembly SDK is included (WASI-libc). a-Shell is the complete version. If you need a smaller app, and you don't need a C compiler, a TeX engine, or numpy and matplotlib, there is a-Shell mini.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: a at none against Textastic Code Editor's 3. a also leads on review sentiment (79% vs 69%) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.0). Textastic Code Editor's advantage is ratings volume (2.5K vs 553). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Textastic Code Editor sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. a asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Textastic Code Editor against 4.6 for a. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2.5K and 553 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of Textastic Code Editor's written reviews are positive against 79% of a's.
Textastic Code Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, a monthly. Both last shipped on September 23, 2026.
| Parameter | Textastic Code Editor | a |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (2.5K ratings) — better | 4.6 (553 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 68.9% of reviews | 78.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2.5K — better | 553 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Subscription | Paid — better |
| Best chart rank | #19 | #19 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 1.9 GB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Alexander Blach | Nicolas Holzschuch |
Customer experience
Textastic Code Editor
a
User reviews
Textastic Code Editor
From 2.5K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Highly performant
- 👍 Versatile and feature-rich
- 💡 Excellent integration with other apps (e.g. Working Copy)
- 👍 Customizable and intuitive UI
- 👍 Reliable and stable
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezes
- 🔒 Restrictive paywall for basic functionality
- 👎 Confusing file management and upload/download workflow
- 👎 Lack of modern code editing features (e.g. auto-indent, code folding)
a
From 553 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Powerful terminal with Linux commands
- 👍 Useful for programming and development
- 🔒 Secure and reliable
- 💡 Impressive capabilities for an iOS app
- 👍 Helpful documentation and developer support
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Limited customization options
- 🔍 Missing some basic terminal features
- 🔍 Compatibility issues with certain packages
Bugs and requests
Textastic Code Editor
Reported bugs
3 issues- Issues with SSH/SFTP connectivity and authentication
- Problems with handling large files or files with certain extensions
- Inconsistent text selection and editing behavior
Requested features
4 requests- Add support for more cloud storage providers (e.g. Google Drive, OneDrive)
- Implement a more seamless remote file editing and syncing workflow
- Improve code editing features like code folding, multi-cursor support, and code beautification
- Add a built-in terminal or ability to run code directly within the app
a
Reported bugs
3 issues- Toolbar buttons not accessible in portrait mode on some devices
- Pasting from clipboard can insert unexpected characters
- Sourcing certain script files causes crashes
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for package managers like Homebrew or APT
- Implement more advanced shell features like job control and better tab completion
- Integrate Git for version control
- Allow installing additional packages and libraries
- Improve clipboard and file management integration
In-app purchases
Textastic Code Editor
- Textastic Pro (Monthly)7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Textastic Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Textastic Pro (One-Time)$69.99
a
No in-app purchases







