Textastic Code Editor vs Runestone Text Editor
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
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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/
Runestone Text Editor
A powerful plain text and code editor for iPhone and iPad. Offers syntax highlighting, line numbers, find and replace, and extensive customization options for developers and writers.
- Syntax highlighting for many languages
- Customizable themes and fonts
- Advanced find and replace
- Line numbers and cursor location
- Code formatting with Prettier.js
- Multiple windows on iPad
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A plain text editor with syntax highlighting, line numbers, search and replace, page guide, and much more. It's like TextEdit but more powerful and optimised for iPhone and iPad. Runestone is made by a single person with a love for text editors and a vision of building the most lightweight text editor for iPhone and iPad that still has the core features for editing code. Features: - Syntax highlighting of many languages including HTML, JavaScript, JSON, Markdown, Swift, Python, PHP, YAML, and many more. - Select one of the twelve standard themes including popular themes like Tomorrow, Dracula, Solarized, and One Dark Pro. - Innovative find and replace for searching and modifying text while still viewing your file. - Choose font and font size, including support for custom fonts imported using another third-party app. - Show the line and column the cursor is located on. - Uses the standard document browser for an experience similar to the Files app. - Quickly navigate to a specific line. - Automatically close opening brackets and quotes. - Multiple windows on the iPad. - Format code using Prettier.js. Supported languages include CSS,HTML, JavaScript, JSON, PHP and more. - Choose text encoding between popular encodings like UTF-8, UTF-16, ISO Latin 1, and many more. - Enable or disable autocorrection, autocapitalization, and smart punctuation. - Set default file extension of new files. - Open files in Runestone from the Share Sheet. - Print documents. Premium features: - Choose between eight app icons. - Show line numbers. - Highlight the selected line. - Increase line height and letter spacing. - Disable line wrapping to allow horizontal scrolling. - Show tabs, spaces, and line breaks using a selected symbol. - Enable page guide at a specific column to easily tell when lines are getting too long. - Add vertical and horizontal overscroll. - Remember the selected language per file. - Save file extensions and filenames that should always be treated as plain text files. - Enable soft tabs and choose the width of the tab character. - Specify whether pressing the tab key should insert a tab or indent the line. - Adjust the scaling of Markdown headings and disable highlighting of code blocks in Markdown. Runestone was built on the open-source framework with the same name. Find more information on the Runestone framework at github.com/simonbs/runestone
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Runestone Text Editor at free with in-app purchases against Textastic Code Editor's subscription. Runestone Text Editor also leads on device support (4 vs 2). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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 and Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Textastic Code Editor against 4.7 for Runestone Text Editor. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2.5K and 2K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of Textastic Code Editor's written reviews are positive against 76% of Runestone Text Editor's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on September 23, 2026.
| Parameter | Textastic Code Editor | Runestone Text Editor |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (2.5K ratings) | 4.7 (2K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 68.9% of reviews | 76.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2.5K — better | 2K |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #19 — better | #40 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alexander Blach | Simon B. Støvring |
Customer experience
Textastic Code Editor
Runestone Text Editor
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)
Runestone Text Editor
From 2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💎 Excellent text editor
- 🚀 Smooth and responsive
- 🎨 Customizable themes and appearance
- 🔒 Secure file storage and sync
- 👍 Clean and intuitive interface
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes or bugs
- 🔍 Difficulty navigating files/folders
- 📝 Limited functionality without premium
- 🔌 Performance issues on older devices
- 🔒 Difficulty accessing files in cloud storage
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
Runestone Text Editor
Reported bugs
6 issues- Disappearing files
- Difficulty pasting text
- Scroll position not saved
- Hangs on startup
- Trouble opening large files
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- Issues after iOS updates
Requested features
6 requests- Markdown preview
- Code folding
- Syntax highlighting for more languages
- Ability to run/execute code
- Multiple file/window support
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Improved undo/redo functionality
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
Runestone Text Editor
- Premium$9.99
Questions
Is Textastic Code Editor free?
Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Which has better reviews, Textastic Code Editor or Runestone Text Editor?
Do Textastic Code Editor or Runestone Text Editor have ads?
Which is updated more often, Textastic Code Editor or Runestone Text Editor?
Which is more popular, Textastic Code Editor or Runestone Text Editor?
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