Comparison

Carnets vs MDViewer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Carnets

This app offers a standalone Jupyter notebook environment for creating and running code snippets, combining them with text and Markdown. It includes pre-installed scientific packages and allows for offline use, making it ideal for education and research.

Highlights
  • Standalone Jupyter notebook implementation
  • Embedded Python interpreter
  • Offline functionality
  • Pre-installed scientific packages
  • Supports Jupyterlab
  • Package installation via %pip
  • Notebook sharing and opening
Features
Read full description

Jupyter notebooks are a powerful tool used in education and research. You can write small snippets of Python code and observe the result on screen, combine with paragraphs of text, using Markdown. Carnets provides a complete, stand-alone, implementation of Jupyter notebooks. Everything runs on your device, using the embedded Python interpreter; you do not need an internet connection. You can chose between Jupyter notebooks and the more advance Jupyterlab using Settings. Numpy, Sympy, Matplotlib, Pandas, lxml, bokeh, nbextensions (including ipywidgets) and many other packages are pre-installed. To see the full list of installed packages, type "%pip list" in a code window. You can add more packages using "%pip install packageName", but only if they are pure Python. If you need scipy, seaborn or scikit-learn, please use our other App, "Carnets - Jupyter (with scipy)". You can share your notebooks with other apps and also open notebooks or directories managed by other apps. Partial list of installed packages: astropy, babel, bokeh, cryptography, cvxopt, Fiona, geopandas, geopy, lxml, matplotlib, numpy, openCV, pandas, pillow, pyFFTW, pyproj, rasterio, regex, shapely, sympy, wordcloud.

About

MDViewer

Instantly view Markdown, Mermaid diagrams, and JSON files with this native iOS app. It offers syntax highlighting for over 180 languages, LaTeX math rendering, and PDF export. Your documents remain private and accessible offline.

Highlights
  • Markdown viewing with GFM support
  • Mermaid diagram rendering
  • Syntax highlighting for 180+ languages
  • LaTeX math formula support
  • Interactive JSON viewer
  • PDF export
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

MDViewer — Fast Markdown Viewer for iPhone & iPad Open Markdown (.md), Mermaid and JSON files instantly with a fast, native iOS app. MDViewer is a lightweight Markdown Viewer and Markdown Reader designed for developers, technical writers, students and anyone working with Markdown documents on the go. Preview Markdown files with GitHub Flavored Markdown support, render Mermaid diagrams, view JSON files, and export to PDF — all from your iPhone or iPad. ------ KEY FEATURES ------ Markdown Viewer & Reader • Open and preview Markdown (.md) files instantly • Full GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) support • Tables, task lists, code blocks, images, links and more • Fast native rendering optimized for iOS Syntax Highlighting • 180+ programming languages with automatic detection • Clean, readable code blocks with color themes Mermaid Diagrams • Render Mermaid diagrams inline: flowcharts, sequence diagrams, Gantt charts and more • Tap to zoom and explore complex diagrams • Full Mermaid.js support Math Formulas (KaTeX) • Render LaTeX math formulas with KaTeX • Inline and display math support • Perfect for academic and scientific documents JSON Viewer • Interactive collapsible JSON tree view • Syntax highlighted JSON with formatting • Expand and collapse nested objects and arrays Additional Features • PDF export — share documents as beautifully formatted PDFs • Table of Contents — navigate long documents easily • Find in document — search text with match highlighting • YAML and plain text viewing • Dark and Light mode support • Works offline — no internet connection required • Universal app — optimized for iPhone and iPad ------ WHO IS IT FOR ------ • Developers previewing README files, documentation and code notes • Technical writers reviewing Markdown documents on the go • Students reading LaTeX-formatted notes and papers • Anyone who needs a fast, reliable Markdown viewer on iOS MDViewer reads your files locally. No cloud, no account, no tracking. Your documents stay on your device. Download MDViewer and start viewing Markdown files on your iPhone and iPad today.

Screenshots

Carnets4 screens
MDViewer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: MDViewer at every 3 days against Carnets's monthly. MDViewer also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 78%). Carnets's advantage is chart position (#81 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Carnets ships an update monthly, MDViewer every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Carnets versus MDViewer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCarnetsMDViewer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (316 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews78.4% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings316 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank#81 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size1.4 GB8 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperNicolas HolzschuchCrocopliers

Customer experience

Carnets

All ratings316 ratings
Positive88.6%
Neutral4.1%
Negative7.3%
Written reviews305 reviews
Positive78.4%
Neutral6.9%
Negative14.8%

MDViewer

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Carnets

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes and freezes
  • Issues with saving and loading notebooks
  • Problems with running scripts and notebooks
  • Incompatibility with newer iOS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for SciPy, Scikit-learn, and other scientific computing libraries
  • Improve file management and integration with cloud storage services
  • Implement split-screen or multi-window support
  • Add more keyboard shortcuts and customization options
  • Improve error handling and provide more detailed error messages

MDViewer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Carnets

No in-app purchases

None

MDViewer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Carnets free?
Carnets is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is MDViewer free?
MDViewer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Carnets or MDViewer have ads?
Neither Carnets nor MDViewer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Carnets or MDViewer?
Carnets ships an update monthly, and MDViewer every 3 days. Most recently, Carnets was updated on October 17, 2026 and MDViewer on October 9, 2026.

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