Comparison

BASIC vs Runestone Text Editor

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

Head to head
About

BASIC

Create and publish your own applications directly on your iOS device using an extended BASIC programming language. Features include a rich interface, advanced graphics, sound capabilities, and hardware support.

Highlights
  • Create standalone apps for App Store
  • Rich user interface elements
  • Advanced graphics and animation
  • Comprehensive sound and music support
  • Hardware sensor integration
  • Networking and file management
  • Customizable IDE with documentation
Features
Read full description

This is "smart BASIC" - an extended version of popular Minimal BASIC programming language. With "smart BASIC" you can create your own programs right on your iOS device. BASIC programs, written in "smart BASIC", can be published in the App Store as standalone applications using the "smart BASIC" SDK for Xcode. The "smart BASIC" programming language has many powerful features. INTERFACE: - buttons, text boxes, sliders, switches, browsers - pages for grouping your interface objects - support for additional TTF fonts - clipboard support - multitouch up to 11 simultaneous touches GRAPHIC: - advanced graphics functions - animated sprites, sprite sheet support MUSIC and SOUND: - play MP3, AIFF, WAV, MIDI, MOV and MP4 files - programmable MIDI synthesizer with 128 built-in instruments - support for additional sound fonts SF2 and DLS - speech synthesizer HARDWARE support: - GPS, compass - accelerometer - photo and video recording and more: - files - networking - integrated mathematics of complex numbers - customizable IDE - built-in documentation - ready-to-use examples of programs Visit the support forum to get assistance and to share your BASIC programs with other users.

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

BASIC4 screens
Runestone Text Editor4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Runestone Text Editor at Free against BASIC's $11.99. Runestone Text Editor also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.2) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). BASIC's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On ads, chart position and device support 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

Runestone Text Editor is free to download; BASIC costs $11.99 up front. Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. BASIC asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Runestone Text Editor holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Runestone Text Editor has 2K ratings behind it against 17, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of BASIC's written reviews are positive against 76% of Runestone Text Editor's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BASIC ships an update every 2 months, Runestone Text Editor every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
BASIC versus Runestone Text Editor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBASICRunestone Text Editor
Price$11.99Free — better
Rating4.2 (17 ratings)4.7 (2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.0% of reviews76.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings172K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#107#36 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size135 MB64 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNikolay DenislamovSimon B. Støvring

Customer experience

BASIC

All ratings17 ratings
Positive76.5%
Neutral5.9%
Negative17.6%
Written reviews25 reviews
Positive68.0%
Neutral4.0%
Negative28.0%

Runestone Text Editor

All ratings1,962 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral2.3%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews353 reviews
Positive76.2%
Neutral9.6%
Negative14.2%

Bugs and requests

BASIC

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Runestone Text Editor

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Disappearing files
  • Difficulty pasting text
  • Scroll position not saved
  • Hangs on startup
  • Trouble opening large files
Show 1 more
  • 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 more
  • Improved undo/redo functionality

In-app purchases

None

BASIC

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Runestone Text Editor

One-time1
  • Premium$9.99

Questions

Is BASIC free?
BASIC costs $11.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Runestone Text Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, BASIC or Runestone Text Editor?
Runestone Text Editor is rated higher. BASIC averages 4.2 out of 5 from 17 ratings, while Runestone Text Editor averages 4.7 from 2K ratings.
Do BASIC or Runestone Text Editor have ads?
Neither BASIC nor Runestone Text Editor shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BASIC or Runestone Text Editor?
BASIC ships an update every 2 months, and Runestone Text Editor every 2 weeks. Most recently, BASIC was updated on October 2, 2026 and Runestone Text Editor on October 5, 2026.
Which is more popular, BASIC or Runestone Text Editor?
BASIC currently peaks at #107 in the App Store charts, and Runestone Text Editor at #36. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

Other comparisons