Comparison

Runestone Text Editor vs Subtext

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

Head to head
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

About

Subtext

A straightforward text editor for iPhone and iPad, allowing direct creation and editing of files within iCloud. It offers advanced controls for line endings and character encoding, ideal for on-the-go code or data file modifications.

Highlights
  • Direct iCloud file editing
  • No import/export required
  • Line ending control
  • Character set encoding control
  • Quick edits for code and data
Read full description

Subtext is a simple, no-frills text editor for iPhone and iPad. Create or edit files directly on your device or in iCloud, with no need to import or export. Includes advanced features such as line ending and character set encoding control. Perfect for making quick edits to code or data files on the go!

Screenshots

Runestone Text Editor4 screens
Subtext4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Subtext at none against Runestone Text Editor's 1. Runestone Text Editor's advantage is ratings volume (2K vs 79) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). On price, review sentiment, ads and chart position 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. Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Subtext asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Runestone Text Editor holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Runestone Text Editor has 2K ratings behind it against 79, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 76% of Runestone Text Editor's written reviews are positive against 83% of Subtext's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, Subtext every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Runestone Text Editor versus Subtext: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRunestone Text EditorSubtext
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (2K ratings) — better4.5 (79 ratings)
Positive reviews76.1% of reviews83.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2K — better79
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#41 — better#91
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision ProiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro
Requires iOS15.014.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size64 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSimon B. StøvringCharcoal Design

Customer experience

Runestone Text Editor

All ratings1,962 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral2.3%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews351 reviews
Positive76.1%
Neutral9.7%
Negative14.2%

Subtext

All ratings79 ratings
Positive84.8%
Neutral8.9%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews95 reviews
Positive83.2%
Neutral10.5%
Negative6.3%

User reviews

Runestone Text Editor

From 2K App Store ratings

What 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

Subtext

From 79 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and efficient
  • 🚀 Fast and lightweight
  • 🆓 Free and no ads
  • ✨ Clean and intuitive UI
  • 📂 Seamless Files app integration

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Fails on network drives
  • 🐛 Data corruption risk
  • 🐛 Difficulty unselecting text
  • 🐛 Buggy Chinese input method
  • 🐛 Random capitalization issues

Bugs and 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

Subtext

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • Fails to save work
  • Jumps to top of document on blank lines
  • Poor network behavior leading to data corruption
  • Cannot open or create new text files
  • Error when saving to network drive
Show 6 more
  • Cannot edit .tex files without renaming
  • Chinese input method errors
  • Random capitalization after paste
  • Large text files cause errors
  • File saving issues, creates extra copies
  • Bug when using Chinese input method with delete key

Requested features

20 requests
  • Add 'Unselect all' option
  • Add 'Replace all' function
  • Add font size settings
  • Add tab key
  • Allow editing of non-text files
Show 15 more
  • Improve network drive handling
  • Option to disable auto-save
  • Add highlighter
  • Add character count
  • Add JetBrains Mono font
  • Add 'reopen last file' option
  • Add widget support
  • Add highlighting
  • Add font and background color settings
  • Add distraction-free mode
  • Add swipe to close gesture
  • Option to release focus for collapsing skb
  • Fix Chinese input method bugs
  • Allow editing of files with arbitrary extensions
  • Add Chinese input method bug fixes

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Runestone Text Editor

One-time1
  • Premium$9.99
None

Subtext

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Runestone Text Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Subtext free?
Subtext is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Runestone Text Editor or Subtext?
Runestone Text Editor is rated higher. Runestone Text Editor averages 4.7 out of 5 from 2K ratings, while Subtext averages 4.5 from 79 ratings.
Do Runestone Text Editor or Subtext have ads?
Neither Runestone Text Editor nor Subtext shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Runestone Text Editor or Subtext?
Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, and Subtext every 3 weeks. Most recently, Runestone Text Editor was updated on September 23, 2026 and Subtext on September 22, 2026.
Which is more popular, Runestone Text Editor or Subtext?
Runestone Text Editor currently peaks at #41 in the App Store charts, and Subtext at #91. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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