Comparison

Runestone Text Editor vs html+css+js+node+programming

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

html+css+js+node+programming

Edit text-based documents with syntax highlighting for various languages. Upload and close files directly from the app, supporting FTP, SFTP, and WebDAV. Includes live HTML preview for efficient file tweaking.

Highlights
  • Integrated text editor
  • Syntax highlighting
  • FTP, SFTP, WebDAV support
  • Live HTML preview
  • Multiple text file formats
Features
Read full description

HTML Designer is a complete web workshop for iPhone and iPad: write the code, watch the page render beside it, then publish straight to your own server. WRITE THE CODE • A real code editor, with syntax colouring for HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP • Line numbers, re-indent, find and replace, and find across the whole project • Snippets with trigger keys: type a short key, press Tab, get the block • An HTML validator that lists what is wrong and takes you to the line SEE IT AS YOU TYPE • The preview serves your site from a real local web server, so relative links, images, stylesheets and scripts behave exactly as they will online • PHP pages render through that server too, and Markdown files get a properly rendered preview • Code, Split or Preview — panes side by side or stacked, whichever suits the screen • Inspect: tap an element in the preview and land on its tag in the source • Edit Text: retype wording on the rendered page and the source updates with it PUBLISH TO YOUR SERVER • FTP, FTPS and SFTP built in — no separate client, no export step • Every file shows its sync state: to upload, to download, in sync, or changed on both sides • Publish sends everything you changed in one go • Check Online tells you whether the live site is really answering AN ASSISTANT THAT WRITES FILES • Ask for a change in plain words; the assistant creates and updates real files in your project folder — HTML, CSS, JavaScript and SVG • Bring your own key: Claude (Anthropic), Gemini (Google), or Apple Intelligence running entirely on-device • Keys are kept in the iOS Keychain and nowhere else THE TOOLBOX • DOM outline of the open document • Elements library: HTML tags, form controls, CSS properties, PHP and Markdown blocks, ready to insert • CSS Designer: every selector in the file, every declaration, editable • Snippets panel BUILT FOR iPad • Files, editor and preview side by side • Two projects open in two windows at the same time • Hardware keyboard shortcuts throughout A sample site ships with the app, so there is a real project to open the first time you launch it. Universal purchase: buy once, and the Mac version is included.

Screenshots

Runestone Text Editor4 screens
html+css+js+node+programming4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Runestone Text Editor at 76% against html+css+js+node+programming's 25%. Runestone Text Editor also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.0) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). html+css+js+node+programming's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, ads 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

Both are free to download. Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. html+css+js+node+programming asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Runestone Text Editor holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. 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: 76% of Runestone Text Editor's written reviews are positive against 25% of html+css+js+node+programming's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, html+css+js+node+programming every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Runestone Text Editor versus html+css+js+node+programming: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRunestone Text Editorhtml+css+js+node+programming
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (2K ratings) — better4.0 (17 ratings)
Positive reviews76.1% of reviews — better25.0% of reviews
Number of ratings2K — better17
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#43 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size64 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSimon B. StøvringRainbowFactory LTD

Customer experience

Runestone Text Editor

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

html+css+js+node+programming

All ratings17 ratings
Positive76.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative23.5%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive25.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative62.5%

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

html+css+js+node+programming

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Runestone Text Editor

One-time1
  • Premium$9.99
None

html+css+js+node+programming

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Runestone Text Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is html+css+js+node+programming free?
html+css+js+node+programming is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Runestone Text Editor or html+css+js+node+programming?
Runestone Text Editor is rated higher. Runestone Text Editor averages 4.7 out of 5 from 2K ratings, while html+css+js+node+programming averages 4.0 from 17 ratings.
Do Runestone Text Editor or html+css+js+node+programming have ads?
Neither Runestone Text Editor nor html+css+js+node+programming shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Runestone Text Editor or html+css+js+node+programming?
Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, and html+css+js+node+programming every 2 months. Most recently, Runestone Text Editor was updated on September 23, 2026 and html+css+js+node+programming on September 22, 2026.

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