Comparison

Runestone Text Editor vs Text Editor

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

Text Editor

This powerful text editor allows real-time editing and previewing of various file formats across numerous cloud and server storage services. It offers advanced features like syntax highlighting for many languages, invisible character display, and file management tools. AI integration provides summarization, rephrasing, and translation capabilities.

Highlights
  • Supports 10 storage types (cloud, server, local)
  • Previews 16 file formats with real-time updates
  • Syntax highlighting for 20+ languages
  • Advanced editor features (invisible chars, guides)
  • Multiple tabs and split-screen view
  • File manager with search and backup history
  • AI-powered text summarization, rephrasing, translation
Features
Read full description

PWEditor Next is a powerful text editor that lets you edit text files directly across a wide range of storage services. You can edit in real time while viewing a preview tailored to each file format. Based on the original PWEditor app, PWEditor Next has been redesigned for the latest iOS and iPadOS environments. ・Supports 10 storage types  Supports local files, five cloud storage services (iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Box), and four server types (FTP, SFTP, SMB, and WebDAV).  - SFTP supports username and password authentication.  - WebDAV supports username and password authentication and connects over HTTP or HTTPS. ・Previews 16 file formats  - Dedicated previews: PDF and images  - Document formats: HTML, Markdown, and AsciiDoc  - Diagram and chart formats: Mermaid, PlantUML, Graphviz, D2, and Pikchr  - Tree formats: JSON, YAML, XML, and PropertyList  - Table formats: CSV and TSV  The 14 formats other than PDF and images also support real-time previews.  For CSV and TSV, you can configure whether the file has a header row and choose the delimiter. ・Advanced editor features  - Syntax highlighting  - 20 languages: Arduino、Bash/Shell、C、C++、C#、Dart、GO、Java、JavaScript、Kotlin、Lua、Objective-C、PHP、Python、R、Ruby、Rust、SQL、Swift、TypeScript  - 13 formats: AsciiDoc, CSS, D2, Graphviz, HTML, JSON, Markdown, Mermaid, Pikchr, PropertyList, PlantUML, XML, and YAML  - Display of invisible characters (half-width spaces, full-width spaces, tabs, and line breaks)  - Status information (character encoding, line endings, character count, and line count)  - File path display  - Line numbers  - Horizontal and vertical guide lines  - Auto-indentation  - Symbol input, including Undo and Redo  - Cursor movement  - Character encoding and line ending conversion ・Multiple tabs and split-screen view  Open and edit multiple files at the same time in tabs. The free plan supports up to two tabs; the Pro plan removes the tab limit.  In split-screen view, you can display two files or a file and its preview side by side within a single tab. Split-screen view is available on the free plan for local files and iCloud Drive. The Pro plan is required for all other storage services. ・Three types of search  - Find and replace within a file  - Search for file and directory names  - Search across multiple files ・File manager features  - File list  - Rename, copy, move, and delete files and directories  - Export files  - Recently opened files  - Favorites ・Backup history  Files are backed up before saving, before converting character encoding or line endings, and before restoring from backup history. You can use the history to restore an earlier version of a file. ・AI features  Use Apple Intelligence to summarize, rephrase, and translate text. ・Other features  - Switch the display language (Japanese, English, Spanish, or Chinese)  - Switch between light and dark themes  - Support for cloud storage sharing links  - Support for files shared from other apps ・Free plan and Pro plan  Basic features are available for free. The following features require the Pro plan:  - More than two tabs across all storage services  - Split-screen view, AI features, copy, move, and export for storage services other than local files and iCloud Drive  - Search within subdirectories and search filters for some storage services ・Terms of Use (Apple’s Standard EULA):  https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Runestone Text Editor4 screens
Text Editor4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Runestone Text Editor at 76% against Text Editor's 33%. Runestone Text Editor also leads on ads (none vs shown) and chart position (#48 vs unranked). Text Editor's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model and iOS requirement 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 and Text Editor sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, Text Editor every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Runestone Text Editor versus Text Editor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRunestone Text EditorText Editor
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (2.1K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews76.2% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings2.1K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#48 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size64 MB165 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSimon B. StøvringMasatsugu Futamata

Customer experience

Runestone Text Editor

All ratings1,962 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral2.3%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews365 reviews
Positive76.2%
Neutral9.6%
Negative14.2%

Text Editor

Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral33.3%
Negative33.3%

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

Text Editor

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Runestone Text Editor

One-time1
  • Premium$9.99
4 purchases

Text Editor

Subscriptions4
  • Ad-Free (Monthly)$0.991 Month
  • Pro (Monthly)2 variants$1.991 Month
  • Ad-Free (Yearly)$5.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pro (Yearly)2 variants$11.991 Year

Questions

Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Runestone Text Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Text Editor free?
Text Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Runestone Text Editor or Text Editor have ads?
Text Editor shows ads; Runestone Text Editor does not.
Which is updated more often, Runestone Text Editor or Text Editor?
Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, and Text Editor every 2 days. Most recently, Runestone Text Editor was updated on November 3, 2026 and Text Editor on November 4, 2026.

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