Comparison

Runestone Text Editor vs CodingKB

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

CodingKB

This app provides a specialized keyboard designed to streamline coding on mobile devices. It eliminates the need to frequently switch between character sets, offering direct access to essential symbols and numbers.

Highlights
  • Simplified coding workflow
  • Direct access to characters, numbers, and punctuation
  • Reduced need for keyboard switching
  • Enhanced mobile coding efficiency
Read full description

Tired of constantly switching between characters, numbers, and punctuation while coding on your phone? CodingKB is here to simplify your workflow and set you free!

Screenshots

Runestone Text Editor4 screens
CodingKB3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Runestone Text Editor at 76% against CodingKB's 0%. Runestone Text Editor also leads on price (Free vs $1.99) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 months). CodingKB's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On ads 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; CodingKB costs $1.99 up front. Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. CodingKB asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

CodingKB holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Runestone Text Editor has 2K ratings behind it against 1, 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 0% of CodingKB'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, CodingKB every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard10 real differences · 1 level
Runestone Text Editor versus CodingKB: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRunestone Text EditorCodingKB
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.7 (2K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.1% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings2K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank#33 — better#153
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.1
Further details — not scored
Size64 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSimon B. Støvring杰 瓮

Customer experience

Runestone Text Editor

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

CodingKB

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%

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

CodingKB

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Runestone Text Editor

One-time1
  • Premium$9.99
None

CodingKB

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Runestone Text Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is CodingKB free?
CodingKB costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Runestone Text Editor or CodingKB?
CodingKB is rated higher. Runestone Text Editor averages 4.7 out of 5 from 2K ratings, while CodingKB averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Runestone Text Editor or CodingKB have ads?
Neither Runestone Text Editor nor CodingKB shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Runestone Text Editor or CodingKB?
Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, and CodingKB every 6 months. Most recently, Runestone Text Editor was updated on September 23, 2026 and CodingKB on September 20, 2026.
Which is more popular, Runestone Text Editor or CodingKB?
Runestone Text Editor currently peaks at #33 in the App Store charts, and CodingKB at #153. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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