Comparison

Runestone Text Editor vs SuperGLab

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

SuperGLab

Features
Read full description

SuperGLab is a native iOS client for your self-hosted GitLab — code review, CI/CD, and repository editing, from your iPhone and iPad. REVIEW ON THE GO • Full merge request review: description, mergeable status, approvals • Line-by-line diffs with inline comments anchored to the exact line • Discussion threads, replies, resolve, and emoji reactions • Approve, merge, or squash-merge • Create merge requests and issues CI/CD IN YOUR POCKET • Pipeline lists and details with stage / job graphs • Live job logs with ANSI colors preserved and auto-scroll • Trigger, retry, or cancel pipelines; retry, cancel, or play jobs • Manage CI/CD variables and pipeline schedules EDIT YOUR REPOSITORY • Browse the full file tree; view syntax-highlighted code and images • Edit a file and commit to a new or existing branch • A new branch can open a merge request at the same time • Create and delete branches and tags BUILT FOR iPHONE AND iPAD • "Your Work" overview, pipelines, diffs, and file editing — fully rendered on both • Multiple accounts across GitLab instances (Pro) • Light / dark themes, English and 繁體中文 PRIVACY FIRST SuperGLab has no backend of its own and collects no analytics or tracking. Every request goes straight to the GitLab server you configure. Your Personal Access Token is stored in the device Keychain. FREE & PRO Everything you read is free: browse projects, read MRs / Issues / pipelines, view files and logs. Pro unlocks writes — commenting, approving, merging, repository editing, and multiple accounts. Pro is available as a monthly or yearly subscription (with a free trial) or a one-time Lifetime purchase. Requires iOS 17 or later. Works with self-hosted GitLab. SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS • Pro Monthly — US$1.99 per month, auto-renewable, with a 7-day free trial • Pro Yearly — US$19.99 per year, auto-renewable, with a 7-day free trial • Pro Lifetime — US$39.99, a one-time purchase (not a subscription) Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. A subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel subscriptions in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://apps.rory.idv.tw/en/super-glab/privacy/

Screenshots

Runestone Text Editor4 screens
SuperGLab4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is chart position: Runestone Text Editor at #33 against SuperGLab's unranked. Runestone Text Editor also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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 SuperGLab sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Runestone Text Editor versus SuperGLab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRunestone Text EditorSuperGLab
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (2K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews76.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#33 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size64 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSimon B. StøvringShih Chao Yeh

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

SuperGLab

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Runestone Text Editor

One-time1
  • Premium$9.99
3 purchases

SuperGLab

Subscriptions2
  • SuperGLab Pro — Monthly7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • SuperGLab Pro — Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • SuperGLab Pro — Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Runestone Text Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SuperGLab free?
SuperGLab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Runestone Text Editor or SuperGLab have ads?
Neither Runestone Text Editor nor SuperGLab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Runestone Text Editor or SuperGLab?
Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, and SuperGLab every 2 weeks. Most recently, Runestone Text Editor was updated on October 16, 2026 and SuperGLab on October 10, 2026.

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