Comparison

Outliner vs iWriter Pro

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

Head to head
About

Outliner

Organize your thoughts, tasks, and projects with a powerful outlining tool. Create structured lists, track project progress with visual indicators, and collaborate with others. Sync your work across devices and cloud storage for seamless access.

Highlights
  • Create structured outlines
  • Track project progress with pie charts
  • Sync with cloud storage (OneDrive, Dropbox)
  • Collaborate with other users
  • Drag and drop editing
  • Search and filter outlines
  • Archive old outlines
Features
Read full description

CarbonFin Outliner allows you to organize your thoughts, tasks, and projects. Easily create a todo list for today, or track an entire project anywhere you are. Share your outlines, edit them online, and collaborate with other Outliner users. Highlights • Create outlines full of notes, structured lists, tasks, or detailed projects • Sync your outlines automatically to Outliner Online, OneDrive, or Dropbox for web or desktop editing • Get a quick view of project progress - tasks with subtasks show a pie-chart indicating percent completed Organize • Search through all your outlines or an individual outline • Tag your outlines, and filter based on tag • Archive old outlines to hide them from view without deleting Easy-to-use Editor • Drag and drop to move items within an outline • Copy, paste • Undo, redo • Expand all, collapse all • Optional outline numbering • Zoom in to focus on a single subtree Outliner Online • Securely synchronize your outlines with Outliner Online • View and edit your outlines in any web browser • Import and export outlines as plain text or OPML • Keep all your devices synchronized • Share an outline with other Outliner users to collaborate OneDrive and Dropbox • Sync your outlines with OneDrive or Dropbox to allow quick import/export • Seamlessly access and edit across your iOS devices and PCs -= Recent version history =- Version 3.20 • iOS 27 support • Updated Dropbox and OneDrive integrations • Bug fixes Version 3.19 • iOS 26 support and adoption of liquid glass Version 3.18 • iOS 18 support • Dark and tinted app icons Version 3.17 • Minor bug fixes Version 3.16 • Minor bug fixes • iOS 17 support Version 3.15 • Fixed Dropbox integration • Show a warning when unlinking Dropbox/OneDrive if there are unsynced outlines • iOS 16 support Version 3.12 • Dark mode • Added confirmation to "Delete Completed" • Changing "Archived" won't update the outline's modification time • iOS 13 support Version 3.11 • OneDrive sync support Version 3.10 • Sync the order of outlines across devices (CarbonFin outlines only) • iOS 12 support Version 3.9 • iPhone X support • iOS 11 support Version 3.8 • Open In... support • Ability to hide the outline list on iPad • Minor UI tweaks

About

iWriter Pro

A minimalist text editor with robust Markdown support and distraction-free writing. It offers iCloud sync, live syntax highlighting, and various export options for documents.

Highlights
  • Clean and minimal interface
  • iCloud sync
  • Live Markdown syntax highlighting
  • HTML Preview
  • Typewriter mode
  • Document Browser with tags
  • Export to HTML, PDF, EPUB, DOCX, and more
Read full description

# iWriter Pro is elegant and minimalist text editor with built-in Markdown support. Distraction-free and subscription-free. ## Features: - Clean and minimal interface. - iCloud sync across iPad, iPhone, and Mac¹ devices. - Text editing with live Markdown syntax highlighting. - HTML Preview for Markdown and MultiMarkdown documents. - Typewriter mode² with focusing on line, sentence, or paragraph. - Powerful Document Browser³ with tags support. - Integrated counters for words, symbols, sentences, and paragraphs. - Fast and responsive editing even for large files. ## iWriter Pro supports: - Highlighting and rendering of LaTeX equations. - Flowchart and Mermaid diagrams. - Source code highlight in HTML preview. - Exporting documents as HTML, PDF, RTF, EPUB, LaTeX, and DOCX. - Keyboard shortcuts⁴ for text formatting and quick navigation. - Search and Replace in your documents. - Light and dark layouts (auto-switching included). - Automatic number/bullet/task list formatting. ¹ - iWriter Pro for Mac is available as a separate purchase on the Mac App Store. ² - Typewriter and Focus modes are available only on iPad. ³ - Editing files in Dropbox, Google Drive, and other 3d-party storage providers is not guaranteed. ⁴ - External keyboard is required.

Screenshots

Outliner4 screens
iWriter Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

Outliner and iWriter Pro both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 87% of Outliner's written reviews are positive against 68% of iWriter Pro's. Outliner also leads on iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.6). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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

Outliner costs $4.99 and iWriter Pro $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Outliner against 4.7 for iWriter Pro. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 88 and 130 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 87% of Outliner's written reviews are positive against 68% of iWriter Pro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Outliner ships an update every 4 months, iWriter Pro every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Outliner versus iWriter Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOutlineriWriter Pro
Price$4.99$4.99
Rating4.8 (88 ratings) — better4.7 (130 ratings)
Positive reviews86.7% of reviews — better68.1% of reviews
Number of ratings88130 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCarbonFinSerpensoft Group

Customer experience

Outliner

All ratings88 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral1.1%
Negative5.7%
Written reviews323 reviews
Positive86.7%
Neutral6.2%
Negative7.1%

iWriter Pro

All ratings130 ratings
Positive93.1%
Neutral2.3%
Negative4.6%
Written reviews91 reviews
Positive68.1%
Neutral4.4%
Negative27.5%

User reviews

Outliner

From 88 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast, simple, and intuitive
  • 🔒 Reliable and stable
  • 👍 Excellent outlining functionality
  • 👍 Seamless sync across devices
  • 👍 Clean and uncluttered interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and data loss issues
  • 🔒 Concerns about data security and privacy
  • 👎 Limited customization options (e.g., no color coding)
  • 👎 Clunky data entry and navigation in some cases

iWriter Pro

From 130 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✨ Simple and clean interface
  • 🚀 Fast and efficient performance
  • ✍️ Distraction-free writing experience
  • 💡 Good value for money
  • 🔄 Seamless iCloud sync

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and freezes
  • 🔋 High battery consumption (iCloud sync)
  • 🐛 Data loss or corruption issues
  • 🐛 Syncing problems (iCloud, Dropbox)
  • 🐛 Exported DOCX files have restrictions

Bugs and requests

Outliner

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Unexpected error: 500 when saving data
  • Pane that lists outlines won't go away or resize
  • Keyboard takes up too much screen space

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add due dates and priority levels for tasks
  • Improve export and sharing options (e.g., PDF, Word)
  • Implement better organization and search capabilities
  • Introduce a desktop companion app for easier editing
  • Add support for voice notes and other multimedia

iWriter Pro

Reported bugs

31 issues
  • App crashes and freezes frequently
  • Data loss or corruption during editing/syncing
  • iCloud and Dropbox sync issues
  • Exported DOCX files are not fully compatible
  • Autocorrect option is confusingly named
Show 26 more
  • Cannot rename documents outside of iWriter folder
  • List indentation can be problematic
  • Markdown menus on keyboard have delayed response
  • Automatic dark mode not working after update
  • Mermaid plugin not working with iOS 18
  • Preview barely works
  • App not being updated to fix bugs
  • Developer does not respond
  • Multiline LaTeX not supported
  • App crashes on iPad Pro 2020 after update
  • Conversion to DOCX has restrictions
  • No preview section in settings for plugins
  • Photos cannot be inserted (folder access permission issue)
  • Cannot read images from hidden folders
  • Line breaks in exported documents turn into spaces
  • Formulae not working
  • Occasional rendering bug where text doesn't fill screen
  • App crashes immediately upon opening
  • Google Drive sync issues and inability to open/save files
  • iCloud synchronization consumes too much battery
  • App deletes work for no reason
  • Dropbox connection is poor and leads to conflicts/data loss
  • Font compatibility issues in document names
  • App is very basic and doesn't work well with other Markdown editors
  • Impolite developers
  • App is unstable

Requested features

22 requests
  • Add table support (Markdown)
  • Allow reordering of shortcuts
  • Cycle visibility on headings using Tab
  • Add Mark Set and cut region
  • Wordpress export
Show 17 more
  • Syntax highlighting
  • File tree or explorer in sidebar
  • Regex search
  • Auto dark mode
  • Select and open a folder
  • Obsidian support (hyperlink function)
  • Chinese support
  • Add math input
  • Passcode lock feature
  • Change font color
  • Hybrid/mixed editor/preview mode
  • Automatic backup to Dropbox/other cloud storage
  • Add file opening options in preview mode
  • Enter title edit mode immediately after creating a new file
  • Change shortcut keys from moving cursor to indent
  • Customizable paste symbols
  • Full-text search

In-app purchases

None

Outliner

No in-app purchases

None

iWriter Pro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Outliner free?
Outliner costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is iWriter Pro free?
iWriter Pro costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Outliner or iWriter Pro?
Outliner is rated higher. Outliner averages 4.8 out of 5 from 88 ratings, while iWriter Pro averages 4.7 from 130 ratings.
Do Outliner or iWriter Pro have ads?
Neither Outliner nor iWriter Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Outliner or iWriter Pro?
Outliner ships an update every 4 months, and iWriter Pro every 3 months. Most recently, Outliner was updated on September 22, 2026 and iWriter Pro on September 24, 2026.

Other comparisons