Vim vs MWeb
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Vim
A highly configurable text editor with a long history, designed for efficient editing from both command lines and graphical interfaces. It offers extensive customization options for programmers and writers alike.
- Text editing
- Command-line interface support
- Graphical user interface support
- Highly configurable
- Free and open source
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Vim is a text editor first released publicly in 1991. Based on the vi editor common to Unix-like systems, Vim is designed for use both from a command line interface and as a standalone application in a graphical user interface. Vim is free and open source software and is released under a license which includes some charityware clauses, encouraging users who enjoy the software to consider donating to children in Uganda. https://vim.sourceforge.io/about.php
MWeb
A powerful writing and note-taking application focused on Markdown. It offers a robust editor, document management, and publishing capabilities for efficient text creation and organization.
- Markdown editor with CommonMark and GFM support
- Document management via Folders mode
- Note-taking with Library mode and tagging
- Publishing and sharing functions
- Cross-device synchronization
- Image and math formula preview
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MWeb was born in 2015. It is a writing, note-taking and publishing app focusing on Markdown. If you like Markdown or text writing, We highly recommend you try MWeb. MWeb is composed of a complete and stable editor, a Folders mode for managing documents, a Library mode specifically for notes, and a document publishing and sharing function set, with a total of four modules. The feature of MWeb's software is that it chooses platform-native technology for each platform. It is built using AppKit on macOS and UIKit on iOS/iPadOS. The following is a brief introduction to these four modules. If you are interested, you can continue reading. ## Editor features Here are some of the key features of an editor: * Base on CommonMark syntax and GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) extended syntax, supporting TOC, tables, code blocks, math formulas, task lists, footnotes, etc. * Display the text of the Markdown document completely without any deletion. * Images can be displayed directly in the Editor, supporting jpg, png, gif, webP, HEIC and etc. * Math formulas, mermaid and Echarts drawings can be previewed in the editor. * You can set your favorite font or multiple fonts for writing. * You can choose from 11 light themes and 21 dark themes, and also support custom themes. * There is a menu to facilitate the input of Markdown syntax, and a special Markdown syntax keyboard is also provided in iOS. * Convenient tools for generating and formatting Markdown table syntax. * You can view the outline and word count of Markdown documents. * Markdown documents can be previewed and support Editor & Preview mode. ## Folders mode The first requirement of Markdown is to create and edit Markdown documents, and MWeb's Folders mode does this. It supports the following features: * Create Markdown, Textbundle documents, or simply open them for editing. * Introduce a folder with Markdown documents into the Folders mode of MWeb. MWeb will provide practical functions such as management of Markdown documents, full-text search, copy and paste to insert images, and unified storage of referenced images. * iPadOS/iOS version supports Dropbox folders. ## Library mode Markdown is so easy to use, so taking notes is also in great demand. Of course, you can use Folders mode and introduce a folder to take notes, which is also very nice and easy to share. So why do we still create a separate Library mode? Mainly, the Library mode has the following features: * There is no need to consider the file name, title and storage location, Just create note and writing. * Use category trees and tags to manage notes. A single note can be classified into multiple categories, making it easier to set categories for notes. * Organizing notes is more convenient. When moving categories and notes, renaming categories will not affect each other. You don't need to worry about incorrect associations between notes, incorrect reference location of images and attachments in notes, etc. * Complete cross-device synchronization using iCloud CloudKit technology. * The Library follows the "local first" principle and is stored in a folder, very easy for backup. Even if you use iCloud sync, your Library can be completely backed up locally. * Export the entire category of notes to PDF or Epub e-book. * The macOS version of MWeb Pro also supports generating static blogs from categories. The generated blog fully supports math formulas, mermaid, echarts etc. Allows you to create your own blog in a very simple way. ## More features... * Publish documents or notes to Wordpress, Metaweblog API, Evernote, Blogger, Tumblr, Yuque, sspai Matrix, Ghost and Medium. * Upload images in documents or notes to imgur, Qiniu, SM.MS, Tencent COS, Youpai, Alibaba OSS, custom API, etc. * Export documents or notes to PDF (with Table of Contents in macOS version). * Export documents or notes to Epub or image. Privacy Policy: https://www.mweb.im/policy.html Terms of Use: https://www.mweb.im/terms.html Hope you enjoy MWeb!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: MWeb at 4.5 against Vim's 2.9. MWeb also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 9 months) and review sentiment (67% vs 46%). Vim's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 14.1). 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
Both are free to download. MWeb sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. Vim asks for nothing beyond the download.
MWeb holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MWeb has 153 ratings behind it against 21, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Vim's written reviews are positive against 67% of MWeb's.
Vim ships an update every 9 months, MWeb every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Vim | MWeb |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.9 (21 ratings) | 4.5 (153 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 46.2% of reviews | 66.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 21 | 153 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 9 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 14.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Applidium | 禄海 区 |
Customer experience
Vim
MWeb
Bugs and requests
Vim
Reported bugs
13 issues- Escape key not recognized on external keyboards
- Space bar non-functional with external keyboards
- Font illegible on Retina and newer displays
- Significant input lag between keystrokes and display
- Window focus not maintained in multitasking
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- Keyboard recognition delays
- Graphics scrambled on iPhone 6 and newer
- Character rendering issues (missing 'f' character)
- Command line errors with certain commands (:ls, :echo)
- Syntax highlighting broken
- App crashes on older iOS versions
- 32-bit app incompatibility with iOS 11+
- Slow response to Bluetooth keyboard input
Requested features
15 requests- Custom keyboard row with Esc, Tab, Ctrl, and common symbols
- Dropbox and cloud service integration
- iOS copy/paste and clipboard integration
- File browser and file management system
- Better font rendering and scaling options
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- Swipe gestures for common operations (Esc, Tab)
- Plugin support
- SSH/FTP connectivity
- Customizable color schemes and themes
- Better Bluetooth keyboard support and detection
- MacVim-style tabs
- iCloud synchronization
- Open source project status
- Support for external shell integration
- Email attachment opening support
MWeb
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Vim
No in-app purchases
MWeb
- MWeb Yearly Subscription$9.991 Year
- MWeb for iPhone/iPad$14.99
- MWeb for Mac$24.99









