Comparison

Buffer Editor vs Runestone Text Editor

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

Head to head
About

Buffer Editor

A powerful code and text editor for on-the-go development. Connect to various cloud services and Git repositories, with built-in terminal and extensive syntax highlighting. Offers advanced editing features for enhanced productivity.

Highlights
  • Connect to cloud services and Git
  • Git operations and visual merge tool
  • Built-in SSH terminal
  • Extensive syntax highlighting
  • Live remote file editing
  • Code autocompletion and snippets
Features
Read full description

Buffer Editor is a POWERFUL code and text editor that lets you easily develop software, view code or take notes on the go. Enjoy an editing experience that is both versatile and intuitive, and take your productivity to the next level. • Connect to GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket, Custom Git, Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, SFTP, SSH, and FTP servers • Git Operations for easy repository management • Git Visual Merge Tool to resolve merge conflicts. • Git Visual Branch and Commits History. • Live editing—open, edit, and save files directly to remote services • Network monitoring for remote services (FTP, SFTP, SSH) • Built-in Terminal (SSH Client) with multiple terminals in tabs. • Syntax highlighting & code autocomplete: ASP, AWK, ActionScript, Ada, Arduino, Bash, C, C++, C#, Clojure, Cobol, CSS, D, Dart, Dockerfile, Erlang, F#, Fortran, Gherkin, Go, HAML, Haskell, HTML (4 & 5), INI, Java, JavaScript, Julia, Kotlin, LaTeX, Common Lisp, Lua, Markdown, MATLAB, MQL (4 & 5), NSIS, Objective-C, Org Mode, Pascal, Perl, PHP, PowerShell, Progress, Prolog, Pug, Puppet, Python, Q/kdb+, R, reStructuredText, Ruby, Rust, Scala, Solidity, SQL, Stata, Swift, Terraform, TypeScript, TypeScript React, Verilog, VHDL, Visual Basic, Vue, x86 ASM, XML • Vim mode support • Symbol navigator / document outline • Code autocompletion, with custom snippets. • Find & replace with regular expression support • Recursive file and content search—match and jump to any file at a specific line • Find references in file and jump to any file • Bracket matching and highlighting • Line and word wrapping • Unicode support • Multiple windows, Split View, and Slide Over support • Tabs with automatic restore—quickly switch between files and terminals • Full screen mode • Extended keyboard with coding keys • Bluetooth keyboard support with shortcuts manager • Customizable fonts, font sizes, and over 300 dark and light themes • Full iOS Files integration—link external folders, open multiple files, import from any supported cloud provider • Local and Remote Preview for websites(HTML,JS,CSS) • Preview images, PDFs, movies, and documents • Send files by email • iOS "Open In" support (to and from other apps) • Touch ID / Face ID protection SUBSCRIPTION: - You can subscribe for Pro access to all app’s features. - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. By using the app, you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service: https://www.buffereditor.com/privacy https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

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

Screenshots

Buffer Editor4 screens
Runestone Text Editor4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Runestone Text Editor at 4.7 against Buffer Editor's 3.9. Runestone Text Editor also leads on monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs subscription) and review sentiment (76% vs 56%). Buffer Editor's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Buffer Editor sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Runestone Text Editor holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Runestone Text Editor has 2K ratings behind it against 157, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 56% of Buffer Editor's written reviews are positive against 76% of Runestone Text Editor's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Buffer Editor ships an update every 4 days, Runestone Text Editor every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Buffer Editor versus Runestone Text Editor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBuffer EditorRunestone Text Editor
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (157 ratings)4.7 (2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews56.1% of reviews76.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1572K — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#41 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size45 MB64 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBlakzero OySimon B. Støvring

Customer experience

Buffer Editor

All ratings157 ratings
Positive69.4%
Neutral10.8%
Negative19.7%
Written reviews221 reviews
Positive56.1%
Neutral14.9%
Negative29.0%

Runestone Text Editor

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

User reviews

Buffer Editor

From 157 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great mobile development platform
  • 👍 Functional and good editor
  • 🚀 Responsive and performant
  • 👍 Supports Vim keybindings
  • 👍 Customizable themes and fonts

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
  • 🐛 Git integration issues
  • 🐛 Buggy SSH/SFTP/FTP connections
  • 🐛 Undo/redo functionality problems
  • 🐛 Laggy navigation through directories

Runestone Text Editor

From 2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💎 Excellent text editor
  • 🚀 Smooth and responsive
  • 🎨 Customizable themes and appearance
  • 🔒 Secure file storage and sync
  • 👍 Clean and intuitive interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or bugs
  • 🔍 Difficulty navigating files/folders
  • 📝 Limited functionality without premium
  • 🔌 Performance issues on older devices
  • 🔒 Difficulty accessing files in cloud storage

Bugs and requests

Buffer Editor

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes when switching between apps
  • Losing work due to save issues
  • Incorrect parameter errors when editing files
  • Broken Bitbucket/GitHub authentication

Requested features

6 requests
  • Integrated terminal/Linux shell
  • GitHub/GitLab workflow integration
  • Ability to run/compile code
  • Better file management options
  • More keyboard shortcuts and customization
Show 1 more
  • Improved syntax highlighting and auto-complete

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

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Buffer Editor

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly3 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Yearly3 Days trial$34.991 Year
1 purchases

Runestone Text Editor

One-time1
  • Premium$9.99

Questions

Is Buffer Editor free?
Buffer Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Runestone Text Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Buffer Editor or Runestone Text Editor?
Runestone Text Editor is rated higher. Buffer Editor averages 3.9 out of 5 from 157 ratings, while Runestone Text Editor averages 4.7 from 2K ratings.
Do Buffer Editor or Runestone Text Editor have ads?
Neither Buffer Editor nor Runestone Text Editor shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Buffer Editor or Runestone Text Editor?
Buffer Editor ships an update every 4 days, and Runestone Text Editor every 2 weeks. Most recently, Buffer Editor was updated on September 24, 2026 and Runestone Text Editor on September 23, 2026.

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