Comparison

Topilo Notes vs markru

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

Head to head
About

Topilo Notes

Capture and organize all your thoughts and ideas effortlessly. This app allows for instant note-taking without titles, letting you structure your thoughts later. It offers a rich text editor, cross-device syncing, and a clean, minimal design.

Highlights
  • Instant thought capture
  • Structure in hindsight
  • Local and offline-first
  • Sync across devices
  • Rich text editor
  • Dark mode
  • Quick navigation
Read full description

Capture thousands of thoughts and make them all useful. A notes app reimagined for handling your every thought and idea while making it easy to process, organize and review them later. - Instant thought capture with title-less notes - Structure in hindsight - capture first, organize later And of course, all must have features in a modern note app included. - Local and offline-first - Sync across devices - Rich text editor with internal links, bullet lists, etc. - Dark mode - Minimal and clean design - Quick navigation dialog for fast browsing and tagging

About

markru

Features
Read full description

Markdown notes are easy to write — and easy to forget. markru is built for what comes after writing: shelving, binding, and rereading your own notes like books. (Markdown writing, shelving, binding, and rereading all work without AI; only the AI helpers, such as tag suggestions and summaries, need a supported device and settings where Apple Intelligence is available.) No markru account to sign up for. Import .md and .txt files, and export your notes as .md files or a ZIP. YOUR NOTES, SHELVED LIKE BOOKS Promote finished notes from drafts to your bookshelf. Browse by shelf, search, and sort by what you read last. BIND NOTES INTO ONE READABLE BOOK Combine related pages into one book. Reorder pages, add new ones, and read them as a single piece — or unbind anytime. WRITE IN CLEAN MARKDOWN A focused Markdown editor with a formatting bar for headings, lists, checklists, tables, code, and more. Save your note, then read it in a clean, formatted layout. Some writing helpers — tag suggestions, formatting, and summaries — are partly powered by Apple Intelligence, on your device by default. Note: Whether the AI helpers appear depends not only on your device, but also on whether Apple Intelligence is turned on and ready. To check your device, open Settings in markru and look under Apple Intelligence. Where it isn't available, these helpers fall back to manual entry — everything else in the app still works. If you turn on Private Cloud Compute in the app's settings, formatting, summaries, and save comments are processed by Apple's Private Cloud Compute instead; tag suggestions always stay on your device. Your notes are never sent to our servers or any third-party server. CAPTURE IDEAS IN SECONDS Quick Capture works like a paper memo: jot it down, the title can come later. Send text from any app with the share sheet. IMPORT & EXPORT Import .md and .txt files. Export notes as .md files, or bundle them into a single .zip. KEEP YOUR SHELVES IN ORDER See your note, shelf, and book counts at a glance. Select the paragraphs you need and bring them together in a new note. Clean up or bind notes as your library grows. PICK UP RIGHT WHERE YOU LEFT OFF markru remembers your reading progress in every book, so returning to your notes feels like reopening one. USAGE AND COLLECTION LIMITS You can currently use markru without making a purchase. Your collection starts with room for 100 books and can be expanded without a purchase in steps of 50, up to 300. Each standalone page or book on your bookshelf counts as one book. Pages inside a bound book do not count separately toward your collection. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your notes live as plain Markdown files on your device or in iCloud Documents — never on our servers. iCloud sync uses the Apple Account signed in on your device, with iCloud Drive turned on — not a markru account. Without iCloud, notes are saved on this device. Write lightly. Reread deeply.

Screenshots

Topilo Notes3 screens
markru4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: markru at weekly against Topilo Notes's every 8 months. Topilo Notes's advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 27.0). On price, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Topilo Notes ships an update every 8 months, markru weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Topilo Notes versus markru: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTopilo Notesmarkru
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 8 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.4 — better27.0
Further details — not scored
Size59 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSimon Bengtssonkazunobu tsujino

In-app purchases

None

Topilo Notes

No in-app purchases

None

markru

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Topilo Notes free?
Topilo Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is markru free?
markru is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Topilo Notes or markru have ads?
Neither Topilo Notes nor markru shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Topilo Notes or markru?
Topilo Notes ships an update every 8 months, and markru weekly. Most recently, Topilo Notes was updated on November 4, 2026 and markru on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons