Normal Notes vs Markdown Preview
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Normal Notes
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Normal Notes is the fastest and easiest way to keep a daily journal and a personal knowledge base. Built on plain Markdown and compatible with Obsidian vaults, it opens straight to Today's Note with heading pre-filled. Supports tags, suggests older notes worth attention, view vault pins on a map. Share anything from anywhere so you don't lose it. No account or subscription, and no tracking. No lock-in ā your notes stay as ordinary .md files you own. DAILY JOURNALING ⢠One tap to today's note. Yesterday and tomorrow are a swipe away. ⢠Auto-headings with date, place, and journaling prompts. ⢠Capture by voice ā record a memo and it's transcribed straight into today. A KNOWLEDGE BASE THAT CONNECTS ⢠[[Wikilinks]] and live backlinks, so notes link themselves together. ⢠Related notes surfaced automatically. ⢠Pin places to notes and see them all on a map. FAST AND NATIVE ⢠Best-in-class Markdown editor experience ā headings, checklists, formatting ā that stays out of your way. ⢠Instant search across your whole vault. ⢠Share text and images into today from any app. PRIVATE BY DESIGN ⢠Your notes sync through your own iCloud. Nothing is collected. No trackers, no ads, no analytics. If you've wanted Obsidian's plain-text freedom with the speed and polish of Apple Notes, Normal Notes is it.
Markdown Preview
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Open a .md file on your iPhone and actually see it ā rendered, not raw. MarkdownPrev is a Markdown editor with live preview: type on one side, watch headings, lists, code blocks and links turn into a clean, readable page on the other. Most notes apps hide Markdown behind their own format. MarkdownPrev works with plain .md the way it lives on disk: import a README, edit it in real syntax, check the result in split view, and send back a proper .md or a standalone HTML file ā nothing locked into a proprietary library. WHAT YOU GET ⢠A README you fixed on the train, previewed in split view and exported back before your laptop even opens ⢠Every heading, list, blockquote and fenced code block rendered live as you type ⢠A snippet library that keeps your recurring blocks ā meeting template, changelog stub, doc skeleton ā one tap away ⢠Automatic restore points after every writing pause, so an over-eager rewrite is a two-tap undo ⢠One tap turns any note into a standalone, styled HTML page ready to send ⢠A built-in cheat sheet showing the exact syntax the preview renders ā no guessing PERFECT FOR ⢠Developers reviewing and editing README and docs files away from their desk ⢠Technical writers who need to verify rendering before pushing a commit ⢠Students and bloggers drafting posts in plain Markdown ⢠Anyone tired of emailing themselves .md files just to read them formatted WHY NOT JUST A NOTES APP? Bear and Obsidian are great vaults ā but they wrap your writing in their own database. MarkdownPrev is deliberately smaller: real .md in, real .md (or HTML) out, with a live split preview built for checking exactly what a file will look like. No vault, no sync setup, no lock-in. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Your files never leave your iPhone. Everything is stored locally ā no account, no tracking, no server reading your drafts. FULL ACCESS MarkdownPrev requires Full Access, available as a weekly or yearly auto-renewing subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Full Access unlocks the complete app: unlimited snippets, the split-view editor, version restore points, and .md / HTML export. Download MarkdownPrev and preview your first .md file within the minute. Terms of Use: https://leanstudio.asia/terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://leanstudio.asia/privacy-policy Support: support@leanstudio.asia
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is device support: Normal Notes at 3 against Markdown Preview's 1. Markdown Preview's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | Normal Notes | Markdown Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | ā | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac ā better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 ā better |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Thomas McKenzie | LEAN ASIA CO., LTD |
In-app purchases
Normal Notes
No in-app purchases
Markdown Preview
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Normal Notes free?
Is Markdown Preview free?
Do Normal Notes or Markdown Preview have ads?
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