Essay.ink vs Vault Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β with what reviewers say about each.
Essay.ink
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The first divergence of the AI era may occur between those who write and those who do not, as the rise of generative AI means that writing skills will no longer be a universal requirement but rather a choice. Differences in writing ability will further lead to differences in thinking ability, because writing is a way to promote deep thinking. Essay aims to make textual expression a habit, and at the crossroads of the times, we seek to reclaim the meaning of writing with you. Here, there are no likes, follows, topic orientations, or length preferences. What we are building is a purely textual space that seeks no social recognition. Texts here record, think, and convey subtle resonances between each other. We look forward to your words. Official website: https://www.essay.ink Email: hi@essay.ink
Vault Reader
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A calm place to read the GitHub notes you already have. Vault Reader connects to any GitHub repository of markdown files, public or private, and renders it on iPhone as a focused, offline-ready reader. Built for the Obsidian vaults, dev notes, and journals that already live in GitHub. THE READER β’ Sign in with GitHub. Connect one repository on the free tier; every public or private repo you have access to with Vault Reader Pro. β’ Sync once, read offline. Every page caches on your iPhone and opens without a signal. β’ Smart incremental sync. SHA-based diffing only re-downloads files that actually changed, keeping API usage low. β’ Native SwiftUI rendering for headings, lists, tables, code blocks with syntax highlighting, task lists, blockquotes, and images. β’ Book-quiet typography: Iowan Old Style for body, Fraunces for display headings. β’ Full-text search across every cached file in your vault. FOR OBSIDIAN USERS Pairs with the Obsidian Git plugin. Point Vault Reader at the same repository and it picks up: β’ [[Wikilinks]], resolved locally. Tap to follow; unresolved links stay visible but disabled so nothing is silently broken. β’ YAML frontmatter, hidden from the rendered page. Tags surface as small chips above the title. β’ > TLDR: callouts, highlighted as cards so the gist of a note stands out. ON-DEVICE AI (VAULT READER PRO) A floating action button on every page opens a chat powered by Apple Foundation Models, running entirely on your iPhone. No API keys. No cloud inference. Nothing leaves the device. β’ Summarize the page you're on. β’ Ask it to explain a passage in simpler terms. β’ Ask free-form questions across your whole vault. Answers link back to source pages. READING, YOUR WAY β’ Two themes on the free tier: Plum Codex (light) and Midnight Vault (dark). β’ Six themes total with Pro: Plum Codex, Sepia Library, Forest Journal, Terracotta Press, Midnight Vault, and Obsidian Codex. β’ Four body-text sizes and three line-spacing presets with Pro. Dynamic Type respected throughout. PRIVACY BY CONSTRUCTION β’ Your GitHub token lives in the iOS Keychain. Minner Labs runs no backend and never sees it. β’ AI runs on-device via Apple Foundation Models. Prompts and answers never leave your iPhone. β’ Read-only. Vault Reader cannot create, edit, or delete anything in your repositories. β’ Your Pro subscription restores automatically across devices and reinstalls. PRICING β’ Free to download and read. One connected repository, two themes, and the core reader are always free. β’ Vault Reader Pro unlocks on-device AI, unlimited repositories, and the complete theme and typography library. Available as a monthly or annual subscription (with a 7-day free trial on the annual plan), or as a one-time lifetime purchase. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula Privacy Policy: https://vaultreader.minnerlabs.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Essay.ink at none against Vault Reader's 3. Essay.ink also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). Vault Reader's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Vault Reader sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Essay.ink asks for nothing beyond the download.
Essay.ink ships an update every 3 months, Vault Reader every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Essay.ink | Vault Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 weeks β better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No β better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod β better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 β better | 26.0 |
| Further details β not scored | ||
| Size | 54 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sichuan Dumpling Interactive Technology Co., Ltd. | Minner Labs LLC |
In-app purchases
Essay.ink
No in-app purchases
Vault Reader
- Vault Reader Pro - Monthly$1.991 Month
- Vault Reader Pro - Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year
- Vault Reader Pro - Lifetime$39.99
Questions
Is Essay.ink free?
Is Vault Reader free?
Do Essay.ink or Vault Reader have ads?
Which is updated more often, Essay.ink or Vault Reader?
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