Comparison

Inkiostro vs MathDown

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

Head to head
About

Inkiostro

A distraction-free Markdown editor for Apple devices. Organize files with color labels and tags, and write efficiently with a comprehensive toolbar and live preview. Syncs automatically via iCloud Drive.

Highlights
  • Color Labels for files and folders
  • Custom tags for organization
  • Complete Markdown toolbar
  • Live preview with multiple themes
  • Focus and Typewriter modes
  • Native iCloud Drive sync
  • External folder support
Features
Read full description

Inkiostro is a Markdown editor for people who write — notes, documentation, theses, novels. Plain text files that stay yours, a preview that looks like a finished page, and exports ready to hand over. Buy once, no subscription. No account, no tracking. WRITE, SEE, FINISH • A complete Markdown toolbar: headings, lists, tables and code blocks, one tap away. • A side-by-side preview that comes back exactly where you left it. • LaTeX formulas typeset by KaTeX, and Mermaid diagrams drawn as you type. • 27 preview styles, 11 of them free: GitHub, Sepia, Nord, Solarized and more. With Pro, Manuscript, Book, Report, Academic and others set the page like print. • Focus and Typewriter modes, a live word count and a daily writing goal. FROM DRAFT TO BOOK • PDF with selectable text, formulas and diagrams included. Free, with a small credit line in the footer. • A professional ePub: real chapters, a cover, ISBN, series, footnotes that open over the page, and the accessibility declaration Europe requires. The export sheet tells you what a store would reject — before you send it. (Pro) • A book made of many files: one chapter per file, in a folder, in the order you choose. Arranging it is free; exporting it as a single ePub is Pro. • Self-contained HTML, and page setup for PDF: paper, margins, headers and page numbers. (Pro) NEVER LOSE A WORD • Version history: Inkiostro saves versions as you write. Search them, compare them line by line, and bring back a single word or a whole draft. (Pro) • Backups of your whole library: a dated zip archive with your version history inside, offered when one is due, while the app is open, in a folder you pick. Open it in the Files app and your Markdown files are right there. (Pro) YOUR FILES, YOUR RULES • Unlimited documents, as plain .md files you can open anywhere. • Folders, color labels and tags, with search that filters by tag. • iCloud Drive sync between iPhone, iPad and Mac, with no setup. • External folders: work directly inside any folder on your device or in iCloud Drive. (Pro) INKIOSTRO PRO — ONE PURCHASE, EVERY DEVICE One purchase unlocks Pro on iPhone, iPad and Mac, forever. Try it free for 7 days. • Version history with search, comparison and a year of versions • Backups of your library • Professional ePub, HTML, and books made of many files • PDF page setup • Focus and Typewriter modes • External folders • 24 app themes, the Pro preview styles and any font installed on your device MADE FOR • Writers: novels and essays in plain text, out as a real ebook • Students and researchers: notes and theses with proper formulas • Developers: READMEs, documentation and technical notes with diagrams • Anyone tired of paying every month for a text editor PRIVACY Your documents stay in your iCloud Drive or on your device. No servers of ours, ever. Inkiostro collects only anonymous, aggregated usage statistics — never personal data, never the content of your documents — and you can turn them off in Settings.

About

MathDown

Create markdown documents with live LaTeX math rendering. Define variables and functions, and enjoy automatic algebraic simplification for beautifully typeset equations. Perfect for math notes, homework, and tutorials.

Highlights
  • Live LaTeX math rendering
  • Define and reuse variables
  • Create and evaluate functions
  • Automatic algebraic simplification
  • Full LaTeX support
Features
Read full description

Pay once, use forever. No subscriptions! Write markdown documents with live LaTeX math rendering. Expressions inside $ and $$ blocks are automatically parsed, evaluated, and displayed as beautifully typeset equations. • Define variables and reuse them across your document • Create functions like let f(x) = x^2 and evaluate them • Automatic algebraic simplification combines like terms • Full LaTeX support: fractions, roots, subscripts, superscripts Perfect for math notes, homework, tutorials, or any document where you want calculations that update as you type.

Screenshots

Inkiostro4 screens
MathDown4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Inkiostro at Free against MathDown's $9.99. Inkiostro also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). MathDown's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 60%) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Inkiostro is free to download; MathDown costs $9.99 up front. Inkiostro sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. MathDown asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Inkiostro ships an update weekly, MathDown every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Inkiostro versus MathDown: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterInkiostroMathDown
PriceFree — better$9.99
Rating3.0 (4 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCarlo Di GiuseppeMilestone Made, LLC

Customer experience

Inkiostro

All ratings4 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%

MathDown

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Inkiostro

One-time1
  • Inkiostro Pro$19.99
None

MathDown

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Inkiostro free?
Inkiostro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MathDown free?
MathDown costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Inkiostro or MathDown have ads?
Neither Inkiostro nor MathDown shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Inkiostro or MathDown?
Inkiostro ships an update weekly, and MathDown every 3 weeks. Most recently, Inkiostro was updated on September 28, 2026 and MathDown on September 9, 2026.

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