Comparison

Mentarapp vs markru

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

Head to head
About

Mentarapp

Features
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Mentara is your personal second brain for capturing, connecting, and understanding your ideas. KEY FEATURES: - Private by Design Your notes are stored locally on your device. No accounts required, no cloud sync, no tracking. Your thoughts stay private. - AI-Powered Note Scanning Capture handwritten notes, documents, or whiteboards with your camera. AI extracts and formats the text instantly. - Deep Thinking AI Let AI analyze your notes in depth to uncover insights, connections, and new ideas you might have missed. - Connect Your Thoughts Link notes together with [[wiki-links]] to build a personal knowledge web that grows with you. - Smart Organization Use folders, #tags, and powerful search to keep everything organized and easy to find. - Swipe Actions Pin, archive, or delete notes with intuitive swipe gestures. - Beautiful Customization Choose from stunning gradient backgrounds for your notes and switch between light and dark themes. - Optional PIN Protection Add an extra layer of security with a customizable PIN lock. - Export Your Data Export all your notes to PDF or CSV anytime. Your data, your control. - Available in 3 Languages Full support for English, Spanish, and French. Note: AI features (Note Scanning and Deep Thinking) require an internet connection and an OpenAI API key, configurable in Settings. All core note-taking features work fully offline. Mentara is perfect for journaling, brainstorming, studying, or building your personal knowledge base.

About

markru

Features
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Markdown notes are easy to write โ€” and easy to forget. markru is built for what comes after writing: shelving, binding, and rereading your own notes like books. (Some features โ€” tag suggestions, summaries โ€” use Apple Intelligence on supported devices.) 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 โ€” or unbind anytime. WRITE IN CLEAN MARKDOWN A focused editor with live preview and a formatting bar for headings, lists, checklists, tables, code, and more. Some writing helpers โ€” tag suggestions, formatting, and summaries โ€” are partly powered by Apple Intelligence, right on your device. Note: These AI-assisted features require a supported device and OS version. Where Apple Intelligence isn't available, they simply fall back to manual entry โ€” everything else in the app still works, and no note content is ever sent to an external server. CAPTURE IDEAS IN SECONDS Quick Capture works like a paper memo: jot it down, the title can come later. Import .md and .txt files, or send text from any app with the share sheet. KEEP YOUR SHELVES IN ORDER See your note, shelf, and book counts at a glance. Clean up, compress, 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. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account required. Your notes live as plain Markdown files on your device or in iCloud Documents โ€” never on our servers. Write lightly. Reread deeply.

Screenshots

Mentarapp4 screens
markru4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: markru at weekly against Mentarapp's every 2 months. Mentarapp's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mentarapp ships an update every 2 months, markru weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Mentarapp versus markru: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMentarappmarkru
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size34 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdrian Serrano Motakazunobu tsujino

In-app purchases

None

Mentarapp

No in-app purchases

None

markru

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mentarapp free?
Mentarapp is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is markru free?
markru is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Mentarapp or markru have ads?
Neither Mentarapp nor markru shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mentarapp or markru?
Mentarapp ships an update every 2 months, and markru weekly. Most recently, Mentarapp was updated on October 16, 2026 and markru on October 9, 2026.

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