Comparison

Indent vs openote

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

Head to head
About

Indent

Features
Read full description

Write Markdown on one side. See the page on the other. Indent is a Markdown editor. You write the way Markdown is written, a hash for a heading, stars for bold, a dash for a list, and the preview beside you turns those marks into the finished page: headings, tables, code, the checklist you will actually tick off. Indent does not format for you. It shows you what your Markdown means, as you type it. Your notes are ordinary Markdown files. Indent opens them where they already live: in Files, in iCloud Drive, in a folder on your Mac, or in the folder another notes app keeps them in, such as an Obsidian vault. It saves them back as the same text. Nothing is imported and nothing is locked in. If you stop using Indent tomorrow, every word is still yours, readable in any editor. It is the same app on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Write on the phone in the queue, open the split view on the iPad at the kitchen table, finish on the Mac with the outline open beside you. An Indent folder in iCloud Drive keeps the file in step. When the piece is done, share it as a PDF or HTML, or print it from the Mac, on A4 or Letter depending on where you are. Choose a look that suits the writing. Seven themes, each with a light and a dark face, from warm paper to plain black on white. There is no account to create and nothing to sign in to. No ads, no analytics, no tracking. A note never leaves your device unless you share it. Indent is free, and if it earns a place in your day there is a tip jar inside. What you get โ€ข Markdown highlighting as you type, a formatting bar above the keyboard, a Styles panel, keyboard shortcuts โ€ข A live preview with real tables, checklists, nested lists, quotes, images and coloured code in more than forty languages โ€ข Split view on iPad and Mac, with the preview following as you scroll โ€ข An outline of your headings, and Find in both the editor and the page โ€ข Files from Obsidian, Jekyll and Hugo open cleanly, front matter included โ€ข Saves as UTF-8, opens most older text encodings โ€ข Standard CommonMark with tables, strikethrough and task lists

About

openote

This app offers a free and private way to manage your notes using standard Markdown files. It syncs across your Apple devices via iCloud Drive without requiring an account or subscription. Features include live diagram rendering, on-device AI capabilities, and robust editing tools.

Highlights
  • Free iCloud sync
  • Plain Markdown files
  • Live Mermaid diagram rendering
  • On-device AI features
  • Rich Markdown editor
  • Folder and tag organization
  • Full-text search
Features
Read full description

openote โ€” Markdown notes with free sync. No account. No subscription. Other note apps charge a yearly fee just to sync your own devices. openote syncs iPhone, iPad and Mac through your iCloud Drive โ€” free, with no account to create. Your notes stay plain .md files. Open them in the Files app or any Markdown editor, and take them anywhere. No proprietary format, no lock-in. --- WHY OPENOTE Free iCloud sync Notes sync through iCloud Drive on your own Apple account. No sign-up, no subscription. Plain Markdown files Every note is a standard .md file. Front matter, checklists and [[wiki links]] are kept exactly as you wrote them. Safe across devices If a note changes on another device while you're editing, openote keeps both versions instead of silently overwriting one. Your last words are saved even if you switch apps or quit right away. Mermaid diagrams Flowcharts, sequence diagrams and more render live from Markdown. Start from a template, pinch to zoom, tap to edit the code. Rendering works offline. On-device AI On devices with Apple Intelligence, summarize a note, get tag suggestions, or turn a sentence into a diagram. It runs entirely on your device โ€” nothing is sent to a server. --- FEATURES Editor - Rich Markdown editing, with a source mode when you want the raw text - Checklists, tables and code blocks - Auto-save - Word and character count Organize - Folders and #tags with autocomplete - [[Wiki links]] between notes - Full-text search in English, Korean and Japanese Sync & files - iPhone, iPad and Mac via iCloud Drive - Browse your notes in the Files app - Export a note as PDF Shortcuts & Siri - Create, open and search notes from Shortcuts and Siri - Notes appear in Spotlight search --- PRIVACY - No account, no email - No tracking - Your notes stay in your iCloud and on your devices - AI runs on your device Everything is free. openote has no in-app purchases. openote โ€” Your notes, your files.

Screenshots

Indent4 screens
openote4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: openote at none against Indent's 3. On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Indent sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. openote asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 7 level
Indent versus openote: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterIndentopenote
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviewsโ€”100.0% of reviews
Update frequencyโ€”Every 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
Monetizationโ€”Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac โ€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size5 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMerano Studio LimitedWooyoung Kim

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Indent

One-time3
  • Espresso$0.99
  • Latte$2.99
  • Whole bag$4.99
None

openote

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Indent free?
Indent is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is openote free?
openote is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Indent or openote have ads?
Neither Indent nor openote shows ads.

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