Comparison

Indent vs Stilo Markdown Editor

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
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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

Stilo Markdown Editor

Features
Read full description

What you write stays a file. Stilo is a Markdown editor for iPhone and iPad. It keeps no library of its own. It opens the .md files already sitting in Files and iCloud Drive, and saves them right back. The same file still opens on your Mac and in every other app. WHAT IT DOES Your files stay yours. Edit Markdown on this iPhone, in iCloud Drive or on another cloud service. Nothing to import, nothing to export. The name and location of the open file sit at the top of the screen, and you can rename the file without leaving the editor. EAST ASIAN TYPOGRAPHY - Vertical text preview. Read your work in vertical columns, just as it appears in print - Ruby annotation. Write |ๅŒ—ๆตท้“ใ€Šใปใฃใ‹ใ„ใฉใ†ใ€‹ and it renders as ruby text above the base characters: furigana, zhuyin, pinyin or Korean readings - Tate-chu-yoko. Two-digit numbers stay upright inside vertical text - Page counts. Count in 400-character manuscript sheets, Taiwanese gaozhi, Korean wongoji or 250 words per page, or set your own grid - Writing goals, with progress on the status line A SCREEN THAT STAYS OUT OF THE WAY - Markdown syntax is drawn in a lighter colour so the text itself stays readable - A tag toolbar above the keyboard inserts headings, bold, quotes and ruby with one tap. Reorder it, add to it, or cut it down - Find and replace, with a match count, previous and next, and a Match Case switch - Characters, characters excluding spaces, the full-width and half-width split, lines and words EXPORT HTML export is free. PDF export keeps the vertical layout and the ruby exactly as you see them. Choose A4, Letter, Legal and other paper sizes. PRIVACY Stilo collects no personal information. There are no analytics SDKs and no advertising. The developer runs no servers, so the only place your writing goes is the cloud you chose yourself. ABOUT STILO PRO Editing, preview, find and replace, reading and writing files, character and word counts, and HTML export are free. Vertical text preview, ruby conversion, page counts and goals, PDF export, and themes with font import come with Stilo Pro. It is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. Buy it once and it works on every iPhone and iPad signed in with the same Apple ID. If the free version covers what you need, keep using it. Stilo Pro isn't required for writing; it's for reading and publishing your work in typeset form. ABOUT REPOSITORY ACCESS (sold separately, one-time purchase) Open the Markdown files in your GitHub repositories as they are, edit them, and save with a commit message. If a file changed elsewhere first, Stilo tells you instead of overwriting it. This is not a Git client: no branching, merging, history or diffs. It is focused on writing the manuscripts that live in your repository. Repository Access is independent of Stilo Pro; you can buy either one on its own. Your GitHub access token is stored only on your device.

Screenshots

Indent4 screens
Stilo Markdown Editor4 screens

Verdict

The call

Indent and Stilo Markdown Editor are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters โ€” price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them โ€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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 and Stilo Markdown Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Indent versus Stilo Markdown Editor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterIndentStilo Markdown Editor
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyโ€”Every 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac โ€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size5 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMerano Studio LimitedSohshi Sasao

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Indent

One-time3
  • Espresso$0.99
  • Latte$2.99
  • Whole bag$4.99
1 purchases

Stilo Markdown Editor

One-time1
  • Stilo Pro$6.99

Questions

Is Indent free?
Indent is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Stilo Markdown Editor free?
Stilo Markdown Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Indent or Stilo Markdown Editor have ads?
Neither Indent nor Stilo Markdown Editor shows ads.

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