Xarra vs ghostWriter Markdown
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Xarra
Listen to articles, documents, and web content with natural-sounding text-to-speech. Customize playback speed, voices, and reading fonts, with optional synced highlighting. This app prioritizes privacy, working offline without accounts or tracking.
- On-device text-to-speech
- Supports PDF, EPUB, Markdown, and more
- Web article sharing
- Adjustable playback speed and voices
- Customizable reading fonts
- Synced line and word highlighting
- Offline functionality
Read full descriptionHide full description
Xarra uses on-device text-to-speech with natural voices, so you can listen to pretty much any text, or read along with synced line and optional word highlighting, and stay focused. Featured in Create with Swift, Weekly Newsletter #101 (Indie App of the Week): "The app developed by Daniel is well integrated into the system. (...) Accessibility runs through the whole experience rather than sitting on top of it." Bring your content in: • Import PDF, EPUB, Markdown, DAISY, plain text, RTF, and more, or browse Project Gutenberg in the app. • Share web articles, blog posts, and documents from Safari and other apps. • Paste text or add a URL. Listen your way: • Optional word highlighting in background or underline styles. • Adjust playback speed and pick a voice for each language. • Choose reading fonts including OpenDyslexic, Atkinson Hyperlegible, and Lexend. Accessibility front and center: • VoiceOver-friendly navigation, Dynamic Type as a design principle, Bold Text, and Increase Contrast support, and more. • Respects your device assistive technology voice and speed settings. Private, lightweight, and offline-friendly: no account, no analytics, no tracking. Your documents stay on your device and sync through your private iCloud when enabled. Terms & Conditions for Xarra: https://accessibilityupto11.com/apps/xarra/terms/
ghostWriter Markdown
A plain-text writing app designed with accessibility in mind. It allows users to create, organize, and export documents in various formats, with features like voice control and outline navigation.
- Accessibility-first plain-text editor
- Organize documents and chapters
- Compile work into finished exports
- Supports multiple export formats (HTML, EPUB, PDF, Word)
- VoiceOver integration
- Native Find and Replace
- Outline navigation for headings
Read full descriptionHide full description
ghostWriter Markdown is an accessibility-first, plain-text writing app for notes, articles, documentation, and full manuscripts. Write individual documents, organize chapters, and compile your work into a finished export. VoiceOver was at the center of the design from the first line of code. Created by a blind developer, ghostWriter gives screen reader users and anyone who loves plain text a clean, native place to write. So what's Markdown? Markdown adds structure using ordinary punctuation. A number sign makes a heading. A dash makes a list item. Your document stays readable as plain text, and you can render it to see the finished formatting. You don't have to know Markdown to start. Insert Actions adds common elements, the Markdown Reference provides examples, and the included ghostWriter Help Manual explains writing, organizing, and exporting your work. Writing Made Easy: • A native editor that keeps Markdown punctuation visible and you in control of the source • Insert links, images, headings, quotes, code, lists, tasks, tables, and rules • Automatic continuation for bullets, numbered lists, and tasks • Indent and outdent with tabs or spaces • Native Find and Replace, dictation, braille input, and text selection • A configurable Status Bar with line and column position, word, sentence, and character counts, heading level, and selection counts • Automatic saving, plus collision detection if the same document is open on separate devices • Start in the Library, a new document, or your last document Useful Navigation: • Use Outline to jump to document headings • Move through headings with a three-finger horizontal VoiceOver swipe while editing • Jump to Line in long documents • Search document names and contents • Return to your remembered editing position in each file Keep Files Organized: • Create, rename, and move nested folders • Pin documents you keep coming back to • Sort by name, created, modified, or last opened, or arrange files and folders manually • Restore removed files from Recently Deleted • Import Markdown, plain text, Word documents, and PowerPoint presentations into Markdown Build Your Manuscript: • Compile documents from nested folders into a single export • Choose which files to include and arrange chapters for each compilation • Keep research and notes nearby while excluding them from compilations • Track word, sentence, and character totals for individual files or whole folders • Control heading structure when combining documents Render and Share: • Render Markdown as structured HTML with semantic headings, lists, tables, and links • Export individual documents or compilations as Markdown, plain text, HTML, EPUB, PDF, Word, PowerPoint, eBraille, or BRF • Customize Word exports with your own JSON stylesheets, optional title and subtitle styles, and a supplied Large Print stylesheet Your Files, Your Devices: • Ordinary Markdown files, visible in the Files app • On-device storage or iCloud Drive syncing across iPhone, iPad, and Mac • Open and edit your files in other apps that read text • No proprietary format and no dependence on ghostWriter to keep your work Accessibility: Developed toward WCAG 2.2 Level AA and tested with VoiceOver as a primary interaction method. • Native controls with familiar roles and behaviors • Dynamic Type, including accessibility text sizes • System, monospaced, rounded, and serif editor typefaces • Light, dark, and system appearance • Voice Control, Switch Control, and hardware keyboard support • Optional keyboard shortcuts for common actions • Reduced-motion support Privacy: No accounts. No sign-in. No ads. No analytics. No tracking. No data collection. No AI tools. There is no server behind this app. Your documents stay on your device or in your own iCloud, and they never travel anywhere you don't send them. Made by a blind developer who got tired of tools that treated screen reader support as an afterthought.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ghostWriter Markdown at none against Xarra's 3. ghostWriter Markdown also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 3 weeks) and iOS requirement (17.6 vs 26.0). Xarra's advantage is device support (4 vs 2). On price, review sentiment and ads 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
Both are free to download. Xarra sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. ghostWriter Markdown asks for nothing beyond the download.
Xarra ships an update every 3 weeks, ghostWriter Markdown every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Xarra | ghostWriter Markdown |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats | Marco Salsiccia |
Customer experience
Xarra
ghostWriter Markdown
In-app purchases
Xarra
- Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$1.991 Month
- Yearly Subscription14 Days trial$9.991 Year
- Lifetime Access$29.99
ghostWriter Markdown
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Xarra free?
Is ghostWriter Markdown free?
Do Xarra or ghostWriter Markdown have ads?
Which is updated more often, Xarra or ghostWriter Markdown?
Other comparisons















