Comparison

FieldNotes vs SoloMD

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

Head to head
About

FieldNotes

Features
Read full description

FieldNotes e' il compagno ideale per il lavoro sul campo in archeologia, etnografia e ricerca ambientale. Raccogli dati geospaziali, note vocali, foto, sketch e scansioni 3D, tutto offline e tutto in un'unica app. RACCOLTA DATI SUL CAMPO - Crea survey etnografiche, archeologiche, architettoniche e paesaggistiche - Geotagging automatico con coordinate GPS, altitudine e precisione - Modalita' Quick Entry per acquisire dati rapidamente - Sistema di tag per organizzare e ricercare le osservazioni NOTE VOCALI E TRASCRIZIONE - Registra note vocali in alta qualita' - Trascrizione automatica on-device con Apple Speech - Dettatura in tempo reale per inserimento rapido - Supporto italiano e inglese FOTO, VIDEO E SKETCH - Scatta foto e registra video direttamente dall'app - Galleria multimediale con anteprime - Disegno a mano libera con PencilKit e supporto Apple Pencil - Annota foto con sketch sovrapposti SCANSIONI 3D (dispositivi con LiDAR) - Scansione oggetti, stanze, ambienti esterni - Fotogrammetria da foto (iOS 17+) - Visualizzatore 3D interattivo - Esportazione in USDZ, OBJ, PLY, DXF - Estrazione automatica planimetrie GEOSTATISTICA E ANALISI SPAZIALE - Matrice delle distanze tra punti di rilievo - Analisi altimetrica e calcolo pendenze - Modello di Tobler per tempi di percorrenza - Minimum Spanning Tree e statistiche descrittive - Grafici e visualizzazioni INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE (opzionale) - Analisi immagini con OpenAI o Anthropic - Miglioramento note e suggerimento tag - Generazione report professionali in 9 sezioni - Assistente AI per il campo - Apple Intelligence on-device (iOS 26+) - Ricerca web con Brave Search ESPORTAZIONE PROFESSIONALE - Report PDF con mappe, foto e trascrizioni - Esportazione GeoJSON per software GIS - GeoPackage per dati geospaziali - Condivisione via email con allegati PRIVACY E OFFLINE - Funziona completamente offline - Tutti i dati restano sul dispositivo - Nessun server, nessun tracciamento - Chiavi API nel Keychain sicuro Disponibile per iPhone, iPad e Mac.

About

SoloMD

A distraction-free Markdown editor for iPad, focusing on writing with live preview, rich syntax, and export options. Your notes are stored locally as plain text files.

Highlights
  • Distraction-free writing environment
  • Live Markdown preview
  • KaTeX math and Mermaid diagram support
  • Multiple export formats (HTML, PDF, DOCX)
  • File tree and outline view
  • Focus and typewriter modes
  • Split-view and multitasking support
Features
Read full description

SoloMD is a lightweight, distraction-free Markdown editor for iPad. One file. One window. Just write. Built from the ground up as a focused writing tool - no account, no cloud, no telemetry, no subscription. Your notes stay in plain .md and .txt files on your iPad, readable by any editor on any platform, today and in ten years. CORE EDITING - Live preview - Markdown symbols fade out after the cursor leaves the line. - Rich syntax styling - real big headings, real bold, real monospace for code. - Light and Dark themes that follow iPad system appearance. - Multi-encoding - auto-detects UTF-8, UTF-16, GBK, Big5. - Tabs with dirty indicators. - File tree sidebar, outline view, and global search. MARKDOWN POWER - KaTeX math - inline and block math render instantly. - Mermaid diagrams - flowcharts, sequence diagrams, Gantt charts. - Task lists with clickable checkboxes. - Footnotes, YAML front-matter, text highlighting. - Syntax highlighting for 13 plus languages. - Synced split-pane scroll. - Tap an image or Mermaid diagram to open a pinch-zoomable overlay. BUILT FOR IPAD - 44 pt touch targets across toolbar, outline, and file tree. - Larger default font sizes tuned for iPad screen distance. - Split-view and multitasking friendly. - Works with hardware keyboards. - Portrait and landscape, every orientation. WRITER TOOLS - Focus mode - non-current paragraphs dim for deep work. - Typewriter mode. - Session restore - auto-saves so you never lose a line. - Chinese power tools - simplified/traditional conversion, pinyin, CJK word counts. - Spell check. - Custom CSS. EXPORT - HTML (newsletter quality) - PDF with KaTeX and Mermaid baked in - Word (.docx) with tables preserved - Copy as HTML, plain text, or Markdown PRIVACY FIRST SoloMD collects no personal data. No account. No analytics. No ads. No tracking. All your notes live locally in files you own. SoloMD is open source (MIT). Source: github.com/zhitongblog/solomd

Screenshots

FieldNotes4 screens
SoloMD4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: SoloMD at weekly against FieldNotes's monthly. SoloMD also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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

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

UpkeepUpdate frequency

FieldNotes ships an update monthly, SoloMD weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
FieldNotes versus SoloMD: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFieldNotesSoloMD
PriceFreeFree
Rating—1.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB20 MB
Age rating17+4+
Developerenzo cocca向东 李

In-app purchases

None

FieldNotes

No in-app purchases

None

SoloMD

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is FieldNotes free?
FieldNotes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SoloMD free?
SoloMD is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do FieldNotes or SoloMD have ads?
Neither FieldNotes nor SoloMD shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FieldNotes or SoloMD?
FieldNotes ships an update monthly, and SoloMD weekly. Most recently, FieldNotes was updated on October 1, 2026 and SoloMD on October 5, 2026.

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