Comparison

Read.md vs Sill

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

Head to head
About

Read.md

This app allows you to beautifully view markdown files on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. It offers perfect rendering of complex elements like tables, code blocks, and diagrams, with offline support and privacy in mind.

Highlights
  • Perfect markdown rendering
  • Syntax highlighting for 180+ languages
  • Mermaid diagram rendering
  • GitHub repository browsing
  • Export to PDF & HTML (Pro)
  • Smart diagram fixing
  • Auto-generated table of contents
Features
Read full description

Open any .md file and read it beautifully — on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Read.md is a markdown reader. Not an editor, not a note-taking app, not a vault system. A reader. Tap a .md file, it opens, it looks great, you read it. PERFECT RENDERING Tables, code blocks, nested lists, task lists, blockquotes, images, links — everything renders correctly. Syntax highlighting for 180+ programming languages. GitHub Flavored Markdown fully supported. MERMAID DIAGRAMS Flowcharts, sequence diagrams, Gantt charts, class diagrams, and more render natively. Tap to zoom into any diagram for a detailed view. EXPORT TO WORD, PDF & HTML Turn any document into a real Word (.docx) file with proper headings, tables, lists and code blocks, a clean, paginated, print-quality PDF, or a self-contained HTML file — diagrams and images intact. Share it, print it, archive it. Or export the original Markdown source. (Word, PDF and HTML export are Read.md Pro; Markdown export is free.) OPEN FROM GITHUB Read documentation straight from the source. Browse any GitHub repository — public or private — navigate its file tree, and open any .md file with the same beautiful rendering. Sign in with a personal access token; your token stays on your device. (Read.md Pro) SMART DIAGRAM FIXER ASCII art and box-drawing diagrams that look broken in other apps? Read.md detects and corrects misaligned characters automatically so your diagrams look the way they were intended. NAVIGATE LONG DOCUMENTS Auto-generated table of contents from your headings. Search within any document with match highlighting and next/prev navigation. Your scroll position is remembered when you come back to a file. ZERO FRICTION No account needed to read. No workspace. No vault. No setup. Works as your default .md file handler — open markdown and plain-text files from Files, Finder, email attachments, AirDrop, the share sheet, or drag and drop. ADAPTS TO YOUR DEVICE iPhone: stacked navigation with a frosted-glass nav bar and bottom sheets. iPad: landscape split-view, portrait slide-over panels, trackpad and keyboard support. Mac: split-view with sidebar, reader, and table-of-contents panel, keyboard shortcuts, and translucent panels. Everything adapts automatically when you resize windows or rotate your device. DARK AND LIGHT MODES Switch between dark and light themes, or follow your system setting. Adjust font size to your preference. Everything updates live. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Opens instantly, even large files. Your markdown is rendered entirely on your device — file contents are never uploaded, and reading works fully offline. No ads. No account required to read. The only feature that touches the network is GitHub browsing, and only when you choose to use it. We use anonymous, aggregate analytics to improve the app. READ.MD PRO A one-time purchase — or a yearly subscription with a free trial — unlocks Word/PDF/HTML export and GitHub browsing. Everything else stays free, forever. WHAT PEOPLE USE IT FOR Reading AI-generated markdown exports. Turning markdown into Word documents for colleagues. Reading GitHub README files on mobile. Viewing documentation and project specs on the go. Reviewing technical docs from colleagues. Browsing personal notes written in markdown. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Sill

Stream your Mac's desktop or individual windows to your iPhone or iPad. Control your computer remotely using touch, keyboard, or Apple Pencil with encrypted connections. Offers flexible streaming quality and connection options.

Highlights
  • Stream Mac windows or desktop to iPhone/iPad
  • Remote control with touch, keyboard, Apple Pencil
  • Encrypted connections with TLS 1.3
  • Adjustable streaming quality and frame rate
  • Virtual display option for continuous updates
  • Multiple connection modes (Wired, Wi-Fi, Direct, Remote)
Read full description

Sill shows a window from your Mac, or its whole desktop, on your iPhone or iPad, and lets you use it with touch, a keyboard, a touchscreen trackpad or Apple Pencil. It streams straight from your Mac to your device over your own network, so there is no account to create and no server in between. You pair each device once, and every connection is encrypted. Both parts are free: the Sill app for iPhone and iPad, and Sill for Mac. Streaming: * Any single Mac window, or the whole Desktop, on your iPhone or iPad * Hardware HEVC video, up to 120 fps on ProMotion screens (60 elsewhere); the rate follows each device * Seven bitrate quality presets, from Low (4 Mbps) to Extreme (150 Mbps), plus Resolution, a frame-rate limit and Prioritize Encoding Speed * Text size (Aa): resizes your Mac window to fit your screen, so text is the size you want * Optional virtual display: a window streams from its own HiDPI display, sized to your device, and keeps updating even when covered on your Mac; full-screen video works too Controls: * Touch: tap to click, drag to scroll with momentum, touch and hold to right-click * Apple Pencil as the mouse, with hover * Software and hardware keyboards, with ⌘, ⌃ and ⌥ shortcuts, plus a key row with latching modifiers and a Spotlight key * Laptop layout when you hold the device upright: the picture on top, a key row and a trackpad (two-finger scroll, two-finger tap, hold then drag, three-finger gestures for Mission Control, App Exposé, switching Spaces, Apps and Show Desktop) * Dedicated iPhone and iPad layouts * Each Mac app's menus (File, Edit, View, etc) on your device, behind a Menus button * Window thumbnails: switch with a tap; hold one for close, minimize and full screen; drag to reorder * An Apps drawer: open windows and all installed apps, with search, and it launches apps Connecting: * Finds your Mac automatically; each Mac has 4 modes: Wired, Wi-Fi, Direct or Remote * USB cable (Wired) support, and a live session moves between the cable and Wi-Fi without dropping * Direct Wireless Connection (Direct, optional), for when you and your Mac don't share a network * Remote Access from anywhere through your own VPN, such as Tailscale, or a port forward * Pairing: every connection encrypted with TLS 1.3; pair each device once by QR code or a 12-digit code, and a USB cable pairs by itself; Require pairing is on by default * Your Mac keeps its keys in the protected part of its keychain that only Sill can read Sill for Mac: * A ~6 MB menu bar app with a live status card: each device, its frame rate and latency * Settings: General, Devices, Streaming, Virtual Display, Remote Access and Permissions * Launch at Login, a log window, and an update check that tells you when a new version is out * A notarized disk image download from getsill.app Sill for iPhone and iPad: * A Settings panel that changes your Mac's stream settings, and shows the connection and latency * A first-run tour, and Take the Tour to replay it * Tells you when your Mac or the device needs an update Free and open source (Apache 2.0) No account, no servers, no tracking: video goes straight from your Mac to your device, forever! Website: https://getsill.app/ GitHub: https://github.com/Saffsanity/sill Site GitHub: https://github.com/Saffsanity/sill-site

Screenshots

Read.md4 screens
Sill4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sill at none against Read.md's 2. Sill also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs fortnightly) and review sentiment (100% vs 88%). Read.md's advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Read.md sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. Sill asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Read.md against 4.9 for Sill. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 110 and 44 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 88% of Read.md's written reviews are positive against 100% of Sill's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Read.md ships an update fortnightly, Sill every 2 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Read.md versus Sill: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRead.mdSill
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (110 ratings) — better4.9 (44 ratings)
Positive reviews88.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings110 — better44
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPavel AbinNOAH WILLIAM SAFFER

Customer experience

Read.md

All ratings81 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive88.2%
Neutral11.8%
Negative0.0%

Sill

All ratings11 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Read.md

Subscriptions1
  • Read.md Pro Yearly3 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Read.md Pro (Lifetime)$24.99
None

Sill

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Read.md free?
Read.md is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sill free?
Sill is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Read.md or Sill?
Read.md is rated higher. Read.md averages 5.0 out of 5 from 110 ratings, while Sill averages 4.9 from 44 ratings.
Do Read.md or Sill have ads?
Neither Read.md nor Sill shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Read.md or Sill?
Read.md ships an update fortnightly, and Sill every 2 days. Most recently, Read.md was updated on October 31, 2026 and Sill on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons