Comparison

Structured Outliner vs Markd.ly

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

Head to head
About

Structured Outliner

Features
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Keep your entire outline in a single portable file you control. No account, no server, no lock-in, future-proof. ORGANIZE IN UNLIMITED DEPTH Build trees as deep as you need. Expand, collapse, and reorder topics with just a few taps. Every topic can have its own notes. Write as much or as little as you like. SEARCH EVERYTHING Search titles or note content at once. The tree expands automatically to show every match in context, so you always know where a result lives in your outline. CROSS-LINK TOPICS Link any note to another topic using the outlook: link format. Tap to jump directly there. Tap the back arrow to return where you came from. OPEN FILES AND URLS Tap any file path or URL inside a note to open it. Connect your outline to existing documents in the folder: PDFs, photos, or anything else you reference. COLOR LABELS Assign a background color to any topic: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, or Purple. The color flows down to all child topics that don't have their own. Use it to visually separate sections at a glance. AUTOMATIC BACKUPS The app writes a .bak backup before every save. Restore at any time from the menu. SYNC YOUR WAY Store your file in iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, or any Files-compatible provider. Open it from there on each device. No special sync setup required. MEMPAD COMPATIBLE Structured Outliner uses the same .lst format as MemPad for Windows, a portable outliner that has been around since the early 2000s. Open existing MemPad files directly, no conversion needed. FREE VERSION Structured Outliner is free to use. Development is supported by a small banner ad shown at the bottom of the screen. PRO VERSION Upgrade to Pro to remove the banner ad, unlock Color Labels and Topic + Note Search and future planned features. One-time purchase. Restore on any device from the menu.

About

Markd.ly

Features
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The markdown editor that respects your output. Markd.ly is a native Markdown editor for iPhone and iPad with live preview, built for people who write in plain .md and ship a real deliverable. Open a file, write, and watch the preview render as you type. The same Bravely Account unlocks Markd.ly on Mac, Windows, and Linux too, so the document you start on your phone is waiting on your desktop. WRITE & EDIT โ€ข Native SwiftUI editor with adjustable font size and syntax highlighting โ€ข Live preview with multiple themes, side by side โ€ข Mermaid diagrams render right inside the preview โ€ข KaTeX math, inline and block โ€ข Open .md, .markdown, .mdown, .mkd, and .mkdn files from anywhere DOCUMENT INTEGRATION โ€ข Open files from the Files app and from any Markdown share โ€ข Save back to iCloud Drive, Files, or any document provider โ€ข Multi-document tabs to switch between drafts โ€ข Recent files for one-tap return FOLDER-BASED, NO LOCK-IN Your files stay plain .md on disk โ€” no vault, no proprietary format, nothing to migrate out of later. Git-friendly, and the same files open everywhere else you use Markd.ly. WHAT MARKD.LY IS FOR Blog posts. README files. Documentation. Technical writing. Markd.ly is for writing that lives in markdown but leaves the app as something polished โ€” not a note-graph or a second brain. If you need wikilinks and a graph, use a vault tool. If you want documents that look great when you ship them, this is the editor. ONE PURCHASE, EVERY PLATFORM Markd.ly is a tool, not a service. A single one-time purchase unlocks the complete app on every platform โ€” iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, and Linux โ€” carried by your Bravely Account. Buy it once on any platform and the rest unlock automatically, with no per-feature paywalls. The deeper export pipeline โ€” Pandoc to DOCX, EPUB, LaTeX, and slides, a custom CSS editor, a snippet library, vim mode, encrypted documents, the command-line tool, and an MCP server for AI agents โ€” lives on the desktop builds, included in the same one purchase. SIGN IN Signing in is free. Sign in with Apple, Google, or email โ€” the same sign-in works on every Markd.ly app you install. Try it free, then a single one-time purchase unlocks everything. Already bought Markd.ly on another platform? Sign in to restore it here at no extra charge. SUPPORT Questions, bug reports, and feature requests: support@bravely.dev Privacy: https://bravely.dev/privacy/markdly Terms: https://bravely.dev/terms

Screenshots

Structured Outliner4 screens
Markd.ly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Markd.ly at none against Structured Outliner's shown. On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support 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. Structured Outliner sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Markd.ly sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $95.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Structured Outliner ships an update every 9 days, Markd.ly every 11 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
Structured Outliner versus Markd.ly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStructured OutlinerMarkd.ly
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 9 days โ€” betterEvery 11 days
AdsYesNo โ€” better
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size6 MB20 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFelipe CarraroBravely Studios

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Structured Outliner

One-time1
  • Pro Version$7.99
5 purchases

Markd.ly

Subscriptions3
  • Bravely Premium (Annual)7 Days trial$95.991 Year
  • Bravely Premium (Annual)$95.991 Year
  • Bravely Premium (Annual)1 Month trial$95.991 Year
One-time2
  • Markdly Pro$19.99
  • Bravely Premium (Lifetime)$399.99

Questions

Is Structured Outliner free?
Structured Outliner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Markd.ly free?
Markd.ly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Structured Outliner or Markd.ly have ads?
Structured Outliner shows ads; Markd.ly does not.
Which is updated more often, Structured Outliner or Markd.ly?
Structured Outliner ships an update every 9 days, and Markd.ly every 11 days. Most recently, Structured Outliner was updated on October 31, 2026 and Markd.ly on October 31, 2026.

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