Comparison

MarkUp vs PDF Studio

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

Head to head
About

MarkUp

A plain-text writing app supporting Markdown and LaTeX math equations for notes, research, and long-form content. Offers live preview, multiple export options, and folder syncing.

Highlights
  • Markdown formatting with live preview
  • LaTeX math equation rendering
  • Split view for writing and preview
  • Export to PDF, HTML, RTF, and more
  • Sync any folder from iCloud or device
  • Customizable toolbar and keyboard shortcuts
Features
Read full description

MarkUp is a writing app for notes, research, and long-form work. Edit Word documents with a true page layout, write in Markdown with live preview, or typeset a full LaTeX thesis with a real XeTeX engine that runs entirely on your device. For students, researchers, and technical writers — with the same features on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, in one universal purchase. Word (.docx) documents • Create and edit fully formatted Word documents with a real page layout • Tables you can type straight into — fonts, colors, shading, and bullets inside cells, with full undo • Charts with editable data, plus shapes and text boxes — drag anything anywhere and resize from any corner • Photos with text wrap: in line with text, in columns, behind text, or in front of text • Table of contents, captions and cross-references, citations with a works-cited list • Footnotes and endnotes, comments with replies, and tracked changes • Custom styles, multilevel and clause numbering, and newspaper columns • Page size, margins, line spacing, and headers & footers — saved per document • Calibri and Cambria render with matching character widths, so line breaks and page counts stay where Word put them • LaTeX math inside Word documents (Pro) LaTeX, offline (Pro) • A real XeTeX engine on your device — no internet, no account, nothing uploaded • Download the typesetting files once, then compile on a plane • Tap the rendered page to jump to the line that made it, and back again (SyncTeX) • Autocomplete for commands, citations, references, environments, and file paths • Errors and warnings marked in the margin, with plain-English explanations • Code check that catches common LaTeX mistakes before you compile • Search the typeset PDF, follow its outline, fold sections, step through pages • Math symbol palette, visual table builder, live preview of the equation at your cursor • Multi-file projects, BibTeX bibliographies, and ready-made templates Write in Markdown • Live rendered preview as you type • LaTeX math equation rendering (KaTeX) • Split view — write and preview side by side • Table editor with a visual grid • Find & replace with match highlighting • Word count and character count One app, all your devices • The same features on iPhone, iPad, and Mac — not a cut-down mobile version • One universal purchase: buy Pro once, use it everywhere • Documents, templates, and settings sync through iCloud Templates • Start from a ready-made article, paper, thesis, problem set, presentation, or CV • Save any document as a reusable template, for any file type (Pro) Version history • Automatically keeps earlier drafts as you edit • Compare any version against the current file with side-by-side rendered differences • Restore any earlier version in a tap (Pro) Files & workflow • Works with txt, md, tex, rmd, fountain, yaml, yml, json, csv, html, rtf, and docx files • Export to PDF or the document's own format • Convert between Word, Markdown, LaTeX, HTML, RTF, plain text, and more • Open and sync any folder from iCloud or your device, including subfolders • Find & replace across an entire folder • Customizable toolbar — show only what you need • Spell check that understands LaTeX, in the language you write in • Autosave, dark mode, and full keyboard shortcut support MarkUp is free to use. MarkUp Pro unlocks offline LaTeX typesetting, LaTeX math in Word documents, version history, your own templates, and unlimited file exports — as a one-time purchase or a yearly subscription, across all your devices. Privacy Policy: https://appsvaldonchevdeveloper.com/privacy/markup Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

PDF Studio

Features
Read full description

PDF Studio is the all-in-one PDF app that works entirely on your device. No account, no ads, no tracking — your files never leave your iPhone or iPad. READ & MARK UP • Fast, smooth reader with search, bookmarks and a page thumbnail grid • Highlight, underline, strike through and draw with Apple Pencil or your finger • Add text, shapes, arrows, sticky notes and a date stamp • Sign with your finger and reuse saved signatures • Custom stamps, Night and Sepia modes, a clean Reading View and Read Aloud SCAN & CREATE • Scan documents with the camera and clean up the edges • Turn photos into a PDF • Make scans searchable with on-device OCR CONVERT • PDF to Word, plain text or images • Images to PDF • Grayscale a PDF to save ink and shrink the file ORGANIZE • Merge, split, reorder, rotate, insert and delete pages • Compress, and batch-compress or merge many PDFs at once • Crop margins, extract images and add Bates numbers • Compare two PDFs side by side and highlight what changed PROTECT • Add or remove a password • Permanently redact text — even every match of a word at once • Watermarks and page numbers YOUR LIBRARY • Star favorites for quick access and search every PDF at once • Fill in forms • Save to Files / iCloud Drive, plus a Home Screen widget for one-tap scanning • Back up your whole library to one file and restore it on another device 100% ON-DEVICE PRIVACY Everything happens on your device. PDF Studio collects no data — no ads, no tracking, ever. That's the whole point. PDF Studio Pro unlocks every tool with no limits. Every Pro feature works 3 times free — upgrade yearly or once for lifetime. Terms of Use (EULA): https://birsoftware.com/terms.html

Screenshots

MarkUp4 screens
PDF Studio4 screens

Verdict

The call

MarkUp and PDF Studio are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. MarkUp sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per year and PDF Studio sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MarkUp ships an update every 5 days, PDF Studio weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
MarkUp versus PDF Studio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarkUpPDF Studio
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size66 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperValentin DonchevBirkan Aksoy

In-app purchases

2 purchases

MarkUp

Subscriptions1
  • MarkUp Yearly$3.991 Year
One-time1
  • MarkUp Lifetime$9.99
2 purchases

PDF Studio

Subscriptions1
  • PDF Studio Pro$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • PDF Studio Pro (Lifetime)$24.99

Questions

Is MarkUp free?
MarkUp is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDF Studio free?
PDF Studio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do MarkUp or PDF Studio have ads?
Neither MarkUp nor PDF Studio shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MarkUp or PDF Studio?
MarkUp ships an update every 5 days, and PDF Studio weekly. Most recently, MarkUp was updated on October 3, 2026 and PDF Studio on October 14, 2026.

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