Folio vs PureOpen
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β with what reviewers say about each.
Folio
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Folio is a local-first library for Markdown and plain text on Mac. Bring notes and docs into one place, organize them with folders and tags, explore connections with Link Map, and write with private on-device assistanceβwithout juggling loose files in the Finder. Library & organization β’ Import Markdown and text via the file picker, drag-and-drop, or Import from Git Link for public GitHub repositories and individual files. β’ Needs Organizing gives new imports a clear inbox before you file them. β’ Folders and nested structures help you group work the way you think. β’ Tags cut across folders so you can filter by topic or project. β’ Pinned favorites and Recently Opened put what you need one click away. Explore connections β’ Link Map visualizes connections between your notes. β’ Follow links to explore related ideas and navigate your library from a new perspective. Reading & writing β’ Use Editor, Preview, or Split View to draft and see rendered Markdown side by side. β’ Use Writing Assistant to refine drafts, improve wording, and turn rough ideas into clearer notes with private on-device help. β’ Find text within the current document. β’ Sort notes by title, date added, last opened, and more. β’ Search across your library from the sidebar. Share & export β’ Share notes as Markdown or plain text. β’ Export documents to a folder you choose in Finder. Whether youβre collecting research, drafting READMEs, or building a personal knowledge base, Folio keeps your Markdown connected, organized, searchable, and easy to revisit.
PureOpen
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PureOpen is a Markdown editor for Mac and iPhone built for right-to-left writing. Most editors treat RTL as a switch: turn it on and the whole document flips, which breaks the moment you write Hebrew or Arabic with English words in it. PureOpen decides direction per block instead. Every paragraph, heading and list item takes its direction from the first strong character in it β so a mixed document displays correctly with no setting, and with no direction marks written into your file. Files open in tabs, the way a browser opens pages, and your changes are on disk 600ms after you stop typing. RIGHT-TO-LEFT, PER BLOCK β’ RTL and LTR live side by side in one file. A Hebrew paragraph aligns right, the English paragraph under it aligns left, and each stays that way as you edit. β’ A Hebrew or Arabic sentence with English terms, code spans and links inside it reads correctly β the block stays RTL and the Latin runs sit where they belong. β’ A block with no strong character inherits the direction of the block above it, so blank lines and numbers don't break the flow. β’ Nothing is added to your Markdown to make this work: no RTL marks, no wrapper tags. The file stays portable. OPEN IT FROM THE FILE, NOT FROM THE APP β’ Right-click a Markdown file in Finder β or long-press it in Files on iPhone and iPad β and PureOpen sits at the top of "Open With". One click and the document is open in a tab in the window you already have. β’ No launching the app first, no file picker, no importing into a library. Double-click works the same way, and so does dragging a file onto the window. β’ Registered as the owner and editor of .md, .markdown, .mdown and .mkd. TABS β’ Every file opens in its own tab. β1ββ9 jump by position, Ctrl+Tab cycles, middle-click closes, and βW closes the tab rather than the window. β’ The tabs you had open come back the next time you launch. SAVING β’ Autosave writes 600ms after you stop typing, and again on tab switch, tab close and window blur. A grey dot marks a tab with unsaved content. β’ If the file changes on disk β another editor, a sync client β it is reloaded quietly and your scroll position is kept. If it is deleted, editing locks so stale content is not written back over it. β’ Opening a file doesn't reformat it: an edit that didn't actually change the content doesn't trigger a write. EDITING β’ 17 formatting buttons: headings 1β4, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, bullet, numbered and task lists, subscript, superscript, quote, inline code, code block and horizontal rule. β’ Each button reflects the block and the marks under the cursor, and updates as the cursor moves. β’ Underline, subscript and superscript are kept as HTML rather than dropped when the file is saved. PRINTING AND PDF β’ Print what you see. The page is the document as the editor renders it β headings, tables, task lists, code blocks, Hebrew and English side by side β without the tabs and the toolbar around them. β’ Export the same page straight to a PDF file, without going through the print dialog to find "Save as PDF". β’ Nothing is rendered a second time for paper, so what prints is what you were looking at. Pages break between lines, and the page is always light even when the app is in dark mode. ALSO β’ On iPhone and iPad, files opened from Files are edited in place β not copied into the app. β’ Dark mode follows the system setting. β’ Files past roughly 4 million characters open read-only as raw text, so the interface doesn't stall. β’ No network, no account, no telemetry. Your files stay on your device. PureOpen is free, with no in-app purchases.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PureOpen at none against Folio's 1. PureOpen also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and device support (4 vs 2). On price and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Folio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. PureOpen asks for nothing beyond the download.
Folio ships an update every 3 weeks, PureOpen weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 11, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Folio | PureOpen |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Weekly β better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No β better |
| Devices | iPhone, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac β better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 β better |
| Further details β not scored | ||
| Size | 44 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dinh Bao Thang Duong | Yechiel Ben David |
In-app purchases
Folio
- Pro Lifetime$9.99
PureOpen
No in-app purchases









