Comparison

MarkGlance vs Marklens

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

Head to head
About

MarkGlance

Features
Read full description

MarkGlance is a minimalist Markdown viewer for iPhone and iPad — built to read documents calmly, without the visual noise that fills most editor apps. Open any .md file from the Files app, an email attachment, AirDrop, or the Share Sheet. Tap. Read. That's the loop. WHY MARKGLANCE • Editorial typography. Body text is set in a serif designed for long-form reading (New York / Iowan / Charter on iOS). Headings sit clearly in SF Pro. Code blocks render in SF Mono with syntax highlighting for 190+ languages. • Reflowing zoom — not pinch-to-zoom. The size slider re-wraps the document to your chosen size, the way a book does. Lines stay crisp at every step. No blurry magnification. • Light, Dark, and Auto themes. Your choice persists across launches. Auto follows iOS. • Print-quality PDF export. Tap Share to produce an A4 PDF with vector text, embedded fonts, justified body, real per-page margins, and content-aware page breaks. Selectable, searchable, AirDroppable. Around 10–18 KB per page. • Fully offline. No network calls. No analytics. No telemetry. No advertising. No accounts. The bundled rendering pipeline (marked.js, highlight.js, Open Sans) ships inside the app and runs on-device. • File association. Markdown files (.md, .markdown, .mdown, .mkd, .mkdn) open in MarkGlance from anywhere iOS can hand them off — Files, Mail, AirDrop, Messages, the Share Sheet, iCloud Drive. WHAT'S RENDERED • GitHub-flavored Markdown • Syntax-highlighted fenced code blocks • Tables with column alignment • Task lists with checkboxes • Multi-line and nested blockquotes • External links open in Safari; in-document anchors stay in-app WHAT'S NOT IN MARKGLANCE No editor. No syncing. No collaboration. No accounts. No subscription. MarkGlance does one thing — render your Markdown beautifully — and gets out of the way. PRIVACY Zero data collection. MarkGlance never sends anything to any server, period. Read the full policy at https://parzival74.github.io/markglance-privacy/ CONTACT Questions or feedback: zugzwang74@gmail.com

About

Marklens

This app is a fast, native Markdown viewer for macOS, iPadOS, and iPhone. It renders .md files instantly with beautiful typography, themes, syntax highlighting, and diagrams. Designed for reading, it offers a private and friction-free experience.

Highlights
  • Instant Markdown rendering
  • Syntax highlighting for 30+ languages
  • Mermaid diagram support
  • GitHub-Flavored Markdown
  • Light and dark themes
  • Export to PDF
  • Quick Look preview on macOS
Features
Read full description

Marklens is a fast, native Markdown viewer for macOS, iPadOS, and iPhone. Open any .md file with a click and see it rendered immediately — beautiful typography, light and dark themes, syntax-highlighted code, and Mermaid diagrams. No editor, no library, no friction. HIGHLIGHTS • Instant render — every .md opens in a clean, focused window • 30+ language syntax highlighting via highlight.js, bundled offline • Mermaid 11 diagrams — flowcharts, sequence, state, xy-charts and more • GitHub-Flavored Markdown — tables, task lists, footnotes, strikethrough • Light and dark theme matching the system appearance • Quick Look on macOS — press Space on any .md in Finder for a rendered preview • Export to PDF on every platform • Pinch-to-zoom on iPadOS and iPhone, ⌘+ / ⌘− / ⌘0 on macOS • Open files via drag-and-drop, the Share Sheet, or the Files app MADE FOR READING Marklens doesn't try to be a notes app or a knowledge base. It opens a file, renders it perfectly, and gets out of the way. If you write Markdown in another tool — VS Code, Obsidian, GitHub, your favorite text editor — Marklens is the viewer you reach for to look at the result. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Marklens collects nothing. No analytics, no telemetry, no crash reports, no network requests. Every rendering asset — Mermaid, highlight.js, fonts — ships inside the app. Read the full privacy policy at https://donald-jackson.github.io/marklens/privacy/ OPEN SOURCE Marklens is MIT-licensed and developed in the open. Source, issues, and contribution guide live at https://github.com/donald-jackson/marklens.

Screenshots

MarkGlance3 screens
Marklens3 screens

Verdict

The call

MarkGlance and Marklens are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
MarkGlance versus Marklens: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarkGlanceMarklens
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequency—Monthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAnurag GuptaDonald Jackson

In-app purchases

None

MarkGlance

No in-app purchases

None

Marklens

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is MarkGlance free?
MarkGlance is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Marklens free?
Marklens is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do MarkGlance or Marklens have ads?
Neither MarkGlance nor Marklens shows ads.

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