Comparison

Marked vs Marklens

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

Head to head
About

Marked

Features
Read full description

Marked is a Markdown reader and editor designed first as a reading app — think Apple Books for your .md files. Open any Markdown document from Files or iCloud Drive and read it with the calm of a book: classic typography, generous margins, justified text with automatic hyphenation, and Light, Sepia and Dark themes. A READING-FIRST EXPERIENCE • Three reading themes: Light, Sepia and Dark. • Nine curated typefaces: system serif, New York, Georgia, Palatino, Times New Roman, Helvetica Neue, Avenir Next, Iowan Old Style and Charter. • Adjustable font size, line spacing and horizontal margins. • Justified text with automatic hyphenation for a book-like rhythm. • Native rendering of headings, lists, quotes, code blocks, links and tables. • Styled blockquotes with accent bar, soft background tint and a decorative quote glyph. • Wrap-first tables that fit cell text to the screen and only scroll horizontally when wrapping is not enough. SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING • Fenced code blocks are highlighted with automatic language detection (highlight.js via HighlighterSwift). • The editor colours Markdown markup live — headings, emphasis, code spans, links and lists — without getting in the way of plain-text editing. QUICK EDITING • Built-in plain-text editor with in-place save to the original file. • New documents open straight into the editor. • Jump to any line directly from the table of contents or search results. • Debounced highlighting keeps large files responsive while typing. NAVIGATION • Auto-generated table of contents from the document's headings. • In-document search: per section in reader mode and per line in editor mode. • Recent files list with per-document reading position and progress, Apple Notes–style file count under the title. FAST AND SMOOTH • Documents open asynchronously so the UI never blocks on large files. • Theme and font changes reuse the parsed document and existing section views instead of rebuilding from scratch. • Smart subview reuse keeps scrolling fluid in long documents. WORKS WITH YOUR FILES • Opens .md, .markdown, .mdown and .mkd files from Files, iCloud Drive and "Open with…". • Create new Markdown documents from inside the app. • Security-scoped bookmarks remember where each file lives, so recents keep working after relaunch. PRIVACY BY DESIGN • Everything runs on your device. Marked has no servers. • No accounts, no telemetry, no advertising, no tracking. • Your files stay exactly where you keep them — the app only opens them. Ideal for reading notes, technical documentation, project READMEs, long-form articles or books written in Markdown — and for making quick edits without leaving the reading flow.

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

Marked4 screens
Marklens3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Marklens at 18.0 against Marked's 26.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Marked versus Marklens: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarkedMarklens
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 iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTREZE MARKETING SOCIEDAD LIMITADADonald Jackson

In-app purchases

None

Marked

No in-app purchases

None

Marklens

No in-app purchases

Questions

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

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