Comparison

Markup vs Marklens

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

Head to head
About

Markup

Features
Read full description

Markup reads and edits your Markdown beautifully — and it works with the folder of notes you already have, on your iPhone and iPad. POINT IT AT YOUR FOLDER — OR A GITHUB REPO • Open any folder of .md files from iCloud Drive or Files — the same vault you use on your Mac. Nothing to import, no lock-in. • Open a GitHub repo as a vault and read the whole thing offline. • Open several vaults and switch between them. READ LIKE A PAGE • High-fidelity rendering: syntax-highlighted code, LaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, tables, task lists, and GitHub-style callouts. • Light / Dark / Sepia themes, adjustable text size and width, Dynamic Type. • Wikilinks, backlinks with context, a per-document outline, and tags. FIND ANYTHING • Full-text search with tag: and path: filters; fuzzy Quick Open. EDIT WITH EASE • A focused Markdown editor with smart lists, auto-closing brackets, table formatting, and inline [[wikilink]] and #tag autocomplete. • Insert images straight into your vault. Export or share as PDF, HTML, or Markdown. iPAD • Open documents in tabs; edit with a live rendered preview beside the source. • Hardware-keyboard shortcuts. HTML, TOO • Open and read .html and web bundles, with scripts off by default for safety. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT • No account required, no telemetry, no tracking. Your notes stay on your device and your iCloud. Signing in to GitHub is optional and only used to fetch the files you ask for. English and 简体中文, switchable in-app.

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

Markup4 screens
Marklens3 screens

Verdict

The call

Markup 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
Markup versus Marklens: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarkupMarklens
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
Size6 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer碧豪 王Donald Jackson

In-app purchases

None

Markup

No in-app purchases

None

Marklens

No in-app purchases

Questions

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

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