Comparison

Marten vs mrkdwn

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

Head to head
About

Marten

Features
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Marten is a clean, distraction-free note app built for developers. Write in Markdown with syntax-highlighted code blocks, then turn any note into a project with just the tabs you need. Keep a plain note, or add API keys, secrets, passwords, social logins, links, references, and checklists. Each filled tab becomes an item, so one note holds everything about a project. FEATURES Markdown editor Fenced code blocks with an olive, editor-style highlight. Toggle a live preview anytime. Project tabs Note, List, API, Ref, Link, Secret, Password, and Social. Add only the tabs you want with a tap. Secrets vault Store API keys, passwords, and accounts with masked fields and a quick reveal. Checklists Reminders-style lists with tap-to-complete items. Tags and search Organize with #hashtags and find anything instantly with full-text search. Sync, your way Local-first storage that works offline, with optional cloud sync across your devices. Turn sync on or off whenever you want. Built for every screen A native app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with an adaptive three-column layout on iPad and Mac. Light and dark themes. Private by design Your notes are yours. No ads, no tracking, and you can delete your account and all data from inside the app at any time. Marketing URL: https://marten.kodefoundry.com Privacy Policy URL: https://marten.kodefoundry.com/privacy

About

mrkdwn

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mrkdwn is more than a markdown editor. It is a private place to think, and it keeps every note as an ordinary .md file in a folder you choose. Other note apps ask you to trust a database. This one writes plain text to disk, where Finder, git, grep and any editor you ever switch to can already read it. No account. No subscription. No analytics — mrkdwn collects nothing and sends nothing. NOTES THAT STAY YOURS • Every note is a plain .md file in a folder you picked, not a row in our database • Edit one in another app and mrkdwn picks up the change • The same files open in any other editor, today or in ten years • Lock a note and it is encrypted on disk until you unlock it • iCloud sync merges three ways and marks conflicts, instead of overwriting the older copy • Version history keeps 30 days or 100 versions per note, with word-level diffs and a restore that leaves the current draft intact • Deleted notes go to a trash you can recover from NOTES THAT FIND EACH OTHER • Wiki-style [[links]] resolve as you type • A backlinks panel shows every note pointing at this one • The knowledge graph draws the whole library, filtered by tag or search • Tag a note, then open the tag to read everything filed under it • Quick Open fuzzy-finds any note in a keystroke • Link autocomplete the moment you type [[ • Daily notes arrive dated, every day you write MARKDOWN THAT RENDERS PROPERLY • CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown, with footnotes and callouts • LaTeX math, inline and block, rendered offline • Syntax highlighting for more than 180 languages • Six built-in themes, and you can make your own • Mermaid, Graphviz and Markmap diagrams from ordinary code blocks A SURFACE BUILT FOR DRAFTING • Focus mode fades every paragraph except the one you are writing • Read as editor only, preview only, or both side by side • Typewriter scrolling holds your line in the middle of the screen • Live counts for words, characters, sentences and reading time • Put the command bar in the order you actually work in • Give a folder an icon, a color, and a place at the top of the list • Writing goals track a daily word target and your streak • Authorship marks which passages you typed and which you pasted • Apple's Writing Tools work in the editor, where your device offers them NOTES THAT COME TO YOU • Ask Siri for today's note; find, append and read notes from Shortcuts • Paste a URL and the article comes back as markdown • Clip a page straight from Safari (Mac) • Import from 19 formats, including PDF, PowerPoint, Excel and text read out of images SEE THE SHAPE OF A SENTENCE • Color nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and conjunctions as you type • Style checks flag filler, hedging, repetition and passive voice • Nothing is corrected for you — a flag is information, not an instruction • Every highlight stays off until you switch it on LEAVE WHENEVER YOU LIKE • Export to PDF, EPUB, HTML, RTF, plain text and markdown • Word and OpenDocument export, and Word import (Mac) • Everything works offline, apart from fetching a web page you paste • Or copy the folder and go — the notes were never ours Native on Mac, iPad and iPhone, from one Swift core rather than a web page in a window. A knowledge base you own, for students, teachers, authors, and anyone who would rather keep their thinking in plain files than rent a notes app. Questions? www.buenalabs.io/support

Screenshots

Marten4 screens
mrkdwn4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: mrkdwn at weekly against Marten's every 2 months. Marten's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Marten ships an update every 2 months, mrkdwn weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
Marten versus mrkdwn: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMartenmrkdwn
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerjoseph hamawiBuenaGames LLC

In-app purchases

None

Marten

No in-app purchases

None

mrkdwn

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Marten free?
Marten is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is mrkdwn free?
mrkdwn is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Marten or mrkdwn have ads?
Neither Marten nor mrkdwn shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Marten or mrkdwn?
Marten ships an update every 2 months, and mrkdwn weekly. Most recently, Marten was updated on October 28, 2026 and mrkdwn on November 6, 2026.

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