Comparison

Metis vs DearWiki

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

Head to head
About

Metis

Read full description

Metis is a native Markdown editor and local-first knowledge base. Your notes are just .md files in a folder you own - Metis is a fast, beautiful, native view over them. No lock-in, no proprietary format, no account required to write. WRITE IN LIVE PREVIEW A clean Obsidian-style editor styles your Markdown as you type - headings, bold, lists, quotes and code - while keeping the raw syntax one tap away. It feels like writing in a document, not in code. On iPad it's a full three-pane workspace with hardware-keyboard shortcuts. CONNECT YOUR IDEAS Link any two notes with [[wiki links]]. Backlinks appear automatically, so you always see what references the note you're reading. An interactive link graph shows your whole knowledge base at a glance - zoom, pan, and drag nodes to explore the connections. READ BEAUTIFULLY Reading mode renders the full document: headings, tables, task lists, images, syntax-highlighted code, Mermaid diagrams, and real math (LaTeX) rendered natively - no web view. ORGANIZE YOUR WAY Tag anything with #tags, group notes into folders, and see typed properties (status, owner, due...) that live as YAML front matter and are preserved as you edit. A fast switcher and full-text search get you anywhere instantly. ON-DEVICE AI (Apple Intelligence) Summarize a note, suggest tags or related links, and ask your whole vault a question - all running privately on your device. AI is optional; the app is fully functional without it. SYNC ACROSS YOUR DEVICES Keep your vault in iCloud and the same notes are on your Mac, iPad and iPhone - still as plain .md files you can open anywhere. Edits sync in the background, and Metis helps you resolve conflicts if two devices change the same note. LOCK WHAT MATTERS Any note can be locked with your notes password and opened with Face ID or Touch ID. Locked notes are encrypted on disk and stay encrypted in iCloud - and they're kept out of search and previews. PRIVATE AND YOURS Everything stays in plain files on your device. No tracking, no cloud lock-in. Open the same folder in any other Markdown editor whenever you like. Import an existing folder of notes (from Obsidian or anywhere) and Metis just works. ONE PURCHASE, ALL YOUR DEVICES A single one-time purchase unlocks Metis Pro on your Mac, iPad and iPhone - no subscription. Try everything free for 7 days. Metis is made by Empiric Apps. Questions or feedback? contact@empiricapps.com

About

DearWiki

Features
Read full description

DearWiki is a local-first notebook and personal wiki for notes, tasks, daily plans, research, and connected ideas. Write in portable Markdown, capture from the share sheet, find backlinks on the knowledge map, organize readable structured views, and export a complete ZIP whenever you want. Attachment OCR runs on the device. No DearWiki account is required. Optional WebDAV sync uses a server you choose.

Screenshots

Metis4 screens
DearWiki3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: DearWiki at none against Metis's 1. Metis's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 8 days). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Metis sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. DearWiki asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Metis ships an update every 2 days, DearWiki every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Metis versus DearWiki: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMetisDearWiki
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 days โ€” betterEvery 8 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac โ€” better
Requires iOS18.017.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size14 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBurlac MihailPedro Brannum

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Metis

One-time1
  • Metis Pro$14.99
None

DearWiki

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Metis free?
Metis is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DearWiki free?
DearWiki is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Metis or DearWiki have ads?
Neither Metis nor DearWiki shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Metis or DearWiki?
Metis ships an update every 2 days, and DearWiki every 8 days. Most recently, Metis was updated on October 16, 2026 and DearWiki on October 14, 2026.

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