PearList vs ghostWriter Markdown
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PearList
Effortlessly manage shared household lists like groceries, to-dos, and chores. Sync changes directly between devices without needing an account or relying on external servers. Assign tasks to household members to create a shared chore board.
- Multiple shared lists per household
- Add, check, rename, assign, and delete items
- Assign items as chores
- Join by QR code or invite link
- Offline functionality with sync
- Open source and private by design
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PearList keeps your household's shared lists in sync across everyone's phones, with no account, no server and no company in the middle. Make a grocery list, a to-do list or a chore board. Anyone in your household can add items, check them off, rename them, assign them and delete them, and every change syncs directly between your phones. Assign an item to a person and any list doubles as a shared chore board. There is no sign-up and no login. You join a household by scanning a QR code or tapping an invite link. From then on everyone sees and edits the same lists. Because PearList is peer-to-peer, your lists live only on your devices. They are never uploaded to a server, so no company can read them, sell them or lose them in a breach. Everything syncs encrypted, directly device to device. Features - Multiple shared lists per household: groceries, to-dos, chores - Add, check, rename, assign and delete items, synced to everyone - Assign items to a person to use any list as a chore board - Join by QR code or invite link, no account needed - Works offline, syncs when your devices are online together - Open source and private by design: no account, no ads, no tracking PearList is fully open source: https://github.com/peerloomllc/pearlist
ghostWriter Markdown
A plain-text writing app designed with accessibility in mind. It allows users to create, organize, and export documents in various formats, with features like voice control and outline navigation.
- Accessibility-first plain-text editor
- Organize documents and chapters
- Compile work into finished exports
- Supports multiple export formats (HTML, EPUB, PDF, Word)
- VoiceOver integration
- Native Find and Replace
- Outline navigation for headings
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ghostWriter Markdown is an accessibility-first, plain-text writing app for notes, articles, documentation, and full manuscripts. Write individual documents, organize chapters, and compile your work into a finished export. VoiceOver was at the center of the design from the first line of code. Created by a blind developer, ghostWriter gives screen reader users and anyone who loves plain text a clean, native place to write. So what's Markdown? Markdown adds structure using ordinary punctuation. A number sign makes a heading. A dash makes a list item. Your document stays readable as plain text, and you can render it to see the finished formatting. You don't have to know Markdown to start. Insert Actions adds common elements, the Markdown Reference provides examples, and the included ghostWriter Help Manual explains writing, organizing, and exporting your work. Writing Made Easy: • A native editor that keeps Markdown punctuation visible and you in control of the source • Insert links, images, headings, quotes, code, lists, tasks, tables, and rules • Automatic continuation for bullets, numbered lists, and tasks • Indent and outdent with tabs or spaces • Native Find and Replace, dictation, braille input, and text selection • A configurable Status Bar with line and column position, word, sentence, and character counts, heading level, and selection counts • Automatic saving, plus collision detection if the same document is open on separate devices • Start in the Library, a new document, or your last document Useful Navigation: • Use Outline to jump to document headings • Move through headings with a three-finger horizontal VoiceOver swipe while editing • Jump to Line in long documents • Search document names and contents • Return to your remembered editing position in each file Keep Files Organized: • Create, rename, and move nested folders • Pin documents you keep coming back to • Sort by name, created, modified, or last opened, or arrange files and folders manually • Restore removed files from Recently Deleted • Import Markdown, plain text, Word documents, and PowerPoint presentations into Markdown Build Your Manuscript: • Compile documents from nested folders into a single export • Choose which files to include and arrange chapters for each compilation • Keep research and notes nearby while excluding them from compilations • Track word, sentence, and character totals for individual files or whole folders • Control heading structure when combining documents Render and Share: • Render Markdown as structured HTML with semantic headings, lists, tables, and links • Export individual documents or compilations as Markdown, plain text, HTML, EPUB, PDF, Word, PowerPoint, eBraille, or BRF • Customize Word exports with your own JSON stylesheets, optional title and subtitle styles, and a supplied Large Print stylesheet Your Files, Your Devices: • Ordinary Markdown files, visible in the Files app • On-device storage or iCloud Drive syncing across iPhone, iPad, and Mac • Open and edit your files in other apps that read text • No proprietary format and no dependence on ghostWriter to keep your work Accessibility: Developed toward WCAG 2.2 Level AA and tested with VoiceOver as a primary interaction method. • Native controls with familiar roles and behaviors • Dynamic Type, including accessibility text sizes • System, monospaced, rounded, and serif editor typefaces • Light, dark, and system appearance • Voice Control, Switch Control, and hardware keyboard support • Optional keyboard shortcuts for common actions • Reduced-motion support Privacy: No accounts. No sign-in. No ads. No analytics. No tracking. No data collection. No AI tools. There is no server behind this app. Your documents stay on your device or in your own iCloud, and they never travel anywhere you don't send them. Made by a blind developer who got tired of tools that treated screen reader support as an afterthought.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: PearList at 5.0 against ghostWriter Markdown's 4.0. PearList also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.6). ghostWriter Markdown's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 5 days). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
PearList holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
PearList ships an update every 5 days, ghostWriter Markdown every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PearList | ghostWriter Markdown |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 84 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Timothy Hudgins | Marco Salsiccia |
Customer experience
PearList
ghostWriter Markdown
In-app purchases
PearList
No in-app purchases
ghostWriter Markdown
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is PearList free?
Is ghostWriter Markdown free?
Which has better reviews, PearList or ghostWriter Markdown?
Do PearList or ghostWriter Markdown have ads?
Which is updated more often, PearList or ghostWriter Markdown?
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