Comparison

Markdown Editor vs Marko

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

Head to head
About

Markdown Editor

This app offers a seamless Markdown editing experience with real-time preview, allowing for instant formatting and easy organization of notes. It integrates with cloud storage and AI tools for enhanced content creation and management.

Highlights
  • Real-time input and preview
  • AI summarization and drafting
  • Google Drive integration
  • Plain Markdown file editing
  • Syntax highlighting for code
  • Diagram and math rendering
Features
Read full description

There is no separate input and preview screen. Everything happens on one screen: what you type takes shape right where you typed it. Headings, nested lists and code get distinct colors and shapes, so the structure of a note is clear at a glance. You don’t have to memorize Markdown — type / at the start of a line and pick headings, tables, checklists or diagrams from a menu. With no styling to fiddle with, you can keep writing as you think. On Mac and Windows you can edit plain Markdown (.md) files right where they are. Connect Google Drive and you can pick the same notes up on any device; the files are saved in your own Google Drive. No Google account is needed for local files on Mac and Windows. On iPhone and iPad, notes are kept in the app’s folder or in Google Drive. ■ Open what AI writes Ask ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or another AI to summarize something in Markdown, then open it here as is — it reads cleanly and stays editable. It's a plain Markdown file, so you can paste it back into an AI to keep going, or drop it straight into Notion or GitHub without reformatting. ■ Ask AI (with your own API key) Add an API key for OpenAI (GPT), Anthropic (Claude) or Google (Gemini) and you can ask AI from inside the app. · On selected text — polish, shorten, make formal, translate, turn into a table or a diagram · From the whole note — meeting notes & to-dos, summarize, extract to-dos, tidy into Markdown, continue writing · In your own words — have it draft a how-to or a first version Check the answer before it goes into your note, and undo it in one step. Usage is billed by the service you choose, and your key stays on this device. ■ What people use it for · A notepad that reads better — jot things down and they turn into tidy headings and bullet points. As light as a plain text editor, far easier to read back · Meeting notes — organize the discussion as it happens and put decisions in a table · To-do lists and tasks — list what needs doing as a checklist and tick items off · Journal, diary and daily log — keep a note per day and find anything later with full-text search · A personal wiki — link notes to one another and build a notebook of what you know · Docs, how-tos and blog drafts — outline with headings, then paste the plain Markdown anywhere · A Markdown viewer — open an .md file and read it with its tables and headings in place · Code and command snippets — kept with syntax highlighting, copied in one click ■ Features · Styling as you type — headings, bold, italic, quotes, rules, footnotes and nested lists are formatted the moment you write them · Type / at the start of a line to insert tables, checklists, diagrams, math and more · Tables render as tables — click one to go back to the raw Markdown and edit it · Diagrams (flowcharts, sequence diagrams and more) from mermaid syntax, and math from TeX, drawn inline · Collapsible sections (details) and clickable checkboxes · Code blocks with syntax highlighting and a one-click copy button · Images and file attachments, with PDFs opening right in the app · Paste a URL and get a link preview card · Full-text search across all your notes · Six themes (Light, Sepia, Solar, Dark, Night, Contrast) and three text sizes · Available in 12 languages ■ Choose where your notes live · Google Drive — saved automatically, with no save button. Your Drive folders stay as they are, and shared drives and multiple Google accounts are supported · On this device — no sign-in needed. On Mac and Windows you can also open any folder you already have · In Google Drive, the app only touches files it created and files you explicitly open ■ About usage · Free to use.

About

Marko

Features
Read full description

Marko is a fast, native Markdown reader for iPhone and iPad. Open any .md file and read it the way it was meant to look, with real typography, syntax-highlighted code, GFM tables and task lists, Mermaid diagrams, and KaTeX math. Everything renders on your device with no network access, so your documents never leave it. Marko is a reader, not an editor. It never changes your files. Open Markdown straight from the Files app, or share it in from Mail, Safari, or any other app, and read it full-screen with an outline, find in page, and adjustable text size. It is built for the Markdown you didn't write by hand, too: the .md that AI assistants and coding agents produce, generated READMEs, and agent output. LISTEN TO ANY DOCUMENT Read Aloud speaks the rendered document and highlights each sentence as it goes, so you can follow along or put the phone down. Start anywhere with Read from Here, adjust the speaking rate, and control it from the Lock Screen. Ask Siri to read a document and it starts hands-free. DOCUMENT INTELLIGENCE, ON DEVICE Summarize a long document, ask questions about it, or explain a selected passage. Marko can explain a Mermaid diagram too, reading the diagram itself. All processed on your device with Apple Intelligence. Nothing is sent to a server. (Requires iOS 26 or later on a device with Apple Intelligence. Explaining diagrams requires iOS 27.) TRANSLATE WITHOUT LEAVING THE PAGE Translate a document into another language in place, then switch back to the original. On device, offline, once the language is downloaded. (Requires iOS 26.4 or later.) PICK UP WHERE YOU STOPPED Marko remembers where you were in every document. For documents in iCloud Drive, that position follows you to your other devices, and Handoff moves the document itself between iPhone, iPad, and Mac. ON YOUR HOME SCREEN A Continue Reading widget shows the page you left off on and takes you straight back to it. A Recent Documents widget lists what you have been reading. Spotlight and Shortcuts can find your documents by name. HIGHLIGHTS - Native Swift and SwiftUI app for iPhone and iPad. Not a web app. - Renders fully offline. Your documents never leave your device. - Opens Markdown in place from Files, and via the share sheet from other apps. - Read Aloud with follow-along highlighting and a speaking-rate control. - On-device summarize, ask, and explain, including diagrams. - Outline, find in page, and text zoom. - Light, Dark, and System themes. - The same app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Marko collects no data. It has no analytics, no accounts, and makes no network requests of its own. Free. Requires iOS or iPadOS 18 or later.

Screenshots

Markdown Editor4 screens
Marko4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Markdown Editor at every 2 days against Marko's every 6 days. Markdown Editor also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Markdown Editor ships an update every 2 days, Marko every 6 days. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Markdown Editor versus Marko: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarkdown EditorMarko
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 6 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMakoto KobayashiYash Banka

In-app purchases

None

Markdown Editor

No in-app purchases

None

Marko

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Markdown Editor free?
Markdown Editor is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Marko free?
Marko is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Markdown Editor or Marko have ads?
Neither Markdown Editor nor Marko shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Markdown Editor or Marko?
Markdown Editor ships an update every 2 days, and Marko every 6 days. Most recently, Markdown Editor was updated on November 6, 2026 and Marko on November 6, 2026.

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