Comparison

Marko vs Jabba XMPP

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

Head to head
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.

About

Jabba XMPP

Features
Read full description

Jabba is a native XMPP client built for iPhone and iPad โ€” Messages-quality interaction on top of an open, federated protocol you don't have to trust one company to run. Bring your own account on any standards-compliant XMPP server (or self-host one) and get: - One-to-one and group conversations, with typing indicators, delivery and read receipts - Message reactions, replies with quoting, live editing, and delete/retraction - Group chats (MUC) with roles, admin controls, and room discovery - Photos, files, and voice notes - Contact requests, presence, and blocking - Push notifications, including a rich notification service extension - Light and dark mode, full VoiceOver and accessibility support Jabba speaks the same open protocol as every other serious XMPP client - no vendor lock-in, no proprietary backend, no ads.

Screenshots

Marko4 screens
Jabba XMPP4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Marko at 18.0 against Jabba XMPP's 26.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
Marko versus Jabba XMPP: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarkoJabba XMPP
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 6 daysโ€”
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac โ€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.0 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size19 MB39 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperYash BankaCAMERON JAMES DANIEE

In-app purchases

None

Marko

No in-app purchases

None

Jabba XMPP

No in-app purchases

Questions

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

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