mrkdwn vs Mena
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
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 โ mrkdwn collects nothing and sends nothing. NOTES THAT STAY YOURS โข Every note is a plain .md file in a folder you picked, not a row in our database โข Edit one in another app and mrkdwn picks up the change โข The same files open in any other editor, today or in ten years โข Lock a note and it is encrypted on disk until you unlock it โข iCloud sync merges three ways and marks conflicts, instead of overwriting the older copy โข Version history keeps 30 days or 100 versions per note, with word-level diffs and a restore that leaves the current draft intact โข Deleted notes go to a trash you can recover from NOTES THAT FIND EACH OTHER โข Wiki-style [[links]] resolve as you type โข A backlinks panel shows every note pointing at this one โข The knowledge graph draws the whole library, filtered by tag or search โข Tag a note, then open the tag to read everything filed under it โข Quick Open fuzzy-finds any note in a keystroke โข Link autocomplete the moment you type [[ โข Daily notes arrive dated, every day you write MARKDOWN THAT RENDERS PROPERLY โข CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown, with footnotes and callouts โข LaTeX math, inline and block, rendered offline โข Syntax highlighting for more than 180 languages โข Six built-in themes, and you can make your own โข Mermaid, Graphviz and Markmap diagrams from ordinary code blocks A SURFACE BUILT FOR DRAFTING โข Focus mode fades every paragraph except the one you are writing โข Read as editor only, preview only, or both side by side โข Typewriter scrolling holds your line in the middle of the screen โข Live counts for words, characters, sentences and reading time โข Put the command bar in the order you actually work in โข Give a folder an icon, a color, and a place at the top of the list โข Writing goals track a daily word target and your streak โข Authorship marks which passages you typed and which you pasted โข Apple's Writing Tools work in the editor, where your device offers them NOTES THAT COME TO YOU โข Ask Siri for today's note; find, append and read notes from Shortcuts โข Paste a URL and the article comes back as markdown โข Clip a page straight from Safari (Mac) โข Import from 19 formats, including PDF, PowerPoint, Excel and text read out of images SEE THE SHAPE OF A SENTENCE โข Color nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and conjunctions as you type โข Style checks flag filler, hedging, repetition and passive voice โข Nothing is corrected for you โ a flag is information, not an instruction โข Every highlight stays off until you switch it on LEAVE WHENEVER YOU LIKE โข Export to PDF, EPUB, HTML, RTF, plain text and markdown โข Word and OpenDocument export, and Word import (Mac) โข Everything works offline, apart from fetching a web page you paste โข Or copy the folder and go โ 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
Mena
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Private visual notes for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Build mind maps on an infinite canvas, study with FSRS flashcards, and sync through your private iCloud storage โ no account required. Mena is an infinite canvas and visual second brain for iPad. Sketch ideas, build mind maps, embed media, and turn any board into spaced-repetition flashcards you actually review โ no account required. Infinite canvas Pan, zoom, and draw with no page limits. Pastel sticky notes, shapes and connectors for mind maps and flowcharts, frames, tables, and 19 polygon shapes. Apple Pencil support with Draw to Shape โ sketch a rough shape and Mena snaps it perfect. Every kind of content Drop anything onto your board: sticky notes, rich text and Markdown, code blocks with syntax highlighting, images, PDFs with full page navigation, video, audio files, and live maps. Record voice memos directly on the canvas โ ink drawn during recording is seekable by playback time. Web embeds and URL preview cards keep sources right where you need them. Paper templates Note pages come in blank, lined, dotted, and grid. Change one page or every blank page at once, and choose auto, light, or dark paper independently of your system theme. The same page renders identically in the reader, sidebar, overview grid, library thumbnail, and exported PDF. Study with FSRS Turn any deck board into spaced-repetition flashcards. Mena uses FSRS โ the most accurate scheduling algorithm available โ to surface cards exactly when you need them. Again / Hard / Good / Easy grading with interval preview. Cloze deletion with one tap. Auto-generate flashcards from your notes on-device, no network needed. Study dashboard Track your streak, retention rate, and 14-day due forecast. See today's review count at a glance. Import and export decks Import any .apkg file directly. Mena imports your cards, scheduling data, embedded images, and cloze deletions. Export any deck back as .apkg. Slides & presentation Draw a frame around anything and it becomes a slide. Open the filmstrip panel, jump to any slide, present full-screen, or export the whole deck as a crisp PDF. 6 board types Board โ infinite whiteboard. Note โ vertical scroll page. Journal โ one auto-created page per day. Atlas โ a spatial map of all your boards. Document โ PDFs, scans and images read page by page and marked up with Apple Pencil. Deck โ FSRS study deck with review session. Home screen widgets 4 widget types for home screen and lock screen: Quick Capture (today's note in one tap), Board Preview (live thumbnail of any board), Today's Study (due count, streak, retention), and Deck (per-deck stats). All fully configurable. Share from anywhere A share extension catches text, links, images, PDFs, and videos from any other app โ tap Share โ Mena, pick a board, done. Private iCloud sync Every board, element, and attachment syncs across your Apple devices through your private iCloud CloudKit database. No Mena account. No third-party cloud server stores your Mena content. Flashcard generation runs on-device. Optional web embeds and Unsplash search connect only when you choose to use them. Mena fits how your brain actually works โ capture, connect, and remember. Free & Pro Free covers 3 boards, 3 notes, 3 documents and 5 decks; journals and system boards are never limited. Mena Pro lifts every limit โ Pro Monthly and Pro Yearly renew automatically, Pro Lifetime is a one-time purchase. iCloud sync is free on every plan. Pro Monthly and Pro Yearly start with a 1-week free trial for eligible new subscribers; the subscription is charged to your Apple Account when the trial ends unless you cancel at least 24 hours before. Prices appear in the app before you buy, and you can restore purchases at any time. Privacy Policy: https://apps.cihat.dev/mena/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: mrkdwn at none against Mena's 3. Mena's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs weekly) and iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.0). On price, ads 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
Both are free to download. Mena sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. mrkdwn asks for nothing beyond the download.
mrkdwn ships an update weekly, Mena every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | mrkdwn | Mena |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 3 days โ better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No โ better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18.6 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 51 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | BuenaGames LLC | Cihat Salik |
In-app purchases
mrkdwn
No in-app purchases
Mena
- Pro Monthly: Flowchart Notes$2.991 Month
- Pro Yearly: Diagram & Quiz7 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Pro Forever: Concept Mapping$49.99









