Comparison

mrkdwn vs Mena

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

Head to head
About

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 โ€ข Every note is a plain .md file in a folder you picked, not a row in our database โ€ข Edit one in another app and mrkdwn picks up the change โ€ข The same files open in any other editor, today or in ten years โ€ข Lock a note and it is encrypted on disk until you unlock it โ€ข iCloud sync merges three ways and marks conflicts, instead of overwriting the older copy โ€ข Version history keeps 30 days or 100 versions per note, with word-level diffs and a restore that leaves the current draft intact โ€ข Deleted notes go to a trash you can recover from NOTES THAT FIND EACH OTHER โ€ข Wiki-style [[links]] resolve as you type โ€ข A backlinks panel shows every note pointing at this one โ€ข The knowledge graph draws the whole library, filtered by tag or search โ€ข Tag a note, then open the tag to read everything filed under it โ€ข Quick Open fuzzy-finds any note in a keystroke โ€ข Link autocomplete the moment you type [[ โ€ข Daily notes arrive dated, every day you write MARKDOWN THAT RENDERS PROPERLY โ€ข CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown, with footnotes and callouts โ€ข LaTeX math, inline and block, rendered offline โ€ข Syntax highlighting for more than 180 languages โ€ข Six built-in themes, and you can make your own โ€ข Mermaid, Graphviz and Markmap diagrams from ordinary code blocks A SURFACE BUILT FOR DRAFTING โ€ข Focus mode fades every paragraph except the one you are writing โ€ข Read as editor only, preview only, or both side by side โ€ข Typewriter scrolling holds your line in the middle of the screen โ€ข Live counts for words, characters, sentences and reading time โ€ข Put the command bar in the order you actually work in โ€ข Give a folder an icon, a color, and a place at the top of the list โ€ข Writing goals track a daily word target and your streak โ€ข Authorship marks which passages you typed and which you pasted โ€ข Apple's Writing Tools work in the editor, where your device offers them NOTES THAT COME TO YOU โ€ข Ask Siri for today's note; find, append and read notes from Shortcuts โ€ข Paste a URL and the article comes back as markdown โ€ข Clip a page straight from Safari (Mac) โ€ข Import from 19 formats, including PDF, PowerPoint, Excel and text read out of images SEE THE SHAPE OF A SENTENCE โ€ข Color nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and conjunctions as you type โ€ข Style checks flag filler, hedging, repetition and passive voice โ€ข Nothing is corrected for you โ€” a flag is information, not an instruction โ€ข Every highlight stays off until you switch it on LEAVE WHENEVER YOU LIKE โ€ข Export to PDF, EPUB, HTML, RTF, plain text and markdown โ€ข Word and OpenDocument export, and Word import (Mac) โ€ข Everything works offline, apart from fetching a web page you paste โ€ข 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

About

Mena

Features
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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

mrkdwn4 screens
Mena4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Mena sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. mrkdwn asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

mrkdwn ships an update weekly, Mena every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 3 level
mrkdwn versus Mena: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParametermrkdwnMena
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 3 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS26.018.6 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size32 MB51 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBuenaGames LLCCihat Salik

In-app purchases

None

mrkdwn

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Mena

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly: Flowchart Notes$2.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly: Diagram & Quiz7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Forever: Concept Mapping$49.99

Questions

Is mrkdwn free?
mrkdwn is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Mena free?
Mena is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do mrkdwn or Mena have ads?
Neither mrkdwn nor Mena shows ads.
Which is updated more often, mrkdwn or Mena?
mrkdwn ships an update weekly, and Mena every 3 days. Most recently, mrkdwn was updated on November 6, 2026 and Mena on November 8, 2026.

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