mrkdwn vs Igneous
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
mrkdwn
Read full descriptionHide full description
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 — mrkdwn collects nothing and sends nothing. NOTES THAT STAY YOURS • Every note is a plain .md file in a folder you picked, not a row in our database • Edit one in another app and mrkdwn picks up the change • The same files open in any other editor, today or in ten years • Lock a note and it is encrypted on disk until you unlock it • iCloud sync merges three ways and marks conflicts, instead of overwriting the older copy • Version history keeps 30 days or 100 versions per note, with word-level diffs and a restore that leaves the current draft intact • Deleted notes go to a trash you can recover from NOTES THAT FIND EACH OTHER • Wiki-style [[links]] resolve as you type • A backlinks panel shows every note pointing at this one • The knowledge graph draws the whole library, filtered by tag or search • Tag a note, then open the tag to read everything filed under it • Quick Open fuzzy-finds any note in a keystroke • Link autocomplete the moment you type [[ • Daily notes arrive dated, every day you write MARKDOWN THAT RENDERS PROPERLY • CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown, with footnotes and callouts • LaTeX math, inline and block, rendered offline • Syntax highlighting for more than 180 languages • Six built-in themes, and you can make your own • Mermaid, Graphviz and Markmap diagrams from ordinary code blocks A SURFACE BUILT FOR DRAFTING • Focus mode fades every paragraph except the one you are writing • Read as editor only, preview only, or both side by side • Typewriter scrolling holds your line in the middle of the screen • Live counts for words, characters, sentences and reading time • Put the command bar in the order you actually work in • Give a folder an icon, a color, and a place at the top of the list • Writing goals track a daily word target and your streak • Authorship marks which passages you typed and which you pasted • Apple's Writing Tools work in the editor, where your device offers them NOTES THAT COME TO YOU • Ask Siri for today's note; find, append and read notes from Shortcuts • Paste a URL and the article comes back as markdown • Clip a page straight from Safari (Mac) • Import from 19 formats, including PDF, PowerPoint, Excel and text read out of images SEE THE SHAPE OF A SENTENCE • Color nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and conjunctions as you type • Style checks flag filler, hedging, repetition and passive voice • Nothing is corrected for you — a flag is information, not an instruction • Every highlight stays off until you switch it on LEAVE WHENEVER YOU LIKE • Export to PDF, EPUB, HTML, RTF, plain text and markdown • Word and OpenDocument export, and Word import (Mac) • Everything works offline, apart from fetching a web page you paste • Or copy the folder and go — 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
Igneous
This app offers a gesture-driven approach to note-taking, allowing users to manage their Markdown files with one-handed navigation. It supports various cloud storage options and integrates features like voice notes, live Markdown rendering, and drawing capabilities.
- One-thumb gesture navigation
- Plain Markdown file storage
- iCloud Drive and Files integration
- Live Markdown rendering
- Voice note recording and transcription
- Drawing and sketching canvases
- Mac and offline synchronization
Read full descriptionHide full description
Igneous is a notes app you drive with one thumb. On iPhone there's no toolbar at the top of the screen: everything lives in one dock at the bottom, and it moves the way Safari's tab bar does. Your notes are plain Markdown files in a folder you choose — on your device, in iCloud Drive, or anywhere Files can reach — so they open in any other app, today and in twenty years. No account, no database, no analytics. GET ANYWHERE WITHOUT REACHING • Tap the pill in the dock to search every note, like tapping Safari's address bar. • Swipe it sideways to move between open notes, and keep going past the last one for a new note. • Swipe up on it and your open notes spread out as cards. • Swipe in from the left edge for your notebook, and from the right for the Inspector. • Pull down on a note to find a word in it. Hold any button for more. • While you read, the dock folds into a slim pill out of the way. Liquid Glass on iOS 26; solid with Reduce Transparency. • On iPad: a floating notebook pane, a real tab bar, and as many windows as Stage Manager will hold. CAPTURE THE MOMENT • Press the Action Button, a Lock Screen widget or a Control Center tile and you're typing in a new note — even from a closed app. • Record a voice note from the Action Button, Siri, the app icon or the note you're in. Igneous transcribes it on your device while you talk, shows the words on the Lock Screen, and saves the audio and transcript into today's note or a note of its own. • Copy a voice note — recording and transcript together — and paste it into Messages, Mail or another note. WRITE IN MARKDOWN, SEE IT BEAUTIFULLY • A live editor that renders headings, lists, tasks, tables, callouts, highlights, maths and diagrams as you type, while the file stays plain text. • A formatting bar just above the keyboard, and Writing Tools that keep your links and structure intact. • Wikilinks, embeds, backlinks, tags and a graph of how your notes connect. • Search every note instantly, including handwriting on your canvases. • Daily notes, a calendar, tasks gathered from every note, templates and a board view. DRAW WHEN WORDS WON'T DO • Canvases for sketches and diagrams, with Apple Pencil on iPad, beside cards and links to your notes. • Opens JSON Canvas and Excalidraw drawings. WORKS WITH YOUR MAC — AND OFFLINE • Keep a notebook in iCloud Drive ▸ Igneous and it's on all your devices. • Or pair with Igneous on your Mac over your own network: the phone keeps a full offline copy and sends its edits when it's back. Changes to different lines are combined, and if you both changed the same words, both versions are kept. Drawings merge shape by shape. • Nothing ever passes through a server of ours — there isn't one. SHORTCUTS, SIRI AND WIDGETS • Actions for new notes, today's note, tasks, search and voice notes, ready for Shortcuts and Siri. • Home Screen widgets with buttons you choose, Lock Screen widgets, Control Center controls, Focus filters and Live Activities. YOUR NOTES, YOUR FILES Igneous reads Obsidian-flavoured Markdown as written and never adds anything you didn't ask for. Point it at the vault you already keep.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: mrkdwn at none against Igneous's 3. Igneous's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs weekly) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads 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
Both are free to download. Igneous sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. mrkdwn asks for nothing beyond the download.
mrkdwn ships an update weekly, Igneous every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | mrkdwn | Igneous |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.8 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | BuenaGames LLC | JASON RANDALL DORFMAN |
In-app purchases
mrkdwn
No in-app purchases
Igneous
- Small Tip$9.99
- Medium Tip$24.99
- Large Tip$49.99





