Comparison

Inkstone Notes vs FrankenMarkdown

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

Head to head
About

Inkstone Notes

Features
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Inkstone keeps your notes as what they already are: plain Markdown files, in a folder you choose, on your own device. There is no database, no import step and no proprietary format. A vault another Markdown app created opens here, and a vault created here opens there. If Inkstone disappeared tomorrow, you would still have a folder of Markdown. WRITING Headings, bold, quotes, callouts, checkboxes, tables and code all render in place as you type, with the syntax revealed only on the line the cursor is on. Reading mode is a separate, read-only view for when you want the page without the scaffolding. Body font, code font and their sizes are set independently. LINKING [[Note]], [[Note#Heading]], [[Note^block]], ![[Embeds]] and aliases declared in frontmatter all resolve into one index. Every note shows what points at it, what it points at, and which of its links have no target yet. Rename a note and every link that pointed at it is rewritten across the whole vault, in the same action. SEEING THE SHAPE The graph view draws your notes as nodes joined by their links, and the simulation is deterministic โ€” the same vault draws the same picture every time, so you can learn its layout instead of re-reading it on every open. SPATIAL NOTES The canvas puts cards, files and connections on an infinite sheet, saved as JSON Canvas 1.0 โ€” the same open format other implementations read and write. FINDING THINGS A fuzzy switcher opens over every note with one gesture. Full-text search understands tag: and path:, and tags work inline or in frontmatter, nested, in any script. TYPOGRAPHY THAT HANDLES CJK Chinese sets solid โ€” no word spaces โ€” so a Latin word dropped into a Han sentence collides with it. Inkstone sets the gap between scripts properly, and lets you choose fonts and sizes that suit both. TWO DEVICES Sync a vault through iCloud, or push it to a GitHub repository with conflicts settled once rather than left as two copies. Per-file-type filters decide whether attachments and media travel with it. PRIVATE BY CONSTRUCTION No account. No telemetry. No network call you did not ask for. Your files are on your device and go only where you send them. Interface in English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.

About

FrankenMarkdown

Features
Read full description

Write Markdown, inspect the document as a system, and publish a finished file without sending the text to a server. FrankenMarkdown keeps the source and rendered document together. The editor provides live syntax highlighting, line numbers, an outline, and an automatically updated preview. On iPad and Mac, source and output can remain visible side by side; iPhone uses focused lanes sized for the smaller display. Document Lab adds the tools needed for longer work: word and reading statistics, structure and accessibility checks, semantic comparison between revisions, polished document templates, and publishing controls. Multi-chapter projects can produce a continuous PDF or a self-contained site package. Export the current document as PDF or self-contained HTML. The bundled Rust rendering engine handles typography, tables, code, mathematical notation, and document structure locally. No account, advertising, tracking, or cloud processing is required. Your text stays on the device unless you choose to share an exported file.

Screenshots

Inkstone Notes4 screens
FrankenMarkdown1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: FrankenMarkdown at 17.0 against Inkstone Notes'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 4 level
Inkstone Notes versus FrankenMarkdown: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterInkstone NotesFrankenMarkdown
PriceFreeFree
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac โ€” better
Requires iOS26.017.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size15 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOrrisJeffrey Emanuel

In-app purchases

None

Inkstone Notes

No in-app purchases

None

FrankenMarkdown

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Inkstone Notes free?
Inkstone Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is FrankenMarkdown free?
FrankenMarkdown is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Inkstone Notes or FrankenMarkdown have ads?
Neither Inkstone Notes nor FrankenMarkdown shows ads.

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