Comparison

Lobster vs Stilo Markdown Editor

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

Head to head
About

Lobster

Read full description

Write what only you can say. Catch the thought where it finds you. Connect the scattered pieces. Work the sentences until they hold. Then export something a reader can actually read. Lobster keeps every stage of a piece of writing in one library โ€” a novel, a blog post and a diary all live in the same drawer. CATCH IT WHERE IT HAPPENS โ€” Catch Ideas Good sentences rarely arrive at the desk. The Catch Ideas button sits in the same place on every screen: one press captures text, a photo, a video, a voice recording or where you are. Anything shared to Lobster from another app lands there too. It all collects in the Idea Aquarium until you are ready to use it. SCATTERED PIECES FIND EACH OTHER โ€” Interstellar View Sheets that share a keyword are drawn together โ€” dotted lines for keywords, solid lines for links you made yourself. Seeing that last year's note already touches today's chapter gives you a sentence a list of files never would. A PARAGRAPH, SENTENCE BY SENTENCE โ€” Writing Studio Lobster lays a paragraph out one sentence at a time, with a rewrite line under each. Compare, pick the one you want, drag sentences into a new order. Only what you choose goes back into the manuscript, and the original stays safe while you work. SEE HOW MUCH OF IT IS YOURS โ€” Voiceprint Research leaves other people's sentences in a draft. Voiceprint separates what you pasted from what you wrote and shows you the balance, sheet by sheet. Copying a passage to learn from it? Turn on transcription mode and it won't count against you. BUILD THE PAGE YOU EXPORT โ€” Style Studio Preview the page your PDF or DOCX will become, large enough to actually read. Adjust headings, body text, quotes and notes right there. A FULL MARKDOWN EDITOR โ€ข Headings, lists, quotes, code, footnotes, tables, images, equations and a table of contents โ€ข Sheet links, bookmarks, annotations and a second editor side by side โ€ข A dashboard with statistics, progress, outline, notes, keywords and more โ€ข Writing goals by words, characters, lines or pages, with a deadline โ€ข Eight writing types โ€” essay, novel, blog, magazine, reporting, social, diary and freeform โ€” each with its own starting structure EXPORT PDF, DOCX, ePub, HTML and plain text, plus print with page and paragraph numbers. YOUR WRITING, KEPT SAFE โ€ข There is no server. Your manuscript lives on your device; iCloud keeps your Mac, iPhone and iPad in step. โ€ข There is no AI. Lobster never writes your sentences and never sends your writing anywhere. โ€ข Automatic hourly, daily and weekly backups, saved versions and a trash. โ€ข Lock the app with a password, Touch ID or Face ID. NOT A SUBSCRIPTION Use every feature free for five days. If Lobster earns its place, buy it once โ€” no renewal, no next charge. One purchase opens Lobster on Mac, iPhone and iPad. If the trial ends before you buy, only editing locks: everything you wrote stays readable, searchable and exportable. Available in English, Korean, Japanese, German and French. Privacy Policy: https://royworkx.com/lobster/privacy Terms of Use: https://royworkx.com/lobster/terms Support: RoyWorkx@gmail.com

About

Stilo Markdown Editor

Features
Read full description

What you write stays a file. Stilo is a Markdown editor for iPhone and iPad. It keeps no library of its own. It opens the .md files already sitting in Files and iCloud Drive, and saves them right back. The same file still opens on your Mac and in every other app. WHAT IT DOES Your files stay yours. Edit Markdown on this iPhone, in iCloud Drive or on another cloud service. Nothing to import, nothing to export. The name and location of the open file sit at the top of the screen, and you can rename the file without leaving the editor. EAST ASIAN TYPOGRAPHY - Vertical text preview. Read your work in vertical columns, just as it appears in print - Ruby annotation. Write |ๅŒ—ๆตท้“ใ€Šใปใฃใ‹ใ„ใฉใ†ใ€‹ and it renders as ruby text above the base characters: furigana, zhuyin, pinyin or Korean readings - Tate-chu-yoko. Two-digit numbers stay upright inside vertical text - Page counts. Count in 400-character manuscript sheets, Taiwanese gaozhi, Korean wongoji or 250 words per page, or set your own grid - Writing goals, with progress on the status line A SCREEN THAT STAYS OUT OF THE WAY - Markdown syntax is drawn in a lighter colour so the text itself stays readable - A tag toolbar above the keyboard inserts headings, bold, quotes and ruby with one tap. Reorder it, add to it, or cut it down - Find and replace, with a match count, previous and next, and a Match Case switch - Characters, characters excluding spaces, the full-width and half-width split, lines and words EXPORT HTML export is free. PDF export keeps the vertical layout and the ruby exactly as you see them. Choose A4, Letter, Legal and other paper sizes. PRIVACY Stilo collects no personal information. There are no analytics SDKs and no advertising. The developer runs no servers, so the only place your writing goes is the cloud you chose yourself. ABOUT STILO PRO Editing, preview, find and replace, reading and writing files, character and word counts, and HTML export are free. Vertical text preview, ruby conversion, page counts and goals, PDF export, and themes with font import come with Stilo Pro. It is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. Buy it once and it works on every iPhone and iPad signed in with the same Apple ID. If the free version covers what you need, keep using it. Stilo Pro isn't required for writing; it's for reading and publishing your work in typeset form. ABOUT REPOSITORY ACCESS (sold separately, one-time purchase) Open the Markdown files in your GitHub repositories as they are, edit them, and save with a commit message. If a file changed elsewhere first, Stilo tells you instead of overwriting it. This is not a Git client: no branching, merging, history or diffs. It is focused on writing the manuscripts that live in your repository. Repository Access is independent of Stilo Pro; you can buy either one on its own. Your GitHub access token is stored only on your device.

Screenshots

Lobster4 screens
Stilo Markdown Editor4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Lobster at daily against Stilo Markdown Editor's every 3 days. 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. Lobster sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Stilo Markdown Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lobster ships an update daily, Stilo Markdown Editor every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
Lobster versus Stilo Markdown Editor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLobsterStilo Markdown Editor
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyDaily โ€” betterEvery 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac โ€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size71 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperByeongkon KimSohshi Sasao

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Lobster

One-time1
  • Lobster Lifetime$39.99
1 purchases

Stilo Markdown Editor

One-time1
  • Stilo Pro$6.99

Questions

Is Lobster free?
Lobster is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Stilo Markdown Editor free?
Stilo Markdown Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Lobster or Stilo Markdown Editor have ads?
Neither Lobster nor Stilo Markdown Editor shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lobster or Stilo Markdown Editor?
Lobster ships an update daily, and Stilo Markdown Editor every 3 days. Most recently, Lobster was updated on October 12, 2026 and Stilo Markdown Editor on October 11, 2026.

Other comparisons