Comparison

iA Writer vs Pythonista 3

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

Head to head
About

iA Writer

A distraction-free writing environment designed to help you focus on your words. It offers features like Focus Mode, plain text writing with HTML preview, and robust organization tools. Customize your writing experience and export to various formats.

Highlights
  • Distraction-free writing environment
  • Focus Mode for enhanced concentration
  • Plain text writing with HTML preview
  • Document organization and search
  • Customizable keyboard layout
  • Export to various formats (Word, PDF, HTML, WordPress, Medium)
Currently charting
Read full description

“Leaving life’s mess for an ideal realm of words.” —The New Yorker “My favorite iOS app for writing in Markdown, without question, is iA Writer. iA Writer is just beautiful. To me, it’s the gold standard for Markdown syntax styling... an elegant champagne flute. That’s iA Writer for me.” —John Gruber “iA Writer creates a clean, simple and distraction-free writing environment for when you really need to focus on your words.” —The New York Times “iA Writer is an example of how powerful simplicity and accessibility can be.” —The Guardian “iA Writer is all about textual production—writing this phrase, this sentence, this word at this moment.” —WIRED 4 x Best of App Store Winner # The Simple Writing App iA Writer removes distractions. Giving you a calm, focused, writing space, so you can express yourself clearly. # Focus Focus Mode dims everything but the current sentence or paragraph, helping you stay in the flow. # Start Don’t worry about the format. First, write in plain text. Then preview in HTML. # Organize Search, sort, and quickly swap between documents from different clouds. # Customize When you tap and hold a key in the command keyboard, you’re given the chance to choose your own layout. Rearrange your keys, or pick new ones from the extensive list. # Search You can open documents and launch frequent actions in no time with the new Quick Search. It lives in the keyboard so it’s always close at hand. # Work iA Writer includes an inverted light-on-dark-mode, perfect for working day and night. # Clean Spot superfluous adjectives, weak verbs, repetitive nouns, false conjunctions and clean your text of the usual rumble. # Shape Customize your templates and export to WordPress or Medium, HTML, Microsoft Word (.docx), or PDF. # 100% Text Embed links, pictures, tables and text files in plain text and see them in preview. # Get in Touch - Visit ia.net/writer for more information - Visit ia.net/writer/support for support and feedback

About

Pythonista 3

Develop and run Python 3 scripts directly on your iPad or iPhone. This complete scripting environment includes popular third-party modules and allows access to iOS features like sensors, location, and photos. Automate your device with app extensions and integrate with Shortcuts and Siri.

Highlights
  • Powerful code editor with syntax highlighting
  • Interactive prompt with code completion
  • Integrated visual debugger
  • Offline Python documentation
  • UI editor for prototyping
  • Share sheet and system-wide keyboard extensions
  • Shortcuts app integration
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Pythonista is a complete scripting environment for Python 3.10, running right on your iPad or iPhone, so you can develop and run Python scripts on the go. Like Python itself, "batteries are included" – from popular third-party modules like requests, numpy, matplotlib, pandas (and many more) to modules that are tailor-made for iOS. With Pythonista, your scripts can access sensor/location data, your photo library, contacts, reminders, the clipboard, and more, allowing you to harness the full potential of both Python and iOS. Pythonista is designed with a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for anyone to get started with coding, regardless of skill level. The complete Python documentation is also available for offline reading in the app. Pythonista is not just for learning and practicing Python – it's also a powerful tool for automating iOS with multiple app extensions. You can invoke scripts directly from the share sheet or a custom system keyboard in almost any app, and integrate scripts with Shortcuts and Siri. With Pythonista, it's easy to run your scripts whenever you need them, without having to switch between different apps. Features: > Powerful code editor with syntax highlighting, code completion, and scripting support > Interactive prompt with code completion, command history, and support for showing images > Integrated visual debugger and object inspector > Complete offline documentation with quick lookup directly from the editor > Various beautiful light and dark color themes, and a theme editor to make your own > UI editor for quick prototyping > Integrated PEP 8 style checker and code formatter > Supports most of the Python standard library and additional modules for graphics, sound, and iOS integration (for example clipboard, contacts, reminders, photos, ui...) > Many popular third-party modules included, for example requests, numpy, matplotlib, pandas, Pillow... > Lots of included examples > Universal app for iPad and iPhone > Share sheet extension for running scripts from almost any app > Scriptable system-wide keyboard to use Python in any app that edits text > Advanced integration with the Shortcuts app, allowing you to use Python scripts as actions in shortcuts and personal automations. Please note that Pythonista is not designed to enable the installation or download of additional modules written in compiled languages (C/C++). While many popular native libraries are included and work out-of-the-box, it is generally not possible to install additional modules with C/C++ dependencies. The name "Pythonista" is used with kind permission from the Python Software Foundation.

Screenshots

iA Writer4 screens
Pythonista 34 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Pythonista 3 at $9.99 against iA Writer's $19.99. Pythonista 3 also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). iA Writer's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 19 months). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

iA Writer costs $19.99 and Pythonista 3 $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for iA Writer against 4.5 for Pythonista 3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.5K and 1.5K respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 73% and 73% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iA Writer ships an update fortnightly, Pythonista 3 every 19 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
iA Writer versus Pythonista 3: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriA WriterPythonista 3
Price$19.99$9.99 — better
Rating4.6 (1.5K ratings) — better4.5 (1.5K ratings)
Positive reviews73.2% of reviews73.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.5K — better1.5K
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 19 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#26#23 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB853 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperInformation Architects AGomz:software

Customer experience

iA Writer

All ratings1,535 ratings
Positive88.5%
Neutral3.3%
Negative8.2%
Written reviews1,005 reviews
Positive73.2%
Neutral9.2%
Negative17.6%

Pythonista 3

All ratings1,522 ratings
Positive85.3%
Neutral3.9%
Negative10.8%
Written reviews538 reviews
Positive73.4%
Neutral6.7%
Negative19.9%

Bugs and requests

iA Writer

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when opening certain files
  • Sync issues leading to data loss
  • Formatting problems when exporting to other formats

Requested features

6 requests
  • Improved cloud storage integration (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.)
  • Enhanced file management and organization tools
  • Better text selection and cursor control
  • More customization options for appearance and layout
  • Integrated outline/table of contents view
Show 1 more
  • Collaborative editing features

Pythonista 3

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

iA Writer

No in-app purchases

None

Pythonista 3

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iA Writer free?
iA Writer costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pythonista 3 free?
Pythonista 3 costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, iA Writer or Pythonista 3?
iA Writer is rated higher. iA Writer averages 4.6 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while Pythonista 3 averages 4.5 from 1.5K ratings.
Do iA Writer or Pythonista 3 have ads?
Neither iA Writer nor Pythonista 3 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iA Writer or Pythonista 3?
iA Writer ships an update fortnightly, and Pythonista 3 every 19 months. Most recently, iA Writer was updated on September 23, 2026 and Pythonista 3 on September 24, 2026.
Which is more popular, iA Writer or Pythonista 3?
iA Writer currently peaks at #26 in the App Store charts, and Pythonista 3 at #23. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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