Comparison

iA Writer vs GTW

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

Head to head
About

iA Writer

This writing application provides a clean, distraction-free environment to focus on your words. It offers features like Focus Mode to dim distractions, plain text writing with HTML preview, and customizable keyboard layouts. Organize and export your documents in various formats.

Highlights
  • Distraction-free writing environment
  • Focus Mode for sentence/paragraph highlighting
  • Plain text writing with HTML preview
  • Document search, sort, and cloud syncing
  • Customizable keyboard layouts
  • Export to WordPress, Medium, Word, PDF
  • Inverted light-on-dark mode
Features
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

GTW

A plain text and Markdown editor optimized for fast editing of local and remote files. Supports cloud storage, FTP, SFTP, and offers advanced features like syntax highlighting, snippets, and markdown preview.

Highlights
  • Edit local and remote files (Dropbox, OneDrive, FTP, SFTP)
  • Markdown preview, convert, and export (PDF, DOCX, HTML)
  • Syntax highlighting for popular coding languages
  • Snippets with placeholder support
  • Focus Mode for distraction-free editing
  • External keyboard and iPad Pro support
Features
Read full description

Gogo's Type Writer is a plain Text and Markdown Editor. It is optimized for fast opening and editing local and remote files (Dropbox, OneDrive, FTP, SFTP/SSH) on your iOS Device. FEATURES: ------------------------------ • Universal App (use it on your iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch) • No in app purchases / no subscriptions • Full iPad Pro support (including smart keyboard support, shortcut, split-screen multitasking) • Extra keybar with swipe functions and trackball to precisely move the cursor and select text • Find and Replace support (incl. Regex find pattern) • Different themes and adjustable font-sizes • NEW! Focus Mode / fade out alle other lines and keep focused • Import / export / open files from iCloud Drive and other file providers • Snippets -- use short fragments of text again and again ( with filed and placeholders support ) • Markdown Preview, Convert & Export ( PDF / DOCX / HTML Export ) • Preview Browser (for images / websites) • Connect to your servers via SFTP, FTP, ONEDRIVE or DROPBOX New with OneDrive 365 and OneDrive for Business support • Upload and Download files/folders • Very fast reconnect and recover of open files after restart • Live editing - edit files directly on your Server/Dropbox/Onedrive without download • Supporting features like textselection by cursor, Splitview, Slide-Over and Drag & Drop • 3D Touch support - Show/move cursor by 3D touch the keyboard • Taptic Feedback ( on devices with Taptic Engine ) • External/Bluetooth keyboard support ( all iOS shot-cut keys are supported + lots of shortcuts available ) • Syntax highlighting for the most popular coding languages / also in Markdown codeblocks (css, fortran, html, javascript, latex, mathematica, markdown, orgmode, perl, php, python, sql, xml, yaml)

Screenshots

iA Writer4 screens
GTW4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: GTW at $5.99 against iA Writer's $19.99. GTW also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). iA Writer's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 3.1) and ratings volume (1.5K vs 32). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 GTW $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

iA Writer holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iA Writer has 1.5K ratings behind it against 32, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of iA Writer's written reviews are positive against 55% of GTW's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iA Writer ships an update every 2 weeks, GTW every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
iA Writer versus GTW: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriA WriterGTW
Price$19.99$5.99 — better
Rating4.6 (1.5K ratings) — better3.1 (32 ratings)
Positive reviews73.1% of reviews — better55.3% of reviews
Number of ratings1.5K — better32
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#29 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size70 MB53 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperInformation Architects AGChristoph Gogolin

Customer experience

iA Writer

All ratings1,543 ratings
Positive88.4%
Neutral3.4%
Negative8.2%
Written reviews1,017 reviews
Positive73.1%
Neutral9.1%
Negative17.8%

GTW

All ratings32 ratings
Positive46.9%
Neutral12.5%
Negative40.6%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive55.3%
Neutral7.9%
Negative36.8%

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

GTW

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

iA Writer

No in-app purchases

None

GTW

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iA Writer free?
iA Writer costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is GTW free?
GTW costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, iA Writer or GTW?
iA Writer is rated higher. iA Writer averages 4.6 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while GTW averages 3.1 from 32 ratings.
Do iA Writer or GTW have ads?
Neither iA Writer nor GTW shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iA Writer or GTW?
iA Writer ships an update every 2 weeks, and GTW every 3 weeks. Most recently, iA Writer was updated on November 1, 2026 and GTW on November 2, 2026.

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