Comparison

iA Writer vs One Markdown

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

One Markdown

A fast and versatile editor for plain text, Markdown, and Textbundle formats. It offers extensive Markdown syntax support, image and formula previews, customizable themes, and convenient editing tools.

Highlights
  • CommonMark and GFM syntax support
  • Image and formula previews
  • Customizable themes
  • Markdown table generation
  • Outline and word count
  • Editor & Preview mode
Features
Read full description

One Markdown is a simple and fast editor that supports plain text, Markdown and Textbundle. It has the following features: * Base on CommonMark syntax and GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) extended syntax, supporting TOC, tables, code blocks, math formulas, task lists, footnotes, etc. * Display the text of the Markdown document completely without any deletion. * Images can be displayed directly in the Editor, supporting jpg, png, gif, webP, HEIC and etc. * Math formulas, mermaid and Echarts drawings can be previewed in the editor. * You can set your favorite font or multiple fonts for writing. * You can choose from 11 light themes and 21 dark themes, and also support custom themes. * There is a menu to facilitate the input of Markdown syntax, and a special Markdown syntax keyboard is also provided in iOS. * Convenient tools for generating and formatting Markdown table syntax. * You can view the outline and word count of Markdown documents. * Markdown documents can be previewed and support Editor & Preview mode. Terms of Use: https://www.mweb.im/onemarkdown-terms.html Privacy Policy: https://www.mweb.im/onemarkdown-policy.html PS: The lightweight choice is One Markdown. If you need a complete and powerful app, please take a look at MWeb, I hope you like it!

Screenshots

iA Writer4 screens
One Markdown4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: One Markdown at Free against iA Writer's $19.99. One Markdown also leads on review sentiment (82% vs 73%). iA Writer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly). On rating, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

One Markdown is free to download; iA Writer costs $19.99 up front. One Markdown sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per year. iA Writer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for iA Writer against 4.6 for One Markdown. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iA Writer has 1.5K ratings behind it against 151, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 73% of iA Writer's written reviews are positive against 82% of One Markdown's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
iA Writer versus One Markdown: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriA WriterOne Markdown
Price$19.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (1.5K ratings)4.6 (151 ratings) — better
Positive reviews73.1% of reviews82.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.5K — better151
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#20 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS15.015
Further details — not scored
Size70 MB53 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperInformation Architects AG禄海 区

Customer experience

iA Writer

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

One Markdown

All ratings149 ratings
Positive90.6%
Neutral3.4%
Negative6.0%
Written reviews152 reviews
Positive82.2%
Neutral7.2%
Negative10.5%

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

One Markdown

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

iA Writer

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

One Markdown

Subscriptions1
  • One Markdown Yearly Subscribe$3.991 Year
One-time2
  • One Markdown for Mac$9.99
  • One Markdown for iPhone/iPad$9.99

Questions

Is iA Writer free?
iA Writer costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is One Markdown free?
One Markdown is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, iA Writer or One Markdown?
One Markdown is rated higher. iA Writer averages 4.6 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while One Markdown averages 4.6 from 151 ratings.
Do iA Writer or One Markdown have ads?
Neither iA Writer nor One Markdown shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iA Writer or One Markdown?
iA Writer ships an update every 2 weeks, and One Markdown monthly. Most recently, iA Writer was updated on November 1, 2026 and One Markdown on November 3, 2026.

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