Comparison

iA Writer vs Metion

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

Metion

This notebook tool prioritizes a superior writing experience using Markdown. It allows you to build knowledge bases, connect notes as networks, and offers a distraction-free Zen Mode. Data is stored freely in plain text files with built-in Git support for synchronization and version history.

Highlights
  • Markdown support
  • Knowledge base creation
  • Networked notes
  • Zen Mode writing
  • Open filesystem storage
  • Built-in Git sync
  • History versioning
Read full description

Metion is a notebook tool that focuses on the writing experience, uses Markdown as basic text syntax. ## Build Your Own Knowledge Base Metion 2.0 brings a new feature named "Knowledge Base", the plain text syntax, then becomes mindmap trees, or connected as a network... ## The Writing Experience is So Important Our goal is to create a great writing experience, specially for iPadOS, although it's not easy. Metion provides a relatively complete keyboard shortcuts support. After a keyboard connected, both iPad and iPhone can archive a huge improvement in writing experience. We also have redesigned the "Zen Mode" on iPad, a more focusing writing mode. It is very very beautiful, choosing a suitable background image, selecting the white noise you like in Zen Mode, and the irrelevant UI elements are hidden. Writing is a pleasure, writing is talking to the world, writing is your Zen. ## Data Freedom, Open Filesystem, Git Built-in Metion based on the open filesystem, no need to create another new format for storing data. An article is a plain text file, and the images in the article are also under a certain folder. Data freedom and open filesystems allow us to synchronize data across devices using iCloud or Git. If you have a higher requirement for data security, you can also make a backup very quickly by copying the entire folder (working directory). One more thing, Metion has a built-in support named "history version" that provides a little more reliability for your documents. **Also, if you know how to use Git, you can try Git to sync. Yes! We have the powerful Git as a built-in feature! ** ## Optimized for iPad Pro, Also for iPhone We tried the best to make Metion optimized for iPad Pro, when writing on iPad Pro by Metion, the iPad is a really more productive device. Metion is also optimized for the iPhone too. In recent years, most of the new iPhones have notch at the top of screen. Metion does not simply avoid the safe area, but makes a lot of technical efforts to apply every pixel on the screen as far as possible. If using the visual theme of "Dark", the notch sometimes look like disappeared, like the next generation of full-screen phone comes. ## The Exporting of Metion If using Metion to export as PDF, we suggest the theme of PDF can be set as "Printer" in Settings Panel. If there is a real printer connected in current local network, just print directly, it will be pretty when words on the real paper. Document in Metion can be exported as image, which is optimized for mobile device (iPhone). We can set text and QR-Code signature at the end of exported image. Send it to friends through some social Apps. The beautiful layout of text can highlight the value of your words. Metion can analyze the structure of current article automatically, then export it as "Mindmap" with one tap only. - - - - - - - - - - Privacy Policy: http://markeditor.com/privacy-policy.html Terms of Use: http://markeditor.com/page/terms.md

Screenshots

iA Writer4 screens
Metion4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Metion at Free against iA Writer's $19.99. iA Writer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and rating (4.6 vs 4.3). On update cadence, 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

Metion is free to download; iA Writer costs $19.99 up front. Metion sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. iA Writer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

iA Writer holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iA Writer has 1.5K ratings behind it against 46, 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 60% of Metion's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iA Writer ships an update fortnightly, Metion every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
iA Writer versus Metion: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriA WriterMetion
Price$19.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (1.5K ratings) — better4.3 (46 ratings)
Positive reviews73.2% of reviews — better60.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1.5K — better46
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#25 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS15.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB96 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperInformation Architects AGHangzhou Quanduan Technology Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

iA Writer

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

Metion

All ratings46 ratings
Positive84.8%
Neutral4.3%
Negative10.9%
Written reviews50 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral14.0%
Negative26.0%

User reviews

iA Writer

From 1.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Distraction-free writing experience
  • 👍 Elegant and minimalist design
  • 💡 Helpful syntax highlighting and formatting tools
  • 🚀 Seamless sync across devices
  • 👍 Reliable and stable performance

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and sync issues
  • 🔒 Limited cloud storage integration options
  • 👎 Lack of advanced organization and navigation features
  • 👎 Subpar text selection and cursor control
  • 👎 Dated app icon and visual design

Metion

From 46 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✨ Seamless integration with Apple ecosystem
  • ✍️ Great writing experience
  • 💡 Promising features
  • 🎨 Minimalist and aesthetic design
  • 🚀 Enhances productivity

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent bugs and crashes
  • 📱 Not optimized for phones
  • 🗂️ Limited free version features
  • 🎨 UI issues and design flaws
  • ❌ Syncing problems

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

Metion

Reported bugs

19 issues
  • Git sync not working
  • iCloud folder cannot be specified
  • Writing statistics not visible or crashing
  • Custom file sorting not working
  • New file creation bug (text pushed up)
Show 14 more
  • Hyperlinks only work with connected keyboard
  • Help documentation partially translated
  • PDF export formatting issues
  • App crashes when submitting bugs
  • iPhone gets hot and requires restart
  • App launches inconsistently, crashes, slow to switch folders
  • Undo function not supported, causes crash
  • App crashes on startup
  • Cannot open old documents (free version limit)
  • English input lacks auto-capitalization and spell check
  • Soft keyboard shortcut bar disappears
  • Character input issues causing extra spaces
  • Zen mode background color setting causes crashes
  • App crashes when trying to set Zen mode background

Requested features

35 requests
  • Optimize for phone usage
  • Add Windows version
  • Improve Git sync functionality
  • Allow specifying iCloud folder
  • Restore writing statistics feature
Show 30 more
  • Fix custom file sorting
  • Fix new file creation bugs
  • Improve hyperlink functionality on iPhone
  • Add Undo functionality
  • Fix app crashes on startup
  • Allow opening old documents
  • Improve English input (auto-capitalization, spell check)
  • Fix disappearing shortcut bar
  • Increase font size limit
  • Allow changing Zen mode background and text color
  • Fix PDF export formatting
  • Improve Russian translation
  • Simplify interface navigation
  • Improve interface glitchiness
  • Support existing markdown folders
  • Add more font choices
  • Fix character input issues
  • Increase maximum character limit
  • Add Dropbox or other cloud drive sync
  • Add password lock feature
  • Improve line spacing in Zen mode
  • Combine markdown preview and writing like Bear
  • Add floating TOC
  • Add dedicated preview button
  • Option to dilate interface scale
  • Add statistics for daily word count
  • Improve Zen mode text color
  • Add support for Chinese-to-English conversion
  • Add file system for recording information like Windows with graphical display and tags
  • Add statistics for word count

In-app purchases

None

iA Writer

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Metion

Subscriptions2
  • 订阅公众号图片上传中转3 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Subscribe Pro Extensions3 Days trial$6.991 Year
One-time1
  • Standard Edition (iOS+iPadOS)$17.99

Questions

Is iA Writer free?
iA Writer costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Metion free?
Metion is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, iA Writer or Metion?
iA Writer is rated higher. iA Writer averages 4.6 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while Metion averages 4.3 from 46 ratings.
Do iA Writer or Metion have ads?
Neither iA Writer nor Metion shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iA Writer or Metion?
iA Writer ships an update fortnightly, and Metion every 2 weeks. Most recently, iA Writer was updated on September 23, 2026 and Metion on September 21, 2026.

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