iA Writer vs Supernotes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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)
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“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
Supernotes
Organize your thoughts and ideas with a fast, lightweight note-taking app. Create visually rich notecards with Markdown and LaTeX support, enhanced by AI writing assistance. Build interconnected knowledge networks and share them seamlessly.
- Shareable Markdown notecards
- AI writing assistance
- Bi-directional card linking
- 2D/3D graph visualization
- Spaced repetition flashcards
- Real-time collaboration
- Offline support
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Free your thoughts with Supernotes, the fast, lightweight notes app. Write beautiful notecards that are perfect for personal, work, and educational use – all your ideas, meeting, and lecture notes at your fingertips. CREATE NOTECARDS THAT POP Tired of scrolling up and down long notes? Break down your ideas with Supernotes notecards – keeping you organized. Add colors, tasks, bold, italics, lists, equations, images, code snippets, and more. Want more? Connect a bluetooth keyboard, and harness the full extent of our Markdown and LaTeX editor. POWER UP WITH AI Try our thoughtful approach to AI. We call them Superpowers that help automate arduous tasks, such as tagging your cards, as well as train you to become a better writer, highlighting grammatical errors and offering rewording suggestions. ORGANIZE YOUR KNOWLEDGE Categorize your notecards using tags, reference popular cards with card links, and pop related notecards inside a parent card to build a network of interconnected knowledge. Multi-select, and edit notes in bulk, in the Table layout. Visualize your notes in both 2D and 3D graph layouts, helping you discover existing and new connections. Build your dream Zettelkasten system. REMEMBER WHERE YOU WROTE THEM Only on Supernotes, view all your notecards on a geographic Map. Opt-in to location sharing to automatically assign locations to notes when you create them to see where you had the most inspiring ideas or the most meetings! Or manually assign locations for trips, restaurant recommendations and more. BUILT-IN SPACED REPETITION Jump into Flashcard layout to instantly learn any of your notecards. Using our FSRS algorithm, cram your notes before an exam or learn them at a relaxed pace. We will show which notecards are due at the right times so you can learn as efficiently as possible. SHARE WITH FRIENDS Stop taking screenshots of notes – just share a notecard to generate a secure link. That note will be instantly accessible to anyone (even if they don't have Supernotes)! Add friends, classmates, or teammates on Supernotes to instantly share new notecards with each other, and see each other's cursors editing in real time. ON ALL YOUR DEVICES, OFFLINE OR ONLINE Pick up where you left off with our iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps. Keep taking notes wherever you are, even if your connection drops, with seamless offline support. FEATURE COMPLETE - Universal Search & Filters - Markdown / LaTeX Editor - Bi-directional Card Links - Calendar Heatmap - Assign Dates to Notes - Four Day & Night Themes - Share to Supernotes Extension - Export to Markdown, JSON & PNG - Keyboard Shortcuts - 24/7 Customer Support FREE FOR LIGHTWEIGHT USE Discover everything Supernotes has to offer with our generous free Starter plan; explore all the features and earn 100s cards. Or upgrade to the Unlimited plan for unlimited cards, feature previews, and more. Prices may differ depending on your location, and subscriptions will be charged to your App Store payment method. Your subscription will automatically renew and you may cancel at any time. Privacy Policy: https://supernotes.app/privacy Terms & Conditions: https://supernotes.app/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Supernotes at Free against iA Writer's $19.99. Supernotes also leads on review sentiment (91% vs 73%) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). iA Writer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (1.5K vs 122). 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
Supernotes is free to download; iA Writer costs $19.99 up front. Supernotes sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $11.00 per month. iA Writer asks for nothing beyond the download.
Supernotes holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iA Writer has 1.5K ratings behind it against 122, 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 91% of Supernotes's.
iA Writer ships an update fortnightly, Supernotes monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iA Writer | Supernotes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (1.5K ratings) | 4.8 (122 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 73.1% of reviews | 91.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.5K — better | 122 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Freemium — better |
| Best chart rank | #20 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 65 MB | 106 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Information Architects AG | Supernotes |
Customer experience
iA Writer
Supernotes
User reviews
iA Writer
From 1.5K App Store ratingsWhat 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
Supernotes
From 122 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✨ Beautiful design and UI
- 🚀 Fast and efficient
- 👍 Easy to use and intuitive
- 🧠 Powerful organization system
- 💡 Unique card-based concept
Room to improve
- 🤔 Learning curve for some
- ⚠️ Limited initial note space
- 🎛️ Lacks advanced features for some users
- 📱 No iOS widgets
- 🔄 Cumbersome tagging for some
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
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- Collaborative editing features
Supernotes
Reported bugs
2 issues- Blank white screen on app/web browser
- App doesn't work on iOS 15.4.1
Requested features
6 requests- iOS widgets for home and lock screens
- Alert for note space limit and prompt to edit/continue as journal entry
- Better image and video viewing
- Control center button
- Split screen functionality
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- Ability to create groups or collections of notes
In-app purchases
iA Writer
No in-app purchases
Supernotes
- Supernotes Unlimited (1 Month)$11.001 Month
- Supernotes Unlimited (Promo)7 Days trial$69.001 Year
- Supernotes Unlimited (1 Year)$99.001 Year









