Comparison

iA Writer vs MarkText

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

MarkText

This app is a markdown editor and note-taking tool for iOS devices. It offers real-time syntax highlighting, conversion to various formats like HTML, PNG, and PDF, and seamless syncing across Apple devices via iCloud Drive.

Highlights
  • Real-time markdown syntax highlighting
  • Convert notes to HTML, PNG, PDF
  • Share to Evernote, Dropbox, Email
  • iCloud Drive sync across devices
  • FlowChart & Diagrams support
  • LaTeX and MathML rendering
Features
Read full description

MarkText is a minimalist, lightweight Markdown text editor with local-first storage and iCloud sync. It supports syntax highlighting and comes with multiple built‑in preview themes, ideal for notes, writing, memos, journals and quick notes. Export to PDF, PNG or HTML in one tap for easy sharing. ## Key Features - Markdown syntax highlighting. - Built‑in HTML previews with various styles. - Move cursor by sliding the toolbar above the keyboard; - Simple import & export, edit files in Files app in place. - One-tap conversion to long image, multi-images, PDF or HTML. - Easily share to Dropbox, Email, or open with other apps. - Full-text search, word count, regex find & replace; - Sync between iPhone, iPad and Mac via iCloud Drive. - Mermaid and Graphviz support for editing and previewing flowcharts & diagrams. - MathJax support to edit and preview mathematical formulas. ## Import & Export Multiple import and export methods available - Directly manage file list via the Files app. - Import / export files through iTunes. - Upload and download files over WiFi. - Share MD, HTML, PNG, PDF files to other apps. ## Keyboard Toolbar - Tap buttons to quickly insert Tabs, headings, lists, code blocks, images, hyperlinks and more. - Customize toolbar buttons and reorder them. - Swipe toolbar left/right to move cursor fast. - Pinch toolbar with two fingers for quick text selection. - Custom quick input phrases and templates supported. ## Syntax Highlighting & HTML Preview - Built-in preview themes for light and dark modes. - Customizable preview style for code blocks. - Supports multiple Markdown flavors: Standard Markdown, MultiMarkdown, GitHub Flavored Markdown. ### GMF (GitHub Flavored Markdown) Syntax Supports extended syntax: strikethrough, tables, task lists, code blocks. #### Task Lists Lists starting with [ ] or [x] indicate incomplete or completed tasks. Example: - [ ] Incomplete - [x] Completed ## iCloud Drive Sync - Automatically sync and store all note files across your devices via iCloud Drive. - View synced note files inside the iCloud Drive folder on Mac. ## Supported File Extensions md, mmd, markdown, markdn, mdown, mkdn, markd, txt, text, etc. ## Other Features - Swipe left on note item to delete; long press to rename. - Add "#Hashtag" or "@Mention" inside notes to create tag categories, equivalent to folders. - Deleted notes go to Trash and stay there until permanently removed. ## scheme - Open App: marktext://x-url-callback/ - Open note: marktext://x-url-callback/open?name=xx - New note: marktext://x-url-callback/new?content=xx - New note from pasteboard: marktext://x-url-callback/new?pasteboard=1 If you have questions or suggestions, contact: xappbox+mt@gmail.com

Screenshots

iA Writer4 screens
MarkText4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: MarkText at $3.99 against iA Writer's $19.99. iA Writer's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 3.0) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support 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 MarkText $3.99 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 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iA Writer has 1.5K ratings behind it against 3, 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 54% of MarkText's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iA Writer ships an update fortnightly, MarkText every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
iA Writer versus MarkText: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriA WriterMarkText
Price$19.99$3.99 — better
Rating4.6 (1.5K ratings) — better3.0 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews73.3% of reviews — better54.2% of reviews
Number of ratings1.5K — better3
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#31 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperInformation Architects AG刘生 林

Customer experience

iA Writer

All ratings1,539 ratings
Positive88.4%
Neutral3.4%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews1,006 reviews
Positive73.3%
Neutral9.1%
Negative17.6%

MarkText

All ratings3 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral33.3%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews24 reviews
Positive54.2%
Neutral20.8%
Negative25.0%

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

MarkText

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

iA Writer

No in-app purchases

None

MarkText

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iA Writer free?
iA Writer costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is MarkText free?
MarkText costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, iA Writer or MarkText?
iA Writer is rated higher. iA Writer averages 4.6 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while MarkText averages 3.0 from 3 ratings.
Do iA Writer or MarkText have ads?
Neither iA Writer nor MarkText shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iA Writer or MarkText?
iA Writer ships an update fortnightly, and MarkText every 4 months. Most recently, iA Writer was updated on October 12, 2026 and MarkText on October 8, 2026.

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