The short answer
If you are writing, and especially if you write prose, iA Writer is the better tool and worth its price. If you mostly read Markdown that colleagues, repositories or AI tools produce, a reader fits the job better, costs less, and can be tried free in a browser first.
Where iA Writer is the better choice
- Writing. Focus mode fades everything except the current sentence or paragraph, and syntax highlighting can colour adjectives, nouns and verbs so you can see how your prose is built. MarkdownPaper has an editor for fixing a document, not for drafting one.
- Style check. It flags clichés, fillers and clutter as you write. MarkdownPaper has nothing like it.
- Authorship. iA Writer tracks what you typed yourself apart from what you pasted or generated with AI, and shows the two differently. For anyone who has to know what in a draft is theirs, that is worth a great deal.
- Templates. Preview, print and PDF follow templates, and you can build your own in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. MarkdownPaper has three paper stocks and no templates.
- Export. HTML, PDF and Word.
- iPhone and iPad. iA Writer runs there as well as on the Mac and Windows, with an Android version by subscription. MarkdownPaper's desktop app is for Mac and Windows, and its web reader covers phones.
Both render math with KaTeX.
Where MarkdownPaper is the better choice
- Documents you did not write. A plan an agent left in a repository, a README, a spec a colleague sent: MarkdownPaper opens them as a finished page, with no editor around them and nothing to switch into.
- Long documents. The contents sit in the page margin, so a long spec can be read section by section. Text is set to a measure counted in characters, 74 by default, and you drag either edge of the page to change it. The few controls fade out while you read.
- Diagrams. Mermaid diagrams render as drawings, along with tables, highlighted code, footnotes and task lists.
- Files that change. The MarkdownPaper desktop app follows a file as another program rewrites it, which suits a plan a coding agent keeps updating.
- Trying before paying, and paying less. The web reader is free, with no account, and nothing is uploaded. The desktop app costs a fraction of iA Writer's price; both are below.
- Handing it on. Print gives real page margins for a PDF, a rendered page copies into Google Docs with its tables intact, and a share link carries the whole document inside the link.
Side by side
| iA Writer | MarkdownPaper | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Writing, with a preview | Reading the finished page |
| Where it runs | Mac, Windows, iPhone and iPad; Android by subscription | Any browser, or a Mac and Windows app |
| Trying it | A 7 day trial | The web reader, free with no install |
| Writing aids | Focus mode, style check, syntax highlight, Authorship | None |
| Appearance | iA's typography, with custom templates | Three paper stocks, width set in characters |
| Math and diagrams | KaTeX; diagrams not described in its support pages | KaTeX and Mermaid |
| Export | HTML, PDF and Word | Print to PDF, self contained HTML, rich text |
Price
iA Writer costs 29.99 on Windows and $49.99 on iPhone and iPad, each paid once and each bought separately; on Android it is a subscription. iA notes that a one time purchase covers the current version, and major updates may cost extra. Those are the prices on iA's pricing page on the date at the top of this page.
The MarkdownPaper desktop app: Coming soon to the Mac App Store and the Microsoft Store. $6.99 launch price, paid once, with no subscription. About the desktop app.
MarkdownPaper is also sold separately in each store, so a Mac and a Windows PC need a purchase each. The web reader stays free on both.
Using both
iA Writer and MarkdownPaper read the same plain .md files, so there is
nothing to convert. Write in iA Writer; when a piece is finished, or when you
are reading something you did not write, open it in MarkdownPaper. If you
are comparing editors rather than a writer's app, the
Typora comparison covers a different kind of
Markdown editor.
Questions
Is there an iA Writer alternative for Windows?
iA Writer itself runs on Windows, for $29.99. If what you need on Windows is a reader rather than a writing app, the MarkdownPaper desktop app runs there too, and the web reader works in any Windows browser.
Is there a free iA Writer alternative?
For writing, free Markdown editors exist, though none has iA's style check or Authorship. For reading, the MarkdownPaper web reader is free, with no limits and no account.
Does iA Writer need a subscription?
Not on the Mac, Windows, iPhone or iPad, where it is a one time purchase per platform. The Android version is a subscription.
Can MarkdownPaper replace iA Writer?
Not for writing. MarkdownPaper has no focus mode, style check or templates, and its editor is for correcting a document. It replaces iA Writer only as the place you read Markdown you did not write.