MDViewer vs iA Writer

Quick Overview

iA Writer is a premium writing app ($49.99 on Mac) designed for authors, journalists, and bloggers. It strips away distractions with Focus Mode, checks your prose with Style Check, and tracks AI-generated text with Authorship. It is a writing tool, not a technical Markdown viewer.

MDViewer is a free, native macOS Markdown viewer with inline editing, Git history, Mermaid diagrams, and a smart table of contents. It is designed for developers and technical users who read .md files daily.

These apps solve fundamentally different problems. iA Writer helps you write better prose. MDViewer helps you read and navigate technical documents.

Feature Comparison

Who Should Use iA Writer

iA Writer is built for people who write for a living or as a serious practice. Its Focus Mode, Style Check, and clean typography are designed to make you a better writer.

Choose iA Writer if:

• You write blog posts, articles, or books in Markdown
• You want Focus Mode that dims everything except the current sentence
• You want Style Check to flag clichés and filler words
• You need to publish directly to WordPress, Ghost, or Medium
• You use AI writing tools and want Authorship tracking to distinguish your text from pasted AI output
• You need the same writing app on Mac, iPhone, and Windows

Who Should Use MDViewer

MDViewer is built for developers and technical users who open .md files constantly — READMEs, specs, changelogs, API docs. It renders files instantly and gives you tools to navigate and understand them.

Choose MDViewer if:

• You read Markdown files more than you write them
• You need Git history and diffs without opening a terminal
• You work with Mermaid diagrams or KaTeX math
• You want tabs and a table of contents for navigating long documents
• You want a free, native macOS app that launches instantly

When iA Writer Is the Better Choice

If you sit down to write — drafting a blog post, editing an article, working on a manuscript — iA Writer’s distraction-free environment is hard to beat. Focus Mode keeps you in the flow. Style Check catches weak writing. Content Blocks let you compose documents from multiple source files.

iA Writer is also the only option if you need to publish directly from the app to a CMS. MDViewer has no publishing features.

When MDViewer Is the Better Choice

If you’re a developer who opens READMEs, docs, and specs throughout the day, MDViewer is built exactly for that. It opens from Finder in milliseconds, renders Mermaid diagrams, and lets you check Git history without switching to a terminal.

The price difference is also significant: MDViewer is free with all features included, while iA Writer costs $49.99. If your Markdown workflow is primarily reading and occasional editing, paying $50 for writing-focused features you won’t use doesn’t make sense.

Pricing Comparison

Can You Use Both?

Yes — and this is the recommended setup for many users. Set MDViewer as your default .md app for instant viewing from Finder. Open iA Writer when you sit down to write. They complement each other perfectly: one for reading, one for writing.

Try MDViewer

MDViewer is currently free for early adopters — all features included. Download it and see if it fits your workflow.

Requires macOS 13.0 or later. Intel and Apple Silicon.