iA Writer
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 5 of 13 markdown editors by recommenders
Writers recommend it as a focused, refined editor with a typewriter-like feel that is bought once rather than through a subscription.
Writers recommend it as a focused, refined editor with a typewriter-like feel that is bought once rather than through a subscription.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Favorite app among writers
“iA Writer is one of the favorite apps I have and I think your approach to building software is incredibly beautiful”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “Trapped in MS Office” “which is my favorite prose editor”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Vim-pencil: Rethinking Vim as a tool for writing” Focused, typewriter-like writing experience
“It's a fun subtle adaptation to keep close to the typewriter-like experience of the app.”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Decoding the obfuscated bash script on a Uniqlo t-shirt” “People aren't paying 50 bucks because it has all the features, they do it because they appreciate the process and value of writing”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “Trapped in MS Office” Pleasant, refined writing experience
“to have a pleasant writing experience on other mobile devices”
Comment from 18 Feb 2026 in “I Use Obsidian” “already a refined Markdown editor (and is cross platform)”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Lettera, a native, refined Markdown editor for macOS” Solid, proven for its use cases
“very solid and proven solution for certain use cases”
Comment from 28 Feb 2026 in “Trapped in MS Office” “their product is exactly right”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: Poppy – a simple app to stay intentional with relationships”
Other markdown editors people recommend
The four most recommended other markdown editors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SmallDocs | 21 | 3 | 88% | 6 | — | Approved |
| OpenKnowledge | 20 | 10 | 67% | 2 | — | — |
| Typora | 19 | 6 | 76% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Margin Markdown editor | 15 | 2 | 88% | 3 | — | — |
| iA WriterThis page | 14 | 0 | 100% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
15 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“can do 90% of this in real time”
“I always wanted iA Writer for Linux.”
“It's a fun subtle adaptation to keep close to the typewriter-like experience of the app.”
“already a refined Markdown editor (and is cross platform)”
“My own iA Writer flags are great”
“their product is exactly right”
“People aren't paying 50 bucks because it has all the features, they do it because they appreciate the process and value of writing”
“iA Writer is one of the favorite apps I have and I think your approach to building software is incredibly beautiful”
“you were able to pay once and use our app without paying a subscription forever”
“very solid and proven solution for certain use cases”
“We separate between human and machine generated text, we are so careful about making sure that people know what they wrote”
“to have a pleasant writing experience on other mobile devices”
“If I were a Mac user, I'd probably use iA Writer”
“which is my favorite prose editor”
“iA Writer as an app that pushed me in that direction”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.