When comparing iA Writer vs Checkvist, the Slant community recommends Checkvist for most people. In the question“What is the best cross-platform note-taking app?” Checkvist is ranked 42nd while iA Writer is ranked 50th. The most important reason people chose Checkvist is:
Checkvist hits a sweet spot between minimal and complexity. It gives you a host of options and extras to use on your lists, but you can completely ignore them if you don't need them and keep it very simple. This makes Checkvist a one-stop shop, regardless of what type of 'list' you need.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Noise Free Writing Experience removes even the program bar
The Noise Free Writing Experience is one of the first approaches to create a first class distraction-free environment. The feature hides the Mac program bar when you start writing.
Pro A mode that brings focus to the sentence you're working on
Enabling Focus Mode will dim the whole text except the sentence you are currently writing on.
Pro Can tell how long it would take to read through what you've written
Pro Markdown support
Pro Syncs using iCloud and Dropbox
iA Writer can sync documents using iCloud or Dropbox from within the editor for use across multiple devices.
Pro Create whole document by including separate images/markdown docs
This is new and very awesome feature in iA Writer 4.0.
Pro Can export a Word document
Pro Available for all Apple devices
iA Writer is available for Mac, iPhone and iPad.
Pro As simple or as complex as you need
Checkvist hits a sweet spot between minimal and complexity. It gives you a host of options and extras to use on your lists, but you can completely ignore them if you don't need them and keep it very simple. This makes Checkvist a one-stop shop, regardless of what type of 'list' you need.
Pro Tasks can be managed with custom tags
Pro vim-like commands
Pro Convenient search by text or tag filtering
Pro Converts incoming emails to todos - this is a way to enter tasks from anywhere.
Pro Great search
Search filters help you search for tasks by tag, due date, assignee, etc.
Pro Very flexible
To-do lists often need to be grouped and regrouped for clarity. The outline-based nature of Checkvist makes it easy to move things across categories, to increase and decrease priority, etc.
Pro Smart parsing of items
Parses markdown, html links, hashtags to become formatted text, clickable links, and tags, respectively.
Pro Generous set of free features
Checkvist offers many free features if you are using this individually.
Pro Supports comments on tasks
Any item can have a free-text comment, which can be shown or hidden as desired.
Cons
Con No Linux support
Con Limited capability in the android app
Checkvist is primarily a web interface.
