creative writing software mac

Best writing apps for the Mac 2024

Scrivener 3

Writing is a magical journey that involves research, creativity, and skill. Long are the days when writing meant using a pencil and paper or old-school typewriter. Today, writing involves sitting down at a computer and letting the mental juices flow.

Whether you're looking to type a term paper or plan on crafting the next great novel, these writing apps for Mac will get the job done. They work on the best Macs, including the latest MacBook Pro.

Ulysses offers a full array of tools for writers of any kind. This app is easy to pick up and start using but offers a wide array of customization options for everything from writing to exporting. Choose to work in Markdown or create your own markup style. With Ulysses, you can also create your own writing environment with background colors and fonts. Then, when it comes time to publish, you can export your work in various formats, including plain text, DOCX, and ePub. You can also publish your work to WordPress sites and Medium.

Your projects sync with iCloud between Mac, iPhone, and iPad, with Dropbox support also available. The app also recently added support for Touch ID to keep your documents safe.

This app is available for $5.99 per month or $29.99 per year. In addition, there are discounts for students. All packages come with a seven-day free trial.

Write, note, and journal with this popular app that's been a best seller for many years.

Apple's own writing app, Pages, lets you create different types of documents on all of your favorite Macs, like the 2021 MacBook Pro . There are more than 60 templates in Pages, covering just about every kind of writing, from short essays to research papers. There are even templates for items like business cards and flyers. In addition, you can add images and shapes, lay out your documents in different styles, and more. You can also secure documents with Touch ID if you have one of Apple's MacBook Pros with a Touch Bar.

The Pages app also makes it easy to collaborate with other people. Multiple people, whether they're on macOS, iOS, or even Windows, thanks to iCloud, can collaborate on a document simultaneously. You can share collaborative documents publicly or with specific users, see who is in the document at any time, and follow their cursors as they edit the project.

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A relatively new app compared to the rest of the list, Bear might seem simple, but it offers a great deal of flexibility for handling text. Bear is good for both notes and to-do checklists, but its support for Markdown, a variety of themes, and simple organization make it a great tool for many different kinds of writing. Add images, files, code blocks, and more to spice up your work and give it more context.

In terms of options, you've got few. First, choose how to sort your documents, pick a theme, pick your font, and even control fine-grain details such as font size, line height and width, and paragraph spacing. Then, subscribe to Bear Pro for $1.49 per month to sync your documents between Bear for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. A yearly subscription is $19.99.

Beautiful and powerful, Bear is a terrific app worth your consideration.

iA Writer's gone through quite a few changes over the years. Where the previous Pro app tried to break down your writing into a flow between notes and writing and editing, the modern iA Writer focuses on having you write in plain text, with full Markdown support. However, that's not to say that there aren't advanced features, as there are quite a few. For example, Syntax Control breaks down your writing to show you the structure, highlighting adjectives, nouns, conjunctions, etc. Link to other documents in iA Writer to combine them into a single project, or link to images or spreadsheet files to see them in iA Writer's Preview screen in several different templates.

Like other apps on this list, iA Writer lets you publish to blogs, in this case, WordPress and Medium. You can also export your work in Markdown, PDF, HTML, and Microsoft Word.

Modern and powerful, iA Writer is a terrific app that requires a one-time purchase only.

Scrivener is nothing short of a full-featured suite of tools for writers. Novels, scripts, essays, research papers, it doesn't matter because Scrivener supports all of them. Organize your ideas on digital notecards and lay them out on the corkboard to see how your work fits together. Import images, PDFs, and other media you've used as research to refer to it later. Keep your work segmented for easier organization and edition while maintaining its structure with the Binder. And each part of the app can be customized to create the exact writing environment you need. It's actually hard to encapsulate just how many options Scrivener gives you.

When you're done, compile your project into a single document and export in formats like DOC, rich text, PDF, ePub, Kindle, and even export for other apps like Final Draft. Away from your Mac? You can also check out Scrivener for iPhone and iPad, which lets you work on your Scrivener projects no matter where you are.

Although Scrivener is pricey, it offers the perfect tools for anyone looking to write and publish a masterpiece. This is a one-time purchase, unlike other options on this list.

Going to Hollywood by plane or in mind? This is the writing app to consider.

"Simple but effective" is the best way to describe Byword. With this Markdown-focused writing app, you start with a blank document and just write. It's a minimalist app with only a few settings to fuss with, and Byword really only cares about getting you writing. Your documents sync between Mac, iPhone, and iPad using iCloud Drive, though you can also store them in Dropbox.

When it comes to publishing, you've got options for PDF and HTML. You can also post what you've written to blogging services such as Medium, WordPress, Tumblr, and Blogger; or you could send your document to Evernote.

Bloggers will want to consider this terrific app available for a relatively low price.

Which app is best?

Ulysses is your best bet if you want a jack-of-all-trades writing app with WordPress, Medium, and iCloud support. Try the similar Bear first if you're not willing to shell out $29.99 per year. You may not ever need its advanced features, which would give you a terrific writing app for free.

But if you're serious about creative writing and you want a stalwart companion on your best Mac to help drag stories out of your brain, Scrivener's your best bet. Its learning curve is steeper, but its powerful features make that climb worthwhile.

Updated April 2022: Updated for macOS Monterey with new picks: Byword and Pages.

Bryan M. Wolfe has written about technology for over a decade on various websites, including TechRadar, AppAdvice, and many more. Before this, he worked in the technology field across different industries, including healthcare and education. He’s currently iMore’s lead on all things Mac and macOS, although he also loves covering iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Bryan enjoys watching his favorite sports teams, traveling, and driving around his teenage daughter to her latest stage show, audition, or school event in his spare time. He also keeps busy walking his black and white cocker spaniel, Izzy, and trying new coffees and liquid grapes.

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The best Mac apps for writers and authors

Best writing apps for the Mac

You do already have Pages on your Mac — and on your iPhone and iPad too — and it is a world-class word processor. Pages tends to hide its features away, preferring to make it look simple and basic, but it is powerful.

Then, too, if you had to bet on which other word processor was on a given Mac, the smart money would be on Microsoft Word. It's still a titan in the industry, though it's fallen a long way since it was both ubiquitous with, and essential for, all writers.

Pages is free and Word is now a subscription app that costs from $70 per year . It is still possible to buy Word outright, and that starts with what's called a Home edition for $150.

Before you spend that, though, take a look at the specialist writing tools which make the Mac extraordinarily useful for writers.

OmniOutliner

OmniOutliner is, as the name stresses, an outlining tool. It's also very good at outlining everything from novels to non-fiction tomes. However, it's really rather more than that, as its core strength is in expanding ideas.

Whether your idea is for a story, or your boss has thrown five events at you to create, OmniOutliner lets you jot down any thought. Dump every idea you've got into it and then you can arrange, massage, grow it all until you've got a complete, working project.

OmniOutliner is available on both Mac and iOS, beginning with an Essentials version that costs $20 on either platform.

On the surface, Drafts 5 is as basic a notetaking app as you can get — but that's specifically to make using it quick. Whether you're just learning the app or have used it for years, you can get starting writing fast.

Then while that could be all you need from Drafts 5, you also get the ability to decide what to do with text once you've written it. Get it written in Drafts, then you can tell the app to send it as an email, to post as a blog, or any of countless actions that are available.

Drafts 5 is free to download and use, but those actions require a Drafts Pro subscription, which costs $20 per year .

Ulysses is also an apparently simple text editor that hides a lot of power. In this case, the strength is in how it's as much a writing environment as a basic word processor.

Rather than having documents that you create and then have to manage yourself, Ulysses treats everything you write as one document. It's all divided into books and chapters and topics as you need, but open Ulysses and you have immediate access to everything you're writing.

Ulysses is a subscription app that costs $50 per year for use across Mac, iPhone and iPad.

As a word processor, Scrivener is simply enjoyable to write in. Then as you write more, its ability to organize your work — and let you rearrange whole chapters — is far better than that of Pages or Word.

You're able to see, for instance, just chapters 17 and 33 of your novel. You can see those side by side, or one after another. You can set writing targets for the book, or just for this session.

Then it's ability to take all of your writing and output it ready for book printing, ready for sending to publishers, is famous. And so is how you can store any research — notes, drafts, weblinks, PDFs, audio, video, and more — in your book.

Have quick access to everything you need to refer to, yet also have none of that be shown to your readers.

Scrivener costs $49 for the Mac .

Long before the Mac introduced Focus Mode, iA Writer had its own version. In iA Writer, if you choose, you can have all of your writing fade to grey — except the sentence you're working on right now.

Then, again optionally, iA Writer can highlight adjectives, verbs and so on, surfacing your use or over-use of them. It's about giving you the ability to see the wood for the trees, except when it's trees you want to see.

The iA Writer app is built around Markdown, meaning that formatting and styles are done with text commands right in the text.

It costs $29 for Mac .

Final Draft

Screenwriting app Final Draft has more competitors now, but it remains a leading choice for film and television writers. It's a word processing app, and can be used for letters and prose, but its strength is in how it automates screenwriting formats.

Scripts are blueprints for a dozen or more different departments in a film's production, and to serve all their needs, very particular formats and page layouts have been developed over decades. Final Draft automatically formats as you write and it means you can concentrate on your story, characters, and dialog.

Final Draft normally costs $249.99, direct from the developer . Note, though, that there are regularly sales throughout the year.

Buying a range of writing tools

No one writing app covers everything that a writer will need. As well as major apps like Final Draft, and Pages, there are also many utilities that writers can benefit from.

Check out the subscription service Setapp which includes some major titles such as Ulysses, but then also utilities such as Mars Edit for blogging.

A subscription to Setapp usually costs from $9.99 per month, but for a limited time an annual license can be had for 36% off through the AppleInsider store .

A good list. I’ll have to check out some of these. One thing though; don’t say “Buy for $XX/yr”. If you pay a yearly fee you aren’t buying it, it’s a subscription. You are renting the software. And I don’t rent software. 

Slugline 2 is awesome 

You left Highland 2, which in my opinion is the  most powerful and flexible screenwriting software for Mac. Also great for novels and other types of writing. 

is still a great app too.

Good sampling but I would have included Textastic in this review as well. I use both iAWriter and Textastic on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Textastic has some extra bells and whistles that are particularly appealing to code developers. I really feel that Pages is undervalued. I’m as guilty as anyone for discounting Pages for heavy duty document development, e.g., multiple contributors collaborating on a single multi-chapter document, managing comments, table of contents, index, dynamic caption links, etc. Whenever I’ve tried to use Numbers to replicate what I’ve done in Excel I found that it was entirely possible with minor differences so I expect Pages is comparable to Word in a similar manner. There are obviously things that Excel and Word can do that Numbers and Pages cannot, but I think Microsoft is benefiting in a very large way from the long term momentum it enjoys in the marketplace.

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15 Best Writing Apps for Mac Users (in 2024): Essential Software for your Mac

Ayush Chaturvedi

15 min read

Do you want to complete numerous writing chores efficiently on your Mac?

Whether crafting content, managing marketing materials, or refining your writing skills, there's a dedicated Mac writing app to meet your needs. 

The options are vast, whether you're after an efficient outlining tool, an upgraded word processor, a reliable grammar checker, or an all-encompassing content marketing solution. 

The challenge? With so many choices, picking the perfect writing app for macOS can be overwhelming. 

That's where we step in to assist. If you're a fan of Apple's ecosystem, you're in for an unforgettable experience. 

Welcome to your ultimate guide for the 15 best Mac writing apps in 2024. 

Let's simplify your choices and elevate your writing game on your Mac!

What are Mac Writing Apps?

Benefits of using writing apps on mac, 1- streamlined user interface, 2- optimized performance for mac systems.

• 3- Integration With MAC Ecosystem

4- Enhanced Collaboration Features

5- rich text formatting options, 6- powerful writing tools and features, 7- regular updates and support, here are the 15 best writing apps for mac users, 1- elephas app, elephas pros , elephas cons, elephas pricing, pages pricing, 3- notability , notability pros, notability cons, notability pricing, 4- microsoft word, microsoft word pros, microsoft word cons, microsoft word pricing, 5- scrivener, scrivener pros, scrivener cons, scrivener pricing, 6- marsedit 5, marsedit 5 pros, marsedit 5 cons, marsedit 5 pricing, ulysses pros, ulysses cons, ulysses pricing, journey pros, journey cons, journey pricing , bear pricing , 10- drafts , drafts pros , drafts cons, drafts pricing , 11- ia writer, ia writer pros, ia writer cons, ia writer pricing, 12- light paper, light paper pros, light paper cons, light paper pricing , 13- prowriting aid, prowriting aid pros, prowriting aid cons, prowriting pricing, 14- grammarly, grammarly pros, grammarly cons, grammarly pricing, 15- writerly , writerly pros, writerly cons, writerly pricing, final thoughts.

Mac Writing Apps are software applications designed to enhance and streamline the writing process on Apple's Mac computers. 

These applications offer a range of features, including word processing, text editing, and organisation tools, providing writers with a user-friendly interface and powerful capabilities. With features such as spell-check, grammar correction, and formatting options, Mac Writing Apps cater to various writing needs, from creative writing to professional document preparation. They contribute to a more efficient and enjoyable writing experience, making them valuable tools for writers, students, and professionals on the Mac platform. 

With Mac writing apps, users enjoy a sleek, intuitive interface for seamless navigation. The clean layouts and user-friendly menus enhance the writing experience, allowing for focused creativity without distractions. 

The minimalist design fosters a productive environment, making it easy to access essential tools and concentrate on crafting compelling content.

Writing apps tailored for Mac are optimised to fully leverage the platform's capabilities. They run smoothly, utilising Mac's hardware and software integration for enhanced performance. 

This optimisation ensures swift response times, quick loading, and efficient multitasking, enabling writers to work effortlessly on complex projects without experiencing lags or slowdowns.

3- Integration With Mac Ecosystem

Mac writing apps seamlessly integrate with the broader Mac ecosystem, providing a cohesive experience across various applications. 

Users can easily share files between writing apps and other Mac programs, fostering a unified workflow. 

This integration extends to iCloud, allowing writers to access documents from different Mac devices, ensuring continuity and accessibility irrespective of the device used.

Many Mac writing software provides collaboration features that make group tasks easier. Real-time editing, commenting, and version tracking make it easier for writers, editors, and other stakeholders to collaborate effectively. 

These tools speed up the review process by guaranteeing smooth communication and coordination among the writing team members, resulting in a more polished and unified final product.

Mac writing apps offer many formatting options, allowing writers to customise their documents quickly. These apps provide creative freedom while maintaining document consistency, from fonts and styles to advanced formatting features. 

The WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editing approach enables writers to visualise their work in real-time, making it easier to achieve the desired aesthetic and formatting for a professional and visually appealing document.

Mac writing software frequently has robust writing tools, including grammar and spell checkers, thesaurus integration, and word suggestion functions. 

These tools assist authors in enhancing the quality of their material by detecting and correcting errors, hence increasing overall writing efficiency. 

For example, distraction-free settings and word count tracking lead to a more concentrated and productive writing experience.

Mac writing apps are typically backed by dedicated developers who consistently provide updates to enhance performance, security, and feature sets. 

Users benefit from ongoing support, ensuring that their writing app remains compatible with the latest Mac updates and continues to meet evolving user needs. 

This commitment to improvement guarantees a reliable and up-to-date writing tool, making it a valuable asset for Mac users seeking stability and longevity in their writing software.

Elephas App is a super smart writing helper made just for Mac users. Forget boring stuff like writing emails, creating content, and sorting through many documents. Improve your writing with Elephas – the most excellent AI tool- setting a new standard for awesome. Elephas isn't just any writing assistant – it's like a superpower for all your other writing apps on your Mac. It adds a unique layer of intelligent AI to improve everything you write.

• Elephas works on top of all your favorite Mac apps, including powerful writing apps like Scrivener, Ulysses, Pages etc.
• Elephas is not a writing app, but a writing assistant that enhances your writing wherever you write. It can be a simple free app like Google docs, or a premium app like ProWriting Aid.

Elephas app's Super Chat facilitates enlightening conversations with expert brains, enhancing the depth of user knowledge.

Brains are specialized in various topics, ensuring users receive accurate and insightful answers to their questions.

Easy brain creation and sharing feature promotes collaborative learning, allowing users to efficiently distribute knowledge among friends and followers.

• You need to use your own Open AI Key. ( Here's how you can get it )

Elephas is one of the best AI writing tools and generators that you can help with all your writing tasks. 

It is also one of the best Mac apps out there.

So if you're a Mac user, you should definitely try out Elephas. You can get a free 30 day trial from the Elephas home page -

Elephas Home

Let's talk about a perfect app that comes already on your Mac computer: Pages . 

It doesn't cost anything extra since it's included with your Mac. Like most things from Apple, it's easy to figure out. If you're going to write something, Pages is a great choice. The tools for making your words look the way you want are on the right side, and the buttons for adding things and commenting are at the top. This makes it easy to use without much extra stuff on your screen. It's the best app for writing on a Mac.

Diverse and enjoyable templates for creative document creation.

Automatic saving to iCloud Drive ensures seamless access across Apple devices.

Facilitates real-time collaboration on projects with colleagues.

Easy cross-platform workability (iPhone, iPad, and Mac).

It enhances document security through password protection.

Limited platform compatibility outside the Apple ecosystem.

Dependency on iCloud Drive may pose challenges for users with limited internet access.

It’s a Free writing App! 

No more using basic writing programs for notes.

Notability is a top-notch app for Mac users. With it, you can jot down notes, include audio recordings, mark up your notes, and easily share your work with others in your group.

Combines note-taking and freeform drawing for a comprehensive representation of ideas.

Simple design that seamlessly complements Apple's products and software.

Direct integrations across iPhones, iPads, and computers for efficient transfer of project notes.

Seamless integration between various note types, including typed, handwritten, and audio notes.

Occasional inaccuracy when copying handwritten text into digital notes.

The limited version imposes a strict editing limit, potentially hindering full-time use of the native Mac app.

It’s a free writing app and offers in-app purchases.

Microsoft Word is the top choice for Mac users. It's widely used and has been the go-to writing app for decades. Many editors prefer it, making collaboration smoother. 

You can quickly get it with a Microsoft 365 subscription or by purchasing a license. Using MS Word ensures you and your editor are on the same page, enhancing compatibility and making your writing journey hassle-free.

They are packed with extensive formatting features for versatile document creation.

Built-in grammar and spell-checker ensures polished and error-free writing.

Includes an outliner for organised content structuring.

Integrated translator facilitates seamless language translation.

The thesaurus enriches vocabulary options for expressive writing.

Dictation tool for hands-free and efficient content creation.

Focus mode minimises distractions for a more immersive writing experience.

Familiar and convenient for users transitioning from PC to Mac.

An overwhelming number of features may be daunting for some users.

The presence of multiple icons can be distracting.

Users seeking a minimalist interface might find it too feature-packed.

It’s a Free App and offers in-app purchases!

Scrivener stands out as the ultimate writing app for MAC users. Whether you're an academic, journalist, student, or author, it's your go-to tool for content outlining, research, and the writing process. Scrivener is designed for Mac and PC and tops the charts as the most comprehensive book-writing app. Its rich feature set caters to diverse user needs, making it an invaluable resource for anyone looking to enhance their writing experience.

The non-linear organisation enhances the review and organisation of paragraphs while maintaining oversight of the larger structure.

Commenting and annotation features facilitate collaborative review without altering the written text.

Integrated research tools provide intuitive access to supporting documents within the application.

Corkboard view aids in planning and conceptualising writing projects through a virtual Post-it layout.

Potentially significant learning curve due to the abundance of writing, outlining, planning, and publishing features.

Formatting options can be more selective compared to other writing apps on the list.

MarsEdit 5 simplifies blogging on your MAC. It's the ultimate writing program, making blogging faster, smoother, and more pleasurable. Many web writers realize the difficulty of writing directly on a hosting site, instantly putting hours of effort at risk. MarsEdit 5 eliminates that concern, making it the leading choice for MAC users looking for a dependable and efficient writing and publishing tool.

MarsEdit 5 allows you to write at your own pace.

Assures the risk of losing your work.

Offers a rich text editor with Markdown tools.

Enables seamless exploration of the software's features.

Simplifies the process of publishing your work.

Some word processors may introduce strange code into your work.

Cleaning up code in other word processors can be time-consuming.

Markdown is often chosen due to potential formatting issues in other programs.

Ulysses stands out as a top-notch writing app designed exclusively for Apple devices. It is tailored for Mac users and goes beyond typical note-taking, supporting diverse writing projects like blog posts and novels. With a user-friendly interface and comprehensive features, it can aid various writing endeavors. Whether crafting a blog entry or working on a book, Ulysses provides a seamless and efficient writing experience on your Mac device.

Built-in proofreader and editing assistant for 20 languages.

Extensive export options for PDFs, eBook formats, and CMS blog posts.

Tags, groups, and type organisation for a comprehensive writing project library.

Deadlines and daily goals for monitoring the writing process and productivity.

Transferring documents may lead to data loss for some users.

Lack of AI integration for streamlining or speeding up content creation.

Journey stands out as the ultimate writing app for Mac users. This user-friendly journal and diary application effortlessly combines therapeutic and mind-jogging benefits, catering to personal and professional needs. With its intuitive interface, Journey ensures a seamless experience for capturing all your thoughts. Make the most of this dedicated app for an easy and rewarding journaling journey on your Mac.

Easy navigation through past entries across all devices.

Location tagging is used for tracking life and professional writing journeys.

Record and analyze sentiments in each entry.

Supports photo, video, audio, and written journal entries.

Seamless access to entries on various devices.

Limited to a single topic, challenging for diverse note-taking needs.

It is a time-consuming setup for the first journal entries.

Difficulties in using the same app for multiple issues or complex note-taking.

Bear stands out as the top writing app for Mac users. Its popularity has led to numerous alternatives trying to replicate its features. It's a go-to choice for many, making any list of the best writing tools incomplete without a nod to Bear.

Minimalist design with hotkey markdowns for easy note formatting.

Native encryption ensures privacy for notes and sensitive information.

Full cross-device integration for Mac users, including iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.

Extensive note export options supporting PDF, MD, DOCX, JPG, HTML, RTF, and more.

Copying and pasting into the app may lead to formatting challenges.

Notes are only accessible through the app, lacking web browser integration.

Drafts is the ultimate writing app for Mac users. 

It flips the traditional approach by encouraging you to "write first, organise later." This unique philosophy lets you effortlessly capture your thoughts without worrying about formatting. Once you're done, easily decide how to structure and publish your content using its seamless integrations. It's the go-to tool for MAC users, prioritising a flexible and efficient writing process.

Intuitive dictation feature for seamless integration with Siri and hands-free note-taking.

Streamlined workflows enable the tagging of new notes and easy organisation in the library.

The Active Writer community provides a continuous flow of best practices, tips, and tricks for maximising app usage.

Various app integrations, including Twitter and Google, facilitate the transition of notes from draft to final product.

Lack of advanced text editing features.

Limited functionality on non-desktop devices despite availability for all Mac devices.

This Mac writing app is the ultimate tool for focused text creation. IA Writer strips away unnecessary features, giving you a pure writing experience. Designed to enhance your writing and editing process, this app is a minimalist's dream. A back-to-basics approach ensures that your attention remains solely on the text. 

Focus Mode enhances concentration by highlighting the active part of sentences for a distraction-free interface.

Syntax Highlight feature emphasises weak verbs and filler words, improving overall writing quality.

An integrated wiki structure facilitates seamless connections between notes and documents.

Template library aids in transforming plain text into visually appealing books, chapters, and articles.

Markdown coding may pose a learning curve, especially for users accustomed to traditional "what you see is what you get" editors.

Export options can result in format discrepancies; a PDF-exported document may differ in appearance from its Microsoft Word-exported counterpart.

LightPaper is the ultimate writing app for Mac users. Its light design simplifies note-taking and textwriting, featuring a straightforward folder structure. This simplicity ensures quick and efficient note organisation, making saving, finding, and taking action on your notes easy. It's the go-to choice for Mac users who appreciate a user-friendly writing experience.

Tab-based navigation for seamless movement across multiple notes and writing projects.

The editor's outline view aids in jumping through sections of more significant documents without reading all the text.

Customise markdown options to adjust to your familiarity with editing types.

Quick Open feature finds and re-opens past documents when names are forgotten.

Limited export abilities for blog posts and websites, often restricting to web-based options.

Rendering support can occasionally break down for more complex documents.

ProWritingAid stands out as the ultimate writing companion for MAC users. It's a live editing tool supporting you from initial drafts to polished copies. Perfect for emails or web content, it consistently offers tips to enhance your writing—keeping it lively, compelling, and shiny. Elevate your writing effortlessly with this must-have app for MAC.

Advanced AI-enabled grammar check for comprehensive real-time writing improvements.

Real-time readability scoring to enhance writing skills progressively.

Direct integration with various content-writing platforms, including browsers, Microsoft Word, Google Docs, email clients, social media, Salesforce, and more.

They have continually integrated human feedback, tips, and masterclasses to improve writing skills.

Automated suggestions can be incorrect or misleading, requiring human review.

The free version has a 500-word trial limitation, which is insufficient for ongoing editing needs.

Grammarly serves as an AI-driven grammar and writing companion designed to assist users in enhancing their writing skills. It accomplishes this by detecting and rectifying grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style errors.

Enhances content for marketing and business communication.

Ensures error-free and polished writing.

Boosts credibility with essential audiences.

It may need to catch nuanced writing issues.

Limited improvement for complex language nuances.

Writerly is the ultimate AI productivity software suite tailored for marketing, customer support, and e-commerce teams. Renowned for its unparalleled AI writing tool, Writerly goes a step further by providing a cutting-edge generative AI Chrome extension.

Writerly Go streamlines tasks by integrating with Gmail.

The Creator Cloud offers diverse templates for efficient content creation.

AI tools aid in catching grammar mistakes during writing.

Free/lower-priced plans have limitations with low word counts.

Templates in Writerly require more customisation compared to other tools.

Finally, finding the best writing program for your Mac will significantly increase your productivity. Elephas stands out as a game-changer among the top 15 possibilities. 

It's like a helpful friend who works with your writing apps, smartening them with AI magic. 

Elephas does not replace your preferred writing tools; it improves your overall writing experience. 

So, if you want to take your writing on your Mac to the next level, give Elephas a shot. ​

The hidden ingredient gives your writing that extra something, allowing you to write better and faster. Elephas will up your writing game and turn your Mac into a creative powerhouse.

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Book Writing Software (2024): Top 10 for Writers

by Joe Bunting | 20 comments

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Writing a book is hard. I've written fifteen books and at some point during each one I had the thought, “There has to be a tool, a piece of book writing software, that would make it easier to reach my writing goals.”

The good news is there  is  book writing software that can make the writing process and meeting your daily goals easier!

(The better news is that once you've found the right software, we have the best resources to help you finish your book, like this book idea worksheet , which will get you started on your book in just a few minutes. Get your free copy here. )

In this article, we will cover the ten best pieces of software for writing a book and look at the pros and cons of each. Click the links below to get our review on the best writing software.

Best Writing Software: Contents

• Google Docs
• Google Sheets OR Microsoft Excel
• ProWritingAid
• Publisher Rocket
• Microsoft Word
• Bonus: Note Taking Apps
• Bonus: Google Drive OR Dropbox

Worst Pieces of Software for Writing a Book

Before we discuss writing software that will help you write a beautiful book, it's important to understand (and eliminate) what will hurt your writing progress. At least while you're writing a book:

• Video Games.  Especially World of Warcraft (always, always, always!) but also Solitaire, Sudoku, Angry Birds, Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, and Wild Rift/League of Legends.

• Facebook, TikTok, and Other Social Media Software.  Do I really need to say more? Fortunately there's a piece of book writing software for avoiding this very distracting software (see Freedom below). You can't write a book if you spend you writing time publishing social media posts.
• Other Productive Software Not Directly Associated With Your Writing.  Yes, it's good to reconcile your bank account on Quickbooks or make sure you're up to date on your calendar app, but responsible, well-meaning work can easily be an excuse for a quick distraction that turns into a major distraction from writing your book.

Set aside time for your writing every day and then stay focused. If you need a game, make writing your daily word count your game. If you want more “likes” on social media, imagine how great getting five-star reviews on your book will be.

If you need to check your bank balance several times a day, think about what your bank balance will be when you stop checking it constantly, finish your book, and become a successful author. Now let's talk about some book software for authors that can help you with your book writing process.

The 10 Best Pieces of Book Writing Software

First, there is no such thing as the perfect book writing software. No amount of key features or book writing templates or editing features will write a book for you. Still, these ten book writing software options can help. Take a look at the pros and cons of each:

1. Scrivener (Word Processor)

Scrivener  is the premier book writing app made by writers  for  writers. Scrivener's “binder” view allows you to break up your book into chapters and sections and easily reorganize it with drag and drop interface.

You can also get a high-level view of your book using the corkboard and outliner modes, allowing you to view book chapters, sections, or individual scenes as index cards. Project targets let you create word count goals and then track your progress daily. Its composition mode can help you stay focused by removing all the clutter.

Scrivener has formatting features for publishing (e.g. on Amazon or Barnes & Noble), as well as basic features for distraction-free writing, and has templates for novels, nonfiction books, screenplays, and more.

You can read our  full Scrivener review here .

To be fair, Scrivener also has its weaknesses. Formatting is more complicated than it needs to be and collaborating isn't easy, meaning it loses its effectiveness as soon as you bring on an editor (we recommend Google Docs for collaborating).

You can sync with your iPhone/iPad, but only through Dropbox, making it not as easy as it should be. It also has something of a learning curve, especially for its advanced features. But it more than makes up for that by being so helpful in the early stages of the writing process. Again, here are the pros and cons for Scrivener.

Pros of Scrivener:

• Easily manage a large book writing project (or screenplay) in the binder view
• Get a high-level view of your book's structure using corkboard and outliner views
• Manage your writing productivity with project targets and deadlines
• iPhone and iPad app

Cons of Scrivener: 

• Formatting can be overly complicated
• Learning curve
• ​Syncing with Dropbox isn't always easy
• No Android app

We believe in Scrivener so much, we published a book about how creative writers can write more faster using it. It’s called  Scrivener Superpowers .  If you’re using Scrivener or want a tutorial to save yourself time as you learn how to use it for your creative writing, you can  get Scrivener Superpowers here . You can also learn more about how to use the software with one of these resources:

• Scrivener Superpowers  by M.G. Herron
• 3 Reasons I Love Scrivener
• Microsoft Word vs. Scrivener

Cost: $59.99 for Windows, Mac

Scrivener  is the premier book writing app made by writers  for  writers. It's powerful set of tools allow you to write, organize, edit, and publish books.

• Easily manage writing projects
• Made by writers for writers
• Corkboard and outliner views
• Project targets and deadlines
• iPhone and iPad app
• Complicated formatting
• Steep learning curve
• ​Syncing isn't always easy

2. Dabble (Word Processor)

Similar to Scrivener, Dabble is a word processor that gives you the power to organize and rearrange scenes and chapters using drag and drop, manage your word count goals to keep to a deadline, and plot like a pro. (Screenshots seen here are in the optional dark mode.)

Dabble has a plot grid that allows you to easily see a macro view of your story. You can rearrange as needed, find plot holes easily, and make notes on each plot point as detailed as you like. 

Collaboration is easy. You simply add a co-author and they will be sent an invitation. They must also have a subscription or they will only be able to read the document. 

You can insert images in any scene or note, or add title images to chapters or full page images within or between chapters. You can even set cover art for the manuscript. 

Focus mode in Dabble is automatic. Simply start typing and everything else fades away. No need to worry about saving every few minutes either.

Dabble is cloud-based and automatically saves as you go. You can access your manuscripts everywhere: in your browser, on your phone, or in the desktop app. As you're writing, you can make notes and comments.

Don’t want to type? You can dictate. And when you’re done writing, there’s a Read to Me feature that reads your manuscript to you!

Cost : Subscription plans range from $10/month to $20/month; Lifetime access cost is $499; 14-day free trial 

Dabble is a word processor designed specifically for books. It gives you the power to organize and rearrange scenes and chapters using drag and drop, manage your word count goals to keep to a deadline, and plot like a pro. 

• Easy Learning Curve
• Streamlined collaboration
• Cloud-based syncing
• Built-in Dictation
• Easy Exporting
• Word count targets and deadlines
• Plotting tool
• Subscription service
• Lifetime access cost is high
• Only simple formatting options

3. Google Docs (Word Processing)

While Scrivener and Dabble are a great book  writing  software, once you get to editing and getting feedback, it begins to fall short. That's why Google Docs has become my go-to piece of book writing software for collaborating with editors, beta readers, and other writers.

It's free, easy to use, and requires no backups since everything is in the cloud.

Best of all are its collaboration abilities, which allow you to invite your editor to the document and then watch as they make changes, which are tracked in suggestion mode, and leave comments on your story (see screenshot below).

I also like the outline feature in the left sidebar. You can display it by clicking View > Show Outline. Then format the chapters and main sections of your manuscript as headings to make them appear in the document. You can then easily visualize and even click through your book to navigate it. This feature isn't as useful as Scrivener and Dabble's binder, but it makes navigating your book much easier.

While not the best for brainstorming, writing, or organizing your book, Google Docs, the free word processor available in Google Drive, is the single best word processor for collaborating with co-writers, beta readers, or editors.

• Real-time collaboration with editors, beta readers, or other writers
• Suggestion mode
• Outline View
• Few large-document organization features
• No productivity features
• Usually requires an internet connection

4. Google Sheets OR Microsoft Excel (Spreadsheet)

If you’d told me when I was first trying to become a writer that one of my most-used tools in my book writing software toolkit would be a spreadsheet, I would have told you I didn't major in English to have to use a spreadsheet.

But now, as I'm finishing my fifteenth book, I realize that I use spreadsheets almost daily. Spreadsheets allow you to get a sense of the elements of your book at a glance, and when you're working on a 300-page document, distilling it down to useable information becomes very necessary.

You might use spreadsheets for:

• Character tracking
• Breakdown of scenes
• A Foolscap/Beat sheet

Google Sheets is perfect for this because it's free and you can quickly share your documents with your writing partners, editors, or beta readers to get feedback.

Microsoft Excel is another great option, but Excel lacks the real-time editing with other users and is overall lacking in the collaboration functions. Still, if you already have Excel, it's a great way to quickly get started plotting your book or managing your project.

• Real-time Collaboration : Work with editors, beta readers, or co-authors in real-time.
• Speed : It's fast and responsive, which is useful for quickly developing an outline or managing a project.
• Cost-effective : It's so cost-effective it's free!
• Handling External Spreadsheets : Managing spreadsheets from other sources like Excel can be annoying.
• Internet Dependency : Although there's an offline mode, the overall experience is better with an internet connection.

• Familiar : If you already own or have used Microsoft Office, it should be familiar to you.
• Advanced Feature : Excel is slightly more powerful than Google Sheets (although for most writing related tasks, you will likely not need advanced features).
• Offline Access : Unlike Google Sheets, Excel doesn't require an internet connection, which is handy for working on-the-go.
• Cost : Unlike Google Sheets which is free, Excel comes with a cost as part of the Microsoft 365 Office Suite.
• Collaboration : Although Excel has collaborative features, they're more streamlined in Google Sheets.

5. Vellum (Book Formatting/Word Processing)

If you want to turn your book into an eBook, it's not that hard. Scrivener, Word, Pages, they all can format eBooks and print books. But that doesn't mean they'll look good. In fact, it takes a lot of skill and effort to format a printed book that looks good on any of those word processors.

That's why I love Vellum so much.

Vellum makes beautiful books.

Vellum picks up where Scrivener, Word, and Pages leave off, giving you a tool to make great looking eBooks and print books, usually in under an hour. The most important part of this is the previewer (see the image below), which lets you see how each formatting change or book edit you make will appear on Kindle, Fire, iPhone, Nook, and other eReaders.

It also has stripped-down, option-based formatting, which is perfect for designing both eBooks and print books. I really love this writing app!

Vellum is a book formatting tool to quickly and easily create beautiful eBooks and print books, often within an hour. It features a book previewer which allows you to see how your book will look on various eReaders and in print, and offers a simplified, option-based formatting to format beautiful books faster.

• Ease of Use: Easy to navigate and use, even for inexperienced writers.
• Quick Formatting: The simplified, option-based formatting lets you create books in as little as an hour.
• High-Quality Aesthetics: Delivers visually beautiful books.
• Book Previewer Tool: View how your book will appear on various eReaders as you work.
• Platform Limitation: Restricted to Mac users.
• Style Restrictions: Limited design and styling options can be a drawback for some.
• Cost: Higher price point compared to some other formatting software.

6. ProWritingAid (Grammar/Spell Check)

Can a grammar checker replace an editor?

Definitely not. But if you ask Alice Sudlow, our in-house editor, she'll tell you, “If you don’t have access to an editor (or if you do, but you don’t want to hire them to edit your emails or Facebook posts), software that performs grammar checks like  ProWritingAid  is an accessible, affordable alternative.”

If you struggle with grammar mistakes, sentence structure, spelling, or even writing style, ProWritingAid can help. It goes far beyond your built-in spellcheck. You should still learn grammar skills, but ProWritingAid can help you start to see the patterns and grow as a writer.

There's a free version that's very good. It can even be installed into your browser or Word processor, so you can check your grammar wherever you write.

The paid version, just $96 a year with our discount link (33 percent less than Grammarly ‘s price), gives you additional support on sentence structure, style, and vocabulary. Learn more about how writers can get the most out of ProWritingAid here .

• Grammar and Style Correction: Gives "as-you-type" grammar corrections as well as comprehensive style analysis to help you write clearer, more engaging prose.
• Writing Insights: You can learn a lot about your writing style with their detailed reports on readability, sentence structure, and more.
• Integration: You can integrate it with nearly any other writing tool or word processor..
• Subscription Cost: While more affordable than other options, there is a subscription cost for for full access.
• Overwhelming Feedback: Not all the feedback is useful, and without knowledge of the book writing process, you may get distracted by the amount of feedback.
• Internet Requirement: You must have an internet connection for most types of feedback.

• Easy to Use: User-friendly design (slightly more easy to use than ProWritingAid in my opinion).
• Spell-Check and Grammar Check: Detailed spelling and grammar check functionality.
• Goal-Setting Feature: It can help you tailor suggestions based on writing goals.
• Broad Integration: Works with many platforms (the Google Docs integration isn't very good though).
• Cost: While the free plan is robust, the premium plan is more expensive compared to ProWritingAid.
• Google Docs Integration: Lacks a fully functional integration.
• Big Picture Feedback: Does not provide as much overarching edits and style-based feedback as ProWritingAid.

7. Publisher Rocket (Book Marketing App)

How do you know if your book will sell? Wouldn't it be nice to know if there is a market for your book  before  you start writing? How do you find the most readers on Amazon for your published book? For all of these questions, Publisher Rocket has an answer.

Read our  full Publisher Rocket review here .

Publisher Rocket a book marketing research tool that helps you understand what readers actually want  and  how to connect with them with your books. Here are some things you can discover in Publisher Rocket:

• What phrases Amazon buyers are actually searching for.
• The psychology of how readers choose to buy books.
• How much money readers are spending on certain niches and topics.
• How much money specific books are making per month (for example, books that might be competing with yours).

I've personally used Publisher Rocket to take mid-list books to #1 bestseller status on Amazon. It's an amazing tool, perfect for anyone working on a book.

We also like KD Spy, another Amazon research tool (check out our review here ). You can compare and contrast the two tools below:

• Target Popular Keywords: Helps writers find specific phrases readers are using on Amazon to discover books.
• Market Understanding: Offers a clear view of what books are competing with yours (and how many sales they make, historically).
• Category Identification: Find the most relevant Amazon categories for your book.
• Cross-Platform Compatibility: Works on both PCs and Macs.
• Learning Curve: May require some time and education to fully utilize all features.
• Cost: One-time purchase required.
• Amazon-Centric: Tailored for Amazon, may not be as effective for other platforms.

• Amazon Category Research : Analyze Amazon book categories to understand competition and profitability.
• Keyword Tools : Provides niche and seed keywords to help in market understanding.
• Competition Snapshot : Ability to get an overview of your competitors.
• Traffic Light System : Visual cues to understand keyword difficulty and category competitiveness.
• Limited Keyword Data : Doesn't provide Amazon search numbers.
• Browser Extension : Limited to browser usage, not a standalone software.
• Basic Keyword Tools: Keyword functionalities are quite basic compared to Publisher Rocket.
• Dependent on Amazon : Insights are tailored for Amazon, may not apply to other platforms.

8. Atticus (Book Formatting/Word Processing)

Once you've  written  your book, how do you turn it into something people can actually  read ? If you're self-publishing, you need a tool like Atticus.

Atticus is a book formatting and word processing tool that allows you to take your manuscript and quickly and easily format it for publishing, including print and eBook formats.

But Atticus is more that just a formatter. It's an all-in-one solution for writers, giving you the organization features of Scrivener, the cloud collaboration features of Google Docs,  and  the book formatting abilities of Vellum. Yes, that's just as cool as it sounds!

It also works on all platforms, whether you're working on Windows, Mac, Chromebook, or even Linux. While I still love and use Vellum (see below), the benefit of Atticus is that it works for everyone, not just Mac users. Learn more about Atticus in my full review.

• All-in-One Solution : Combines writing and formatting capabilities seamlessly.
• Multi-Platform Availability : Available on PC, Mac, Linux, and Chromebook.
• Cost-Effective : Priced lower than some competitors like Vellum while offering similar capabilities

Cons: 

• Learning Curve : While intuitive, mastering advanced features may require some time.
• New Software : Being relatively new, it might have fewer features compared to established software, with some desired features planned for future updates.
• Crude Formatting : Out of the box formatting options aren't as refined as Vellum and will require more tweaking.

Atticus is a complete book writing and formatting tool that merges the capabilities of an online word processor with plug-and-play book formatting features. It can function as a one-stop solution for authors, with collaboration tools between authors, editors, and book designers, to take your book from idea to finished, publishable product.

9. Freedom (Productivity App)

One question writers always ask me is, “How can I stay focused enough to finish what I write?” I have too many thoughts on that for this article, but as far as using writing software to encourage focus goes, I recommend Freedom. It's my favorite writing tool for a distraction-free writing experience.

Freedom allows you to enter focus mode, blocking your biggest distractions, including both websites and mobile apps, for a set period of time. So when you mindlessly escape your book to scroll through Facebook, you'll find the site won't load.

You can also schedule recurring sessions, so that at a scheduled time (e.g. Mondays from 6 am to 10 am), you won’t be able to access the sites on your blocklist, even if you try.

There are other apps like this that we've written about before, notably Self-Control for Mac and StayFocused for Windows. But Freedom goes further, allowing you to block sites on both your computer  and  your phone, and enabling recurring sessions.

You can learn more about  how writers can get the most out of Freedom on our review here .

Freedom is a productivity app that can help writers in stay focused by blocking distracting websites and mobile apps for a designated period or during specific schedules, like during your morning writing time.

• Distraction Blocking : Helps you concentrate on writing by blocking distractions.
• Scheduled Focus Sessions : Schedule your focus mode in advance for recurring undistracted writing sessions.
• Mobile Device Syncing : Getting it working with mobile devices can be a bit challenging.
• Bypass Possibility : It's possible to find ways around its blockers if one tries hard enough.

Cost: $29 / year for Pro version, which I use and recommend (there's also a free trial available)

10. Microsoft Word (Word Processor)

Again: no piece of book writing software is going to write your book for you. If you're looking for the next “shiny new toy” to help you write your book, it might be an excuse to avoid doing the hard work of writing.

Most of us learned how to use computers by using Microsoft Word, or a program like it. Word gets the job done. Sure, Scrivener is a little better for books, but I wrote my first book on Word and it's fine.

I wrote a long review of  the pros and cons of using Word to write books —the main problem is that as your document grows, it becomes more and more difficult to work with, whereas with Scrivener, it becomes easier—but the point is, if Word is what you have, don't let that stop you from finishing your book.

You don't need a fancy tool to plan a book in the early stages, like if you draft a character description for your protagonist, or in the editing stages, like if you want to make comments on scene details.

As Jeff Elkins said in  his review of Word , “If you aren’t already putting in the hard work to be the kind of writer you want to be, it doesn’t matter what new writing software you invest in. It is not going to help.”

Microsoft Word is the industry standard word processing software. While limited in its features for writing books, it provides a familiar platform for writers to create, share, and review their work.

• Familiar Interface : Known and used by many, making collaboration easier.
• Extensive Features : Provides a wide range of writing and formatting tools.
• Cost : Requires a subscription to Microsoft 365.
• Lack of Book Writing Features : Despite its extensive feature set, it lacks specialized tools for book writing included with applications like Scrivener or Dabble.
• Lack of Real-Time Collaboration : While it offers some collaboration features, it falls short in real-time collaborative editing compared to some cloud-native applications like Google Docs.

Cost: $69 / year with Microsoft 365 (includes Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, and other Microsoft software)

Note:  Another word processor we can't recommend is yWriter, which while it has a cult following and was designed by a fellow novelist, seems to be out of development and has no support for Mac/OSX.

BONUS #1: Google Drive OR Dropbox (Cloud Backup)

There's nothing worse that finishing a great writing session and going to save your work, then your computer crashes and you discover you've lost your best writing. It's enough to send any writer into the throes of grief and depression. There's a simple solution, though: save a copy of ALL your writing to the cloud using Google Drive, Dropbox, or BOTH.

Here's my process:  I have all my Scrivener book files saved on a folder on Google Drive on my computer. Then, Scrivener automatically backs up every few minutes to a Dropbox folder. That way, I know I will always have the document I need, no matter what happens. Best of all, both of these apps have free plans, making it extremely foolish NOT to use them.

Pros of Drive:

• Universal cloud backup
• Automatically syncs
• Free or inexpensive

Cons of Drive:

• Setup is a bit tricky the first time
• Maybe you WANT to lose your writing when your computer crashes

Cost: Free with Paid options

Sign up for Google Drive here »

Sign up for Dropbox here »

BONUS #2: iOS Notes OR Evernote OR Ulysses OR Bear (Note Taking)

When I'm writing for a long time, I like to get up and go for a walk. Sometimes, I wish I could continue writing while I walk. Other times, I find myself brainstorming ideas while I'm not at my computer, typing it up on my phone, and then wanting to easily move what I wrote to my laptop without having to go through the hassle of emailing it back and forth to myself.

That's where note taking apps like Ulysses and Evernote come in.

iOS Notes, Ulysses ,  Evernote , and  Bear  are note taking apps that allow you to sync between all your devices, so you have what you need wherever you are, ideal for jotting down ideas or thinking through your book while you're out and about.

While Scrivener recently released an iOS app which allows you to sync between devices, their process is clunky and requires you to purchase both the mobile and desktop apps. These note taking apps make the process much more seamless.

Like Scrivener, they all have a binder-like sidebar that allows you to move documents around. None of them are designed specifically for books, so they may take a little configuring to make it work for you, but once you have one set up the way you want, it's very intuitive.

And while I hate Markdown, a markup language that allows you to format your text, I actually like the paired-down formatting options Ulysses and Bear give, especially for brainstorming. Overall, I wouldn't convert from Scrivener to any of these apps, but as supplements, they work great.

Pros of Evernote:

• Sync notes between devices
• Write as you go
• Capture ideas

Cons of Evernote:

• Free plan is limited
• Becomes clunky as you get more notes
• Better for note taking than managing a large writing project

iOS Notes  Cost: Free with any iOS device

Get the app here »

Evernote  Cost: Free with Paid options

Ulysses Cost: $45 Note: Ulysses is only available for Mac, either in the App Store or from their website.

Bear Cost: $1.49 monthly / $14.99 yearly Note:  Bear is also only available for Mac, either in the App Store or from their website.

Bonus #3: Hemingway App (Style Checker)

Most writers think their sentences are easier to read than they are. You think you're coming across clearly, that your writing makes sense, but then someone reads it and comes away with something totally different. Hemingway App (sometimes called Hemingway Editor) helps with that.

Hemingway App is a free website that checks readability. You can copy and paste your writing into the website's input box. Then it will grade your writing based on your used of   adverbs , passive voice , and sentences as units . Hemingway App is useful, but even the best book writing software can’t replace a good editor.

Pros of Hemingway:

• Fast, easy style advice

Cons of Hemingway:

• Somewhat arbitrary advice
• Hemingway himself would fail

Cost: Free!

Try out Hemingway App here »

The 30+ Tools Every Writer Needs

Writing is no different, and while the right software is important, it's just one of the many tools you need as a writer.

That's why we published a list of all of our favorite tools for everything related to being a writer.

You can  download our tools for writers guide for free here .

The Most Essential Book Writing Software

Imagine it's three thousand years ago.

You're sitting around a campfire with some of your family and friends, tired from the day's work. You begin to tell a story. It's one you've told before, told a hundred times. You can see faces around the fire, the children with their eyes wide, the men and women who have heard the story before but still enjoy it because it brings meaning to their lives.

Storytellers—writers—have existed since the beginning of humanity. They didn’t always have book writing software. They didn't have the printing press or the internet. They didn't always even have the alphabet to write their stories down. Instead, storytellers had their imaginations, their voices, and a rapt audience. Y

ou don’t need book writing software to write a great story. Book writing software can make the process a little faster or easier, but the truth is great stories will always exist, no matter what kind of software we have.

The only three things essential to writing a great book:

• Your imagination
• A desire to tell your story

That’s all you need. Do you want to write your book? If you do, then do it. Write it. Nothing is stopping you except you.  So go get writing.

What pieces of book writing software do you use?  Let us know in the comments .

The world is full of powerful software to help you write your book. In the end, though, all these tools are just that—tools. The stories you imagine and your discipline to put the words on the page are far more important.

So for this practice, set aside all the fancy software. Eliminate all the bells and whistles and open up your computer's native text editor (TextEdit for Mac or Notepad for Windows).

Take fifteen minutes to write without any distractions.

Continue your work in progress, or start a new story based on this prompt: A student discovers one of their teachers is not what they appear to be.

When you're done, share your writing practice in the Pro Practice Workshop . And if you share, be sure to leave feedback for your fellow writers!

Join 100 Day Book

Enrollment closes May 14 at midnight!

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

Work with Joe Bunting?

WSJ Bestselling author, founder of The Write Practice, and book coach with 14+ years experience. Joe Bunting specializes in working with Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, How To, Literary Fiction, Memoir, Mystery, Nonfiction, Science Fiction, and Self Help books. Sound like a good fit for you?

20 Comments

Dragon NaturallySpeaking software. Following a comprehensive beat sheet (created in a screenwriting format), I dictate into MS Word. Grammarly sits to the side. 1000-2000 words a day. Requires a larger screen (mine is a modest 24″) and some computing horsepower. Very effective.

Good one! Personally I use dictation every once in a while, but it’s not my thing. Glad it’s working for you!

I just purchased ProWriting Aid. Its editor, grammar, sentence structure and readability scales. There’s a free app but i wanted the pro. I’m excited about this. I’ve had scrivener on my computer for 2 years and still use word. Learning Scrivener is overwhelming to me.

My practice from my current WIP:

“Please, Captain, may we take his body? Merk did have family.” Harper twisted his cloak in his hands.

“Aye. Do that.” Adam walked to the door, tapping the flat of the sword against his hand as he walked, doing his best to insure the blade touched the plate as little as possible. As he passed the bar, he grabbed the waiting pitcher of ale.

Outside, he found Carter leaning against the tavern wall, staring up at the moon. Without looking over, Carter spoke. “Come to arrest me?”

Adam snorted and passed him the pitcher. “No. Not for killing that filth. You know why his bounty was so high so quickly, right?”

Carter took a sip of the ale. “He carried it with him.”

“Gods, no. He built it entirely here.” Adam leaned against the wall of the building opposite of Carter. He pulled a small pouch and rolled a cigarette. “He killed the governor’s daughter in an argument.”

Carter looked over at his friend. “I thought the Thieves’ Guild didn’t go for killing?” “They don’t. They only took him on as a favor to his previous guild.”

“Let me guess: Assassins.”

Adam pointed at Carter. “Got it first try.”

He offered the cigarette to Carter who declined with a raised hand. Putting it between his lips, he patted his pockets. Carter leaned forward and snapped his fingers, producing a flame for the cigarette. Adam drew in a bit of smoke and nodded at his friend.

“Thanks.” He exhaled a pleasant smelling ring of smoke and glanced at Carter’s empty hand. “You can do magic now?”

“No.” Carter shook his head. “This is due to a minor cantrip on a scroll.”

This was cool and pulled me right into the story. Good work!

My personal favorite is Microsoft Word. It’s easy to use and I’m comfortable with it.

Here’s my practice. I’d appreciate comments/feedback! —

Julia finally slammed into the ground at the bottom of the steps. Swallowing back a sob, she pushed up on her hands and knees and cringed at the shooting pain in her shoulder, which had taken the brunt of the fall.

“Get back here, you little brat,” Sean shouted behind her.

A gasp shuddered into her lungs and she leapt to her feet and broke into a sprint up the sidewalk. She looked over her shoulder. He was still behind her. He shoved people out of his way and kicked over a baby stroller as he charged toward her.

Julia clamped a hand over her mouth as the baby in the stroller wailed. The woman who’d been pushing the stroller righted it and hushed the baby, stroking its head.

Julia kept pumping her legs, but nausea swished in her stomach and a sharp ache started in her chest. How could Sean treat people like that?

She’d probably never know the answer.

Cutting down an alleyway, Julia darted through puddles from the recent rain and chugged quick breaths.

Sean’s yelling voice echoed behind her. “When I get my hands on you I’m going to finish what I started.”

Breathing hard, she yanked herself to a stop by the rung of a ladder and lunged onto it, taking the rungs two at a time. She was shaking. Sean had tried to hurt her once. She wouldn’t let him do it again. Not without fighting back this time.

The ladder quivered and she stopped climbing to stare down between her shoes. Sean ascended, his hands quick on the rungs, his cold blue eyes swallowing her.

A gulp of air rolled down her throat and she pulled herself up faster. She kept her eyes focused high, fixing them on the handles at the top of the ladder. Memories slid their tentacles into her mind. Images of Sean looming over her, holding her down. Her own voice pleading.

Tears welled in Julia’s eyes and she blinked them away. She just had to focus on going up. To the roof. Once she reached it, she could either go into the building through a roof entrance or she could jump to the next building. She’d make it. She had to.

Julia curled her tired, chafed fingers around the vertical handles at the top of the ladder and hauled herself up onto the roof.

Then a hand clamped around her ankle.

I personally use a combination of my notebook, Google docs, Grammarly, Hemmingway editor, and thoughts and critiques from my writing friends. Best thing about paper: it doesn’t have internet.

So true! I find that I can write faster on a computer, but I love the focus you get from writing on paper.

It helps me, sometimes, I think, to feel the words as I write them, which I don’t get when I type. It does make it more of a pain to edit, though it does make it harder to permanently delete whole sections of writing and start over from scratch.

I use Scrivener to write and format my books and recommend it though the learning curve is steep if you want to take full advantage of all its features. But I would recommend the following items.

Pro Writing Aid does so much more than Grammarly. Checks for style, diction, overused words, and things I’d never even heard of before I started using it. there is a free version but the paid version which syncs with Scrivener is a less expensive subscription than Grammarly.

Excel is so limited. I’d recommend Airtable. It is far more flexible and I use it for everything from characters, to accounting, to research, tracking promotions, reviews and more. There are templates for authors. It is intuitive and will do just about anything you want. Support is excellent. Airtable is has a free version (which is all I need), sharable and collaborative.

Then there is Aeon Timeline for plotting and planning. It helps keep your story in order. It is flexible, customizable, and syncs with both Scrivener and Ulysses. It is not expensive and not a subscription, pay once and it is yours.

Rescue time has a free version that helps you track your time spent on various tasks and websites and is useful to prove to the IRS that you are indeed a full time author.

I use all these things daily in my writing. Check them out. They will probably help you too.

I would recommend using FocusWriter to block out any notifications and other programs which are running

Thanks for the great article. I use Google Docs right now and will check into some of the resources you recommended. I am an Astrologer and am writing my first basic Astrology book. I wasn’t clear whether the free handout for novelists would be appropriate for this project, and would appreciate your feedback.

The Hemmingway App no longer free. But $19.99 isn’t much to pay.

Wattpad (which isn’t on the list) is a very good writing site.

Have you had a look at The Novel Factory? Full disclosure, it’s made by me and my tiny team – but it’s starting to really get traction as we get so much positive feedback about how it’s helped people make progress like never before…

Another one you might like to try is http://wavemaker.co.uk It’s new and helps with the planning stages in particular. Disclaimer- I wrote it, but thought you’d like to have a look at least.

For free versions, try One Note. I’ve been using it for years.

I want to write a technical book that would be formatted such that it would be like a textbook and have horizontal bars that would separate topics. I need the ability to repeat essential elements of techniques repeatedly and denote them in various fashions. Any software come to mind for that?

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Typewriter. Ring-binder. Scrapbook. Everything you need to craft your first draft.

Get your thoughts onto the page and explore the connections between them.

Join the conversation. Ask a question or just get to know your fellow users.

What we’re working on, interviews with users, and general prolixity.

Typewriter. Ring-binder. Scrapbook. Scrivener combines all the tools you need to craft your first draft, from nascent notion to final full stop.

Scrivener takes tools familiar to writers everywhere and integrates them in new and exciting ways.

Start a new chapter: Scrivener 3 is now available for macOS and Windows.

No matter what you write, Scrivener brings together all of your notes, research and writing so that it's always at hand.

For writing. And writing. And writing.

Scrivener is the go-to app for writers of all kinds, used every day by best-selling novelists, screenwriters, non-fiction writers, students, academics, lawyers, journalists, translators and more. Scrivener won't tell you how to write—it simply provides everything you need to start writing and keep writing.

Available for

Grow your manuscript your way.

Tailor-made for long writing projects, Scrivener banishes page fright by allowing you to compose your text in any order, in sections as large or small as you like. Got a great idea but don't know where it fits? Write when inspiration strikes and find its place later. Grow your manuscript organically, idea by idea.

MORE FEATURES

See the forest or the trees

Whether you plan or plunge, Scrivener works your way: hammer out every last detail before typing a word, or carve out a draft and restructure later. Or mix your methods and do a bit of both. In Scrivener, everything you write is integrated into an easy-to-use project outline. So working with an overview of your manuscript is only ever a click away, and turning Chapter Four into Chapter One is as simple as drag and drop.

Research within reach

Need to refer to research? In Scrivener, your background material is always at hand, and you can open it right next to your work. Write a description based on a photograph. Transcribe an interview. Take notes about a PDF file or web page. Or check for consistency by referencing an earlier chapter alongside the one in progress.

Getting it out there

Once you're ready to share your work with the world, compile everything into a single document for printing, self-publishing, or exporting to popular formats such as Word, PDF, Final Draft or plain text. You can even share using different formatting, so that you can write in your favorite font and still satisfy those submission guidelines.

Who uses Scrivener?

• Autobiographers
• Biographers
• Children's Authors
• Journalists
• Screenwriters
• Translators

I genuinely think this is the biggest software advance for writers since the word processor. Michael Marshall Smith , NYT best-selling author.

Scrivener gives you the freedom to make a mess, the confidence to know you’ll clean it up, and the semantic relationships to tie it all together in whatever way makes the most sense to you. Merlin Mann , indie writer, speaker, and broadcaster.

If there was a list of the top five greatest apps of all time in the Mac App Store, it would start with Scrivener and then there would be four other things. Andy Ihnatko , technology columnist.

As a writer's application, Scrivener is damn near perfect; it means outlines, treatments and then first drafts can be put together in the same application. Neil Cross , author and screenwriter.

Scrivener is worth every penny: quite simply, it’s the best writers tool there is. Zoe Margolis , best-selling author.

Scrivener is the biggest leap forward in writing software since the venerable days of WordPerfect, and believe me, I’ve tried them all. Antony Johnston , comics writer and novelist.

Scrivener has so many useful features, there’s almost too many to list. Mike Sussman , Writer-Producer.

I'd thought it was yet another hobby app at first but this is genuinely for working writers with real deadlines and monster workloads. Karen Traviss , #1 NYT best-selling author.

Scrivener 1.2.4 Requires iOS 12+ Release Notes

Scrivener 3.3.6 Requires macOS 10.13+ Release Notes

Scrivener 3.1.5.1 Requires 64-bit Windows 10+ Minimum display resolution 1024x768px Release Notes

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8 Apps That Help With Writing on Your Mac

Become a better writer, be more productive, and save time with the right software installed on your Mac.

Creative writing mainly involves two parts: preparing to write—which often sets the tone for how well your writing project turns out—and actually writing.

From finding the perfect space to declutter your thoughts to a tool that helps transcribe your audio materials and software that helps tidy your blog post draft before publishing, here are some apps that help with writing on your Mac.

1. Freeform

Every writing project often begins with an idea—perhaps two or more ideas. Occasionally, they can be all over the place. And you might often find yourself looking for a place to make sense of these ideas that aren't quite whole yet. That's when you can use Apple's Freeform app creatively .

If you're working with a team on a new pitch, story, or report, you can begin brainstorming with the free collaborative tool. However, to take advantage of the built-in Freeform app, you and your team members must have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac running iOS/iPadOS 16.2, macOS Ventura 13.1, or later.

With access to Freeform, you get a whiteboard space on which you can scribble ideas as they come, insert sticky notes and pictures, and pretty much lay down every clumsy thought you have on to the surface while you and your teammates work together to refine them into a coherent, tangible thing.

Freeform is not available on the Mac App Store. It comes preinstalled on Macs running macOS Ventura 13.1 and later.

2. MindNode

MindNode is a dedicated macOS app that gives you unlimited canvas space for serious, visually appealing mind mapping. While you may use the Notes app for a basic outline, MindNode gives you a broad overview of the interconnected ideas, tasks, and details of your writing project. It's also a valuable tool for planning your writing schedule for the month or year.

You can connect nodes of ideas into branches. And as they get complex, you can collapse some branches to focus on others. You can also move things around quite easily—detach and re-attach nodes in a relatively efficient and organized manner.

Download : MindNode ($2.49/month, free version available)

To sit at your desk and successfully fill the blank pages on your Mac with meaningful words requires focus. While you can use Focus modes on your Mac to minimize distractions , many of us soon find ourselves indulging in other online activities completely unrelated to the writing task at hand.

It could be something harmless as checking your inbox for a new email. Or something more addictive and time-consuming like scrolling down Instagram or Twitter. Freedom is an app that blocks all distractions, whether it's another app or a website.

Without access to the sites and apps that often take up most of your time and attention, you can be more productive. Freedom also works across all your devices. So, you can't block Instagram on your Mac and then pick up your phone to check what's new on your feed. That way, you have all the time and attention to focus on your writing task.

Download : Freedom ($3.33/month, free trial available)

4. Hookmark

Often, while writing, you may need to reference some material or application outside of the writing app on your Mac . And that often means jumping back and forth between windows, tabs, and applications. And that's when an app like Hookmark comes in handy,

Hookmark is a macOS app designed to help you easily and efficiently access any material you have—be it a webpage, a different app, or a document.

So, instead of minimizing the word processor you're working on, to open Spotlight, Finder, or a new tab on your browser to find the app, folder, or email, all of which may take some time and possibly distract you, inputting a simple Hookmark shortcut leads directly to these resources, saving you time and possibly making your research quicker.

Download : Hookmark ($29.99 per year, free trial available)

When researching a particular project, you may find some interesting online resources useful for another writing project. If you don't have the time to read it immediately, it may get lost among the random sites in your browser's bookmarks bar.

Pocket is a handy resource that allows you to store that article for later. And whenever you're ready, you can read it on your Mac and across your other devices, even when you're offline.

Download: Pocket ($4.99/month, free version available)

6. Otter.ai

Meetings and interviews may be a huge part of your writing process. Perhaps, a meeting with your editor or an interview with a source. With this useful AI-powered web application, you needn't spend extra hours transcribing video and audio files into text.

It becomes a companion that sits in on these meetings with you, takes notes, and generates summaries for you. Ultimately, it frees up more time for you to spend writing.

And if you're unable to join an online meeting, give it access to your calendar, and it will automatically join the meeting and organize key summaries for you to look at once you're less busy.

You don't have to bother much about who says what; the software clearly marks out each speaker and what they've said in the transcript.

Download : Otter.ai ($8.33/month, free version)

7. Grammarly

While most word processors have in-built grammar and spell-checking tools, you may need a more efficient proofreader to help you avoid costly errors in your final draft. Grammarly, once installed on your Mac or perhaps enabled as an extension in your browser, monitors your writing and offers useful suggestions to help improve your style and tone.

And with the rise of generative AI, many companies, including Grammarly, are integrating artificial intelligence into their products. The GrammarlyGo feature offers you some extra help with your writing. However convenient this may be, you should know the pros and cons of AI writing tools .

Download : Grammarly ($12/month, free version)

8. Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code may be popular among programmers, but it's an efficient text editor you should consider adding to your arsenal as a writer. When it comes to web writing, you may need to get technical to avoid formatting errors.

Before publishing a piece to your blog or website, especially when you've copied the text from a different writing app like Google Docs, you need to ensure that the draft is clean and void of any strange formatting tags that might mess with the final outlook.

Download : Visual Studio Code (free)

The Best Writing Companions for Your Mac

Writing may be arduous, but it could be a lot easier with these apps installed on your Mac. The software you choose to work with can make writing even more delightful and help you save time.

So, before your next writing session, why not try out an app that helps block out distractions or proofreads your work as you go? You'll be sure to find one that improves your productivity.

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Best Writing Apps in 2024

Showing 128 writing apps that match your search.

Hemingway App

Hemingway makes your writing bold and clear. It's like a spellchecker, but for style. It makes sure that your reader will focus on your message, not your prose.

Platforms: Windows, PC, Mac

Best for: Editing, Proofreading, Book, Essay, Story, Blog, and Free

Website: https://hemingwayapp.com/

Base price:

Premium price:

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

Also rated 4.0 ★ on Reedsy

Note down, shape, & share your ideas with the world's best loved digital paper. Fall in love with handwriting all over again with Goodnotes’ digital ink.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, Book, Story, Journal, and Poetry

Website: https://www.goodnotes.com/

★★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

Also rated 4.8 ★ on the App Store

yWriter is a word processor which breaks your novel into chapters and scenes, helping you keep track of your work while leaving your mind free to create. yWriter was designed by an author, not a salesman!

Platforms: Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, and Free

Website: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter7.html

★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★★★ Value

Also rated 3.5 ★ on PC Magazine

Learn more about Reedsy Studio .

Take digital handwritten notes for class, work, or fun!

Platforms: Android, Chrome

Best for: Note-taking, Essay, and Free

Website: https://www.squidnotes.com/

★★★★★ Performance

Also rated 4.3 ★ on Google Play

Cold Turkey Writer

Cold Turkey Writer transforms your computer into a typewriter, which forces you to do nothing but write.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, PC

Website: https://getcoldturkey.com/writer/

★★★★ Accessibility

Also rated 4.0 ★ on TechRadar

From boardroom to lecture hall, project plan to daily diary, Nebo makes note-taking smarter, more efficient and more enjoyable.

Platforms: Android, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Note-taking, Journal, Poetry, and Blog

Website: https://www.nebo.app/

Also rated 4.3 ★ on the App Store

SSuite Wordgraph Editor

SSuite WordGraph is a free and very useful alternative to Microsoft's Word, OpenOffice's Writer, or anything else out there claiming to be the latest and greatest. You don't even have a need for .NET or even JAVA to be installed. This will save you a lot of hard drive space and precious computer resources.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Chrome, Android, PC

Best for: Drafting, Story, Book, Essay, and Free

Website: https://www.ssuiteoffice.com/software/wordgraph.htm

The only online writing and editing platform that guides your hand based on data from real, bestselling books, AutoCrit is built to match the genuine demands of publishing professionals and discerning readers.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, Proofreading, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://www.autocrit.com/

★★ Accessibility

Freedom blocks distractions across all your Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, and Chrome devices so you don’t have to fight off the temptation of distracting pings, notifications, headlines, and emails.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad, Chrome, Online, PC

Best for: Productivity, Journal, Book, Story, Essay, Poetry, Blog, and Free

Website: https://freedom.to/

Also rated 4.4 ★ on Google Play

WhiteSmoke renders you with the highest quality proofreading abilities available, correcting not only simple spelling mistakes like old fashioned word processors, but everything from grammar, word choices and even style mistakes, all without breaking a sweat.

Platforms: Online, Windows, PC

Best for: Editing, Proofreading, and Essay

Website: https://www.whitesmoke.com/

Compose bold, clear, mistake-free writing with Grammarly. Work with an AI writing partner that helps you find the words you need⁠—⁠to write that tricky email, to get your point across, to keep your work moving.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, Chrome, Online, PC

Website: https://www.grammarly.com/

Also rated 4.4 ★ on the App Store

Create documents, make impact. When your work needs to wow, Craft gives you the tools to make it magnificent.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Online, PC

Best for: Note-taking, Drafting, Journal, Essay, Blog, and Free

Website: https://www.craft.do/

Also rated 4.9 ★ on the App Store

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The Ultimate Writing App for Mac, iPad and iPhone

Powerful features and a pleasant, focused writing experience combined in one tool, made for people who love to write and write a lot — this is Ulysses.

Like 12 Fingers, 25 Hours a Day

Some things simply work better when you’ve got the right tool . Ulysses’ well thought-out features boost your productivity through the entire writing process; its distraction-free interface keeps you in the flow so you can get things done.

Projects Get Too Big

Be it college essays, blog posts, or the next Great American Novel : No matter what you’re working on, Ulysses is equipped for managing writing projects of all sizes and ambitions.

Ulysses is the only app I know that combines a very minimalist writing interface with the backend power to manage and shuffle around the many different parts and scenes that go into a book.

— David Hewson, Best-Selling Author (“The Killing”)

Built-In Proofreader and Editing Assistant

Write with confidence: Ulysses’ built-in grammar and style check helps you avoid mistakes and meet the right tone. Available for over 20 languages, it offers suggestions for capitalization, punctuation, semantics, redundancy, style and more.

Let Your Words Shine

After you’re done writing, Ulysses can turn your texts into beautiful PDFs, Word documents, ebooks and even blog posts. Everything is just a click away, with on-the-fly switching of styles and a live preview built right in.

The Ultimate Tool for Writing Your Book

Gather all your scenes and chapters in one spot, and still keep the overview.

Divide long passages into handy chunks, and reorganize your text with ease.

Keep excerpts, inspirational images and background information at hand.

Turn your text into a proper ebook or a Word manuscript ready to send to your publisher.

The Ultimate Tool for Posts & Articles

Feeding a blog? Write your posts in Ulysses, complete with featured images, tags, excerpts…

… and publish them seamlessly to these platforms: WordPress, Ghost, Medium and Micro.blog .

Working on a tight character limit ? Set it as a goal and track your progress.

Working for various clients ? Organize your texts in separate folders.

The Ultimate Tool for Getting the Work Done

Work in a distraction-free environment and focus on writing.

Rely on Ulysses’ markup-based text editor — no need to lift the fingers from the keyboard.

Set deadlines & daily goals and monitor your writing behavior .

Distinguish critical writing assignments so you can tackle them first.

Work Anywhere, Anytime

All your texts will be stored in Ulysses’ library, and seamlessly sync to all your connected devices. It doesn’t matter where you are or when inspiration hits: All of Ulysses’ tools, and all your texts, are always at your fingertips.

All Kinds of Writers Rely on Ulysses

Executive, startup founder and author rebekah bastian.

Rebekah Bastian wrote her book “Blaze Your Own Trail” as a side project while serving as a corporate executive; later, the impulse led her to found a company. Both the book and her business aim to support women to follow their own individual path in life.

Video Game Journalist and Novelist Matt Casamassina

Strategist in the games business by day, science fiction author by night – Matt Casamassina is a co-founder of the legendary IGN.com, led the App Store games editorial team for almost a decade, and in addition to all that, helped found a games company.

TV Host and Book Author Ralph Caspers

Ralph Caspers is the host of two of the most well-known German children’s TV programs. His work is asking questions and presenting the answers in an educational yet entertaining manner: How do the things work that surround us in everyday life, and that we mostly take for granted?

Try Ulysses for Free

Download Ulysses from the App Store Download Ulysses from the App Store and put it to the test. All plans contain a free, fully functional trial. It even syncs between your Mac, iPad and iPhone.

Improving with Age ✨

Ulysses has existed since 2003, and we work on it with the same diligence and dedication as in the beginning. We still constantly maintain and improve the app and adapt it to new technologies, making it the ideal, reliable companion to any writer. The only difference is that we’re much more experienced today!

7 best novel writing apps for Mac

Super-clean writing space with a lot of configurability that stays out of sight when you don’t need it.

• Gorgeous writing space
• Silky-smooth typing
• Deep personalization (Pro)
• Markdown or Plain Text
• Syncs with iCloud
• Writes and edits texts with ChatGPT AI
• Publishes drafts to Medium, WordPress, or Ghost
• Exports to PDF, HTML, RTF, DOCX, image, or clipboard
• Works seamlessly across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Scrivener takes tools familiar to writers everywhere and integrates them in new and exciting ways.

For writing. And writing. And writing.

Scrivener is the go-to app for writers of all kinds, used every day by best-selling novelists, screenwriters, non-fiction writers, students, academics, lawyers, journalists, translators and more. Scrivener won't tell you how to write—it simply provides everything you need to start writing and keep writing.

Grow your manuscript your way

Tailor-made for long writing projects, Scrivener banishes page fright by allowing you to compose your text in any order, in sections as large or small as you like. Got a great idea but don't know where it fits? Write when inspiration strikes and find its place later. Grow your manuscript organically, idea by idea.

See the forest or the trees

Whether you plan or plunge, Scrivener works your way: hammer out every last detail before typing a word, or carve out a draft and restructure later. Or mix your methods and do a bit of both. In Scrivener, everything you write is integrated into an easy-to-use project outline. So working with an overview of your manuscript is only ever a click away, and turning Chapter Four into Chapter One is as simple as drag and drop.

Research within reach

Need to refer to research? In Scrivener, your background material is always at hand, and you can open it right next to your work. Write a description based on a photograph. Transcribe an interview. Take notes about a PDF file or web page. Or check for consistency by referencing an earlier chapter alongside the one in progress.

Getting it out there

Once you're ready to share your work with the world, compile everything into a single document for printing, self-publishing, or exporting to popular formats such as Word, PDF, Final Draft or plain text. You can even share using different formatting, so that you can write in your favorite font and still satisfy those submission guidelines.

Create documents, make impact. When your work needs to wow, Craft gives you the tools to make it magnificent.

Don't just process words - build documents

Craft brings structure to your documents - and gives you the tools and freedom to do it your way. Seamlessly combine images, text, media or tables for the perfect experience. Drive deep understanding and engagement by allowing the reader to consume your document just as they would a website. Add your brand and personal touches on top for the prefect document.

Big on impact, teensy weensy on effort

Organizing your workflow, writing your report, creating your code or mapping your masterplan; whatever you’re doing, the freedom to do it your way matters. Tables, toggles, markdown and blocks, back-linking, forward-thinking, in, out and shake it all about - Craft’s ingeniously rich feature-set gives you endless possibilities to love how you work. Just click and create for amazingly beautiful docs in minutes, then bring it all together in your own unique way.

One beautiful experience. All of your devices.

At your desk, on the go, on or offline, enjoy Craft’s powerful performance and legendary UI across your entire toolkit, courtesy of the native app experience. Lose the lag and fall in love with instant sync; quickly jump into any document on any device; and free your creativity with the same beautiful experience whatever device you’re on. We’ve even got a web-based app so you’ll never drop the ball again.

And plenty of ways to share the love

Why keep your brilliant work to yourself when we’ve made it really simple to share? Secret Linking, shared spaces, external guests, and fast, easy export; inspire action across teams, clients, and everyone who’s anyone with the kind of content that’ll make you look way more wow than yet another Google Doc. Or Word doc. Or (insert app you’re using here).

Get focused. iA Writer offers a unique writing experience that lets you concentrate and clarify your message. Used by half a million people worldwide, its powerful interface is crafted to cut out noise, let you focus on what you want to say, and help you structure and trim your text. Available for Mac, iOS, Windows, and Android.

Simple and Powerful

No rulers, no formatting bars. iA Writer provides the crisp, uncluttered environment you need to write well, supported by discrete, powerful features, from Content Blocks, to Syntax Highlighting.

Focus and Flow

Focus is the key to good writing, and the guiding principle behind iA Writer. With shortcuts and simplified settings, you can keep your hands on the keyboard and your mind in the text.

Ownership and Control

We think every craftsperson should own their own tools, so when you download iA Writer, you own it. No forced subscriptions, microtransactions, or compatibility concerns. Your work, your files, your app.

Hack Your Syntax

Highlight parts of speech to improve your writing. Spot superfluous adjectives, weak verbs, and unwanted repetitions. Developers have long used syntax highlighting to improve their code. Now you can hack your text.

Power of Style Check

Style Check is like having a personal editor-in-chief on your device, carefully reviewing your text for redundancies, clichés and filler words as you type. It’s simple, different, and powerful.

The Original Focus Mode

Focus only on the sentence or paragraph that you’re working on. Introduced in 2010 with the original iA Writer, Focus Mode has since been copied by many writing apps. This is the original, and still (we think) the best.

Flexible Content Blocks

Swap sections around, add media, and construct your content with flexible building blocks of text, .csv tables and image files. Stitch separate chapters together into one master file. Express yourself through experimentation.

Optimized Typeface

We have created an innovative typeface for iA Writer, specifically designed to enhance the writing experience. The family comes in three flavors: classic Mono, Duo for larger screens, and Quattro for small devices.

Parallel PDF Preview

iA Writer now offers a live, paginated PDF preview, parallel to the text you are editing. Instantly see how your document translates into PDF pages, as you edit.

Advanced Markdown to Word Export

iA Writer features one of the most advanced Markdown-to-Word export functions available anywhere. Quickly export your Markdown documents to MS Word (and back too!). Includes support for tables, images and footnotes.

The Ultimate Writing App for Mac, iPad and iPhone. Powerful features and a pleasant, focused writing experience combined in one tool, made for people who love to write and write a lot — this is Ulysses.

Like 12 Fingers, 25 Hours a Day

Some things simply work better when you’ve got the right tool. Ulysses’ well thought-out features boost your productivity through the entire writing process; its distraction-free interface keeps you in the flow so you can get things done.

Projects Cannot Get Too Big

Be it college essays, blog posts, or the next Great American Novel: No matter what you’re working on, Ulysses is equipped for managing writing projects of all sizes and ambitions.

Built-In Proofreader and Editing Assistant

Write with confidence: Ulysses’ built-in grammar and style check helps you avoid mistakes and meet the right tone. Available for over 20 languages, it offers suggestions for capitalization, punctuation, semantics, redundancy, style and more.

Let Your Words Shine

After you’re done writing, Ulysses can turn your texts into beautiful PDFs, Word documents, ebooks and even blog posts. Everything is just a click away, with on-the-fly switching of styles and a live preview built right in.

Get Focused, start writing. We think Focused is the new benchmark for markdown writing apps that will enable you to really focus on your work.

Distraction-Free

No clutter, no distractions. Just a perfectly crafted set of tools to help you write and stay focused on the task at hand.

Need to hit a word count, or stick to a character limit? Focused keeps you on target without cluttering your workspace.

The dog will never eat your homework again - Auto Save keeps your content safe, with Versions support to retrieve an edit.

Soundtracks

Filter out life’s distractions with 8 calming soundtracks that aid your focus, allowing you to concentrate on your writing.

Focused is built to help you write for the web without the need to know any code - Focused generates it all for you.

Never leave the keyboard again, with comprehensive keyboard shortcuts to help you structure and format.

Whether you’re writing a paper or a blog post, you’re at your most productive when you focus. In addition to Focused’s minimal design, Zen Mode heightens your focus with a choice of eight carefully selected soundtracks. Perfect to help you relax and create great content, no matter what your deadline may be.

Typewriter Mode

Stay focused on the paragraph (or sentence) at hand with typewriter mode. Vertically center your copy and choose whether you want to fade out the surrounding text for even fewer distractions.

iWriter Pro

iWriter Pro is elegant and minimalist text editor with built-in MultiMarkdown support.

Clean and Simple

iWriter Pro is designed to be easy yet powerful text editing app. It provides distraction-free writing experience with a bunch of handy features.

Markdown Highlighting

Markdown is a good way to format your text, apply styles, insert lists and block quotes. iWriter Pro automatically highlights text as you type.

iCloud Support

Use iCloud to store your documents. You can easily create, view and edit your files on Mac, iPad and iPhone devices.

It will come as little surprise that we think the Novel Factory is the best writing software. That’s because we’ve spent the last ten years trying to work out what makes novel writing software great, and then building it.

Nonetheless, we are aware that writers’ needs vary, and that there are apps out there that are more established or have a different focus or a development team with different areas of expertise.

So we have genuinely done our best in this review to give an honest rundown of some of the best novel writing software options, analysing their strengths and weaknesses. But we’ll start with the one we know best.

The main strengths of Novel Factory are its intuitive, clean design and the wealth and detail of the novel writing resources.

As well as providing a word processor, features for creating plots and managing subplots, and areas for keeping notes on characters, locations and items – the software integrates what some have described as ‘an MA in writing’.

As well as the Roadmap, which is a step-by-step guide to writing a novel, it includes detailed character development questionnaires, world building guides and plot templates based on popular genres.

So it’s not just the car, but the engine and map as well.

The software has a section for setting your writing targets, and then automatically updates colour-coded graphs so you can track your progress towards them.

It also autosaves your manuscript and has version history, so you can access previous drafts of your writing.

And as the data is centrally stored, it’s easy for writers to collaborate on a single novel, always able to access the latest changes.

If we have to focus on the weaknesses of the Novel Factory, then we have to admit it’s not the cheapest option out there. Writers on a tight budget may not be able to stretch to $7.50 per month. We hate the idea of anyone being priced out, so we do run promos a few times a year which bring the price down, and we offer educational discounts and occasionally free licences on a hardship basis (get in touch with us for more info).

Is the Novel Factory the best novel writing software for me?

The Novel Factory is perfect for new writers, who want to learn their craft while writing their first novel.

It’s great for planners, who want to use established structures to make their story skeleton bullet-proof and develop complex characters with desires, flaws and internal conflicts.

It’s the right fit if you want somewhere to keep track of all supporting data, as well as writing the novel itself, and if you want options to work Online and Offline, as it suits you.

It’s good for visual learners, who appreciate being able to add a lot of images, who like to see how different aspects of the novel link together and who like everything clearly categorised and aesthetically appealing.

It’s less useful for writers who want something more freeform, or something where they can set up and rearrange the categories themselves. And discovery writers may prefer something a bit more streamlined and simple, as they may not need the additional sections for supporting data.

Click here to find out more about the features included in the Novel Factory 3.0, or click here for a free 30 day trial .

No novel writing software list would be complete without Scrivener – the Goliath of the writing software world.

Scrivener was one of the first apps to appear on the market, and is by far the most well-known program today.

The main strengths of Scrivener are its flexibility and richness of features. It has had a long time to mature, and take into account feedback from its huge community, so it is packed full of features, from index cards to name generators. It offers goal tracking, word counts and places to keep your notes.

Plus, because the community is so huge, you can take advantage of freely shared resources, such as character and plot templates.

Scrivener is very reasonably priced at £47, and is available for Mac, PC and even IOS (though the licences for each of these are sold separately), though there isn’t a web-based version.

The widely accepted main weakness of Scrivener is the other side of the coin of its strength – it’s complexity.

The ‘steep learning curve’ is cited by many as a real issue, and while there are dozens of courses to help you get to grips with the intricacies of the program, people who are trying to write a novel are usually already struggling to find enough time just to write their manuscript. And it’s quite a big ask to require someone to invest dozens of hours learning a program before they’re even sure it’s the right one for them.

Is Scrivener the best creative writing software for me?

Scrivener is a great app, with tons of fantastic features, and there’s a reason it’s used by so many writers.

As they state on their website, they, ‘won’t tell you how to write’, so this it’s best suited to an experienced novelist who has time to learn the features and work out how to use them to plan and write their novel.

It offers a lot of flexibility and customisation so, you can use the tools in lots of different ways, to suit your style.

But for a newer novelist, who is just learning their craft and might want a little more guidance, it can be a bit overwhelming, while not offering guidance on how to actually write a novel.

And having so many choices can also lead to decision paralysis, or not really knowing the best way to proceed, so it probably won’t suit people who are less comfortable with advanced technology and customisation.

Click here to find out more about Scrivener and get a free trial.

YWriter is another veteran piece of software which is widely respected and loved.

YWriter contains all the key features you’d expect from novel writing software, including clearly defined places to keep track of your characters , locations, scenes, chapters and somewhere to write your novel.

A big strength is that it allows you to link everything together and handily cross-reference, and it has lots of tools to keep track of your word counts and progress.

The main weakness of yWriter is that it’s not clear where to start when you first open it, and the word processor takes a while to find. Also, some sections of the interface are a bit primitive, requiring you to enter code syntax, rather than offering a proper graphic user interface where you can simply, click, drag and drop.

The characters, locations and tools tabs are all fairly straightforward, but the interface is all table-based, which can get a bit monotonous. While you can add images to characters, locations and items, they’re not displayed in the main interface for quick reference.

Like Scrivener, it doesn’t give you any guidance on how to actually write a novel.

Is yWriter the best free novel writing software for me?

While yWriter isn’t the most intuitive software to use, or the most fully featured, it has one major advantage which, for many writers, will rocket it above all the competitors.

That is that it is completely free.

For a free product, yWriter is quite phenomenal and it is extremely generous of the developer to give away such a great app with no charge at all. Of course, you can donate to help support future development, but even the suggested donations are only up to $24.95 as a one off.

So if you are looking for dedicated software to keep track of the key aspects of your novel but you’re on a tight budget, then yWriter is a fantastic option.

Click here to find out more about yWriter.

Fictionary is an online creative writing software that approaches the process from a different point of view. Instead of starting with an idea and helping the writer grow it into a full novel, Fictionary has a stronger focus on improving your manuscript after you’ve written it.

The main strength of Fictionary is its analytical capabilities once you import your manuscript. It can help you get an overarching view of your story arc.

It has an attractive interface and a sidebar with lots of useful prompts to help you think about various aspects of each scene.

The ‘Plot’ section of the sidebar gives useful prompts to encourage you to consider the type, role and goals of each scene.

Likewise, the ‘settings’ section offers useful prompts to help you think not only about the practical details of your setting, but also how it impacts the story.

The main weakness of Fictionary is that the data is only as good as what you enter, and the analysis relies a lot on your own understanding of story and character.

It offers a lot of numerical analysis and helps you identify tangible things such as chapters or scenes which are excessively long, or which contain excessive numbers of characters, but whether those things are actually an issue or not depends a lot on context and your own choices, and at the end of the day, the quality of a novel can’t be boiled down to statistics.

Also, everything is viewed by scenes, so you can’t get much of an overview of your plot, apart from the quite limited Story Arc.

Also, like Novlr, it doesn’t have much support for plot structure development or developing your characters, which isn’t that surprising, since its focus is on after you’ve written the novel. You can enter your characters, but the data is limited to name and whether that character is POV. You can’t add any further information, or images. You can add information about locations to each scene, but there’s no database of locations that stands alone.

It’s also the most expensive option on our list, at $20 per month or $200 per year.

Is Fictionary the best novel editing software for me?

Fictionary is useful if you’ve already written a manuscript and you want to analyse it to find out where the inconsistencies or weak areas are.

It’s great if you love obsessing over data, and it can help you think about aspects of scenes to make them stronger and more compelling.

It’s not very useful for new novelists who want to learn how to write their first novel, or for planners who are looking for tools to structure, outline and develop characters before writing their novel.

Click here to find out more about Fictionary and get a free trial.

Atticus is a newcomer to the market, created by established self-publishing marketing guru, Dave Chesson.

The key unique strength of Atticus is its formatting and publishing functions. As a self-published author, Dave rightly recognised that there were few options on the market that allowed you to easily ready your manuscript for self-publishing – and even fewer if you weren’t on a Mac.

Atticus allows you to easily select between various formatting styles, and export your novel to a ready-to-go ebook format for all the major self-publishing platforms.

In conjunction with that, Atticus includes dedicated spaces for front matter and back matter, and it allows you to set writing goals, and even select which days of the week you plan to write, which is a nice touch.

It works in a browser, and you can also download apps for Windows and Mac, making it one of the most cross-platform options out there.

It’s got a slick, attractive, highly intuitive interface. It even features a cute cartoon dog – what’s not to like?

The weakness of Atticus compared to other novel writing software, is that it doesn’t offer any areas for keeping track of characters or locations, managing your plot. Of course if you don’t need those features, then that’s not a problem at all.

It also doesn’t get into the business of teaching you how to write a novel, so if you’re a beginner looking for more craft guidance, you’ll need to find that info somewhere else.

It doesn’t offer any free trial, which could be quite off-putting to some people, and the price isn’t that cheap, at $147, though that is a one-off cost. Asking people to pay that much without having been able to poke at the software first demands quite a lot of trust, though there is a no-quibble 30 day money back guarantee.

Is Atticus the best novel formatting software for me?

Atticus is almost certainly the best option for actively self-publishing authors who have a reasonable budget available and prefer to just get on with writing their novels without doing a lot of additional work creating character profiles, locations sheets or planning documents.

It offers a clean interface for writing, and easy formatting and publishing to all the major platforms, something very few of the other options offer.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for more comprehensive novel writing software which includes features and functions to help you keep track of characters, manage your plot and subplots and give novel writing advice, then Atticus is not that sort of one-stop-shop.

Click here to check out Atticus.

Write It Now

Write it Now is a desktop based novel writing software app available for both Windows and Mac, with a wide range of features, but quite a cluttered, dated interface.

The main strength of Write It Now is the wide range of features it includes.

As well as having sections to keep your characters, locations, events, props, notes and research, it has some cool tools which are rare in other programs, such as character relationship charts.

There are some prompts and guidance with regards to characters, such as including their birth and death date, and their relationship to other characters, but ‘personality’ is limited to sliders on different personality traits, such as ‘health’ or ‘aggression’.

Another strength is that it includes places for front and back matter, and offers a wide range of export options.

By far the biggest weakness of the software is its interface. Balance, style and consistency are lacking and it’s cluttered with fussy icons. And while at the top level the sections are quite intuitive, many of the buttons within the sections are quite confusing and it’s unclear what the intent behind them is, even after you’ve clicked them.

Finally, it doesn’t appear to offer many overview options, so apart from the tree list on the left hand side, you can’t view all of your characters at a glance. There also doesn’t seem to be a way to get an overview of your plot structure.

Is Write It Now the best novel planning software for me?

Write It Now is good for writers who are comfortable with technology and like to have lots of detailed features and functions, and who want to be able to drill down into lots of detail, and customise the software to suit themselves. And who aren’t that fussed about aesthetics.

It’s also a good option for users who prefer Desktop software, as many of the novel writing apps out there now are solely web-based.

It’s not good for people who value an aesthetically pleasing, intuitive interface. It’s also not good for people who want to keep things simple.

It doesn’t include any guidance on how to write a novel, so it’s less useful for new novel writers.

Click here to check out Write It Now.

FocusWriter

FocusWriter is a super-simple, free app to help writers focus and avoid distractions.

It’s biggest strength is exactly what it says – its focus. Its main objective is to minimise distractions, so you can get on with writing your novel.

It also has some customisation options, so you can change the background image to something you like and it’s available in multiple languages.

Its weakness is that it doesn’t offer anything else.

There is nowhere to keep track of any supporting information, such as that of characters, locations, items, research or notes. Of course, it doesn’t intend to offer those things, but if you want them – that’s a problem.

There’s no support on how to write a novel, and despite its simplicity, the interface still manages to look slightly dated.

Is FocusWriter the best novel writing software for me?

FocusWriter is perfect for authors who just want to get on and write a manuscript and not faff around with lots of planning and research. So it’s far better suited to discovery writers, rather than planners.

People who like to have a completely clear desk, and who find clutter impacts on their train of thought, will find FocusWriter the perfect solution.

If you’re looking for a more fully featured program, which will help keep track of supporting information, as well as the manuscript itself, then this is not the app for you.

Likewise, if you’re a new writer who wants a program that integrates guidance, templates and novel writing advice, then this is not a good option.

Click here to download FocusWriter.

Bibisco is a desktop based app with a clean, uncluttered layout and a good range of features.

It’s main strengths are the simplicity of its interface and the fact it has sections for all the major aspects of novel writing.

It’s nicely laid out, with the option to add images to things such as characters and locations. It has graphs to visualise things such as chapter lengths and character and object distribution. Another great feature is the character relationships tool.

It includes quite a few character development prompts, though how you fill them in is a little confusing at first, and it’s not possible to easily see all the information at a glance, you have to keep clicking to drill down, and then clicking to go back up to the top level again.

Another nice touch is the popup help boxes that appear as you move through the app, giving you extra hints and tips without making you grind to a halt to complete a lengthy tutorial.

The biggest weaknesses of the software are the fact that it has no free trial, and the lack of clear flow of overarching structure to the software.

This is one of the only programs that doesn’t offer a free trial. The price is very low (only $18, though you can pay more if you feel inclined to), so you could just take a punt on it, but it seems a big ask to require people to fork out before they’ve ever had a chance to take it for a test drive and see if it suits them.

The other issue is that it’s not always clear the best way to use the software. For many this is fine, as they’ll use it how they please – but if you’re looking for something that will guide you through the novel writing process, you’ll be disappointed.

Is Bibisco the best novel writing software for me?

If you’re looking for a low-cost desktop app to keep track of key information relating to your novel, then Bibisco is a great choice. It has a nice clean interface, contains all the key sections you could require with a few nice extras, and is very modestly priced.

However, if you’re a discovery writer who just wants to get writing, it’s unlikely to suit you, as the emphasis is on supporting data, rather than the manuscript. It actually takes a while to find the word processor.

And if you’re a planner looking for a way to shuffle around plot points and get a bird’s eye view of your structure, Bibisco doesn’t provide that.

It also isn’t designed for new writers who are looking for guidance on how to actually write their novel, as it doesn’t contain that sort of information.

Click here to find out more about Bibisco.

Wavemaker is a smart novel writing app which contains a range of useful features for novelists.

Like yWriter, it is a labour of love by a single developer who wanted to create software for his own writing, and like yWriter it is also available for free, with a gentle encouragement for you to donate money so he can spend more time on it.

It’s a progressive web app, which means it runs in a browser, but continues to work if you go offline, syncing as soon as it gets a connection back.

Our favourite Wavemaker strengths are its range of elegant planning features and its beautiful interface.

Wavemaker contains several different ways to plan your novel and gather your notes, each slightly different to take into account different ways of processing information, but allowing you to drag and drop items, and link ideas and notes in different ways.

It includes tagging, which can be very useful for cross-referencing and sorting, and it has a sidebar so you can view some of your notes while writing your manuscript.

It is very clean and pleasing to look at, and using the tools is very intuitive.

The main weakness of Wavemaker is that while it is a great selection of tools, they don’t integrate in any coherent way. You can’t enter info in one and then view it in one of the other sections to get a different perspective. There’s no flow, where you start in one section, then when that’s complete, move to the next. Then again, the freeform way will work better for many people.

Also, the tools mostly stop at the top level functionality, so they do what they say, but there’s not a lot more below the surface.

It doesn’t have any novel writing teaching resources, so people who are looking to write their first novel will need to find that information somewhere else, and there’s little in the way of prompts, to show you how to develop characters or settings, or structure a plot.

Is Wavemaker the best free novel writing software for me?

Wavemaker is great if you want a flexible, intuitive and aesthetically pleasing toolbox for working out the plot of your novel.

It will also be good for discovery writers who want a clean interface which works online and offline.

It’s less useful for new writers who are looking for writing craft guidance, or for those who like to see how all their data links together across the different sections.

Click here to check out Wavemaker.

Novlr is a web-based novel writing app with a beautiful interface, a bunch of great features and plenty of resources to help teach you how to write a novel.

One of the biggest strengths of Novlr is how attractive and pleasing it is to look at, with its slick layout. For some people, this may be considered unimportant compared to the features available, but for many of us a clear, uncluttered interface helps our thoughts flow more clearly.

It also offers spelling and grammar suggestions, in the same way Word does, which not many novel writing apps do.

It autosaves and creates a version history, which gives great peace of mind.

It includes word count info and even motivational messages when you achieve your goals.

One of its weaknesses is the price – it is among the higher priced apps at $100 per year.

Another potential weakness (though could be a strength, depending on your point of view), is that it doesn’t have any features relating to characters, plotting or locations. The focus of Novlr is solely on the manuscript, so any related research or development you want to do has to be done elsewhere.

Is Novlr the right story writing software for me?

Novlr is perfect for discovery writers (also known as pantsers), with its beautiful, clean interface, proofreading tools and version history.

It’s also good for new writers as, like the Novel Factory, it has an integrated course to help you write your novel.

It’s not so useful for writers who are looking for a more all round software, which will give them somewhere to keep track of their cast of characters, offer plotting tools and world building resources.

Click here to find out more about Novlr and get a free trial.

In summary – what is the best novel writing software for you? Our top three recommendations, for planners, pantsers, and those on a budget.

As we’ve seen, if you’re looking for novel writing software, you’re spoiled for choice. You can find software that will take care of all your supporting novel data, such as characters and locations, or you can find absolute minimalist apps to help you avoid distractions.

There is software that teaches you how to write a novel, and there’s software that gives you imaginative ways to view your data, such as index cards, mind maps and relationship charts.

Some of the software is perfect for discovery writers, while others are a dream come true for planners. You may also want to consider using Papertyper, a free AI essay writer tool that can help you organize your thoughts and ideas. This is also worth your attention.

Some are aesthetically pleasing and calming to look at and use, while others prioritise highly customisable detail.

The right software for you will depend on your personal preferences and priorities, but here’s a summary of our top three favourites, for the most diverse requirements:

Here are our top recommendations:

• Best all round novel writing software: The Novel Factory
• Best minimalist writing software: FocusWriter
• Best free novel writing software: Wavemaker

Whatever your needs, we hope you find the tool that’s a perfect partner for your novel writing future!

Unlock your writing potential

If you liked this article by the Novel Factory, then why not try the Novel Factory app for writers?

It includes:

• Plot Templates
• Character Questionnaires
• Writing Guides
• Drag & Drop Plotting Tools
• World Building resources
• Much, much more

Home > Learn More About Content Writing > 10 Best MAC Apps For Writers in 2024 [Updated]

10 Best MAC Apps For Writers in 2024 [Updated]

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From clay tablets to pen and paper, typewriters and now computers, writers have used various means over the years. Thanks to budding technology, writers now have the ability to create, edit, and arrange content as required.

Speaking of technology, numerous creative content writing apps are available today that provide a seamless writing experience. Each app has its own features and audience. While one app is great for a novice writer, another one works well for seasoned writers. 

Without giving an absolute ranking, we have listed the 10 best Mac apps for writers. Read more about these apps to decide which one suits you most:

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1. scrivener.

The apps offer features that are particularly useful for long time writers who have to brainstorm and plan a lot for organizing their content. From researching to publishing, this app guides you through every stage of the writing exercise.

“Scrivener is compatible with iOS and Windows. With features like Corkboard and Outline, you get an overview of your content and rearrange it into sections the way you want.”

• Pankaj Gupta, Freelance Writer.

This app promises a smooth user interface that ensures a focused writing experience. Its Markdown, document syncing, management, and export feature make Ulysses the top pick among writers. You can download the app from the Mac App Store for a free 14-day trial period but regular use requires a monthly fee.

3. Light Paper

If cost is a deciding factor, LightPaper is definitely lighter on your pocket. Though the writing experience is not as smooth as Ulysses offers, features like Markdown preview, Multi-tabs, Shadow and Scratch Notes make it an interesting app.

“Writer is another cheaper alternative to Ulysses. There is no trial version and can be downloaded straight from the developer’s website.”

• Sakshi Sharma, Digital Marketing Expert.

  4. Mellel

The app is quite powerful and stable. It is preferred by academics for writing research papers and theses. Multi-language support and mathematical equations appeals to academic writers.

5. Storyist

This tool offers a wonderful writing medium for script writers and novelists. You can create submission-ready scripts using this app.  

6. iA Writer

The app allows you to focus on your writing part by eliminating distractions and offering an enjoyable environment. It uses Markdown, focus mode, and a dark theme that keeps you engrossed in the writing. 

Syntax highlighting improves your writing by indicating repetitions and weak writing. The document library feature syncs your work across all your devices.

7. Bear 

This attractive app serves as a note-taking tool. It stores your documents in a database  and organises them by tags. Bear represents Markdown with proper formatting in the note. The app is free but you can unlock additional features with a subscription. 

If you want to immerse yourself in writing, the app will help you stay focussed by offering a distraction-free environment. Several other features such as ability to publish directly to various blogging platforms add to the functionality of the app. 

This is a basic writing tool based on Markdown. It is a fairly steady and full-featured app. It includes an outline panel, themes, mathematical formulas, diagrams and tables.

10. Manuscripts 

This is a powerful app that helps you to organize, edit, and share your content. It offers features like templates, writing goals, an outlier, and publishing support. These features particularly appeal to students and academics.

These are some of the best MAC apps for creative writing. They are designed to offer a friction-free writing experience to writers with features like Markdown and distraction-free interface. 

Another great way to improve writing prowess is to join a creative writing course. You will learn valuable skills and tips that will enhance your writing style.

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FAQ’s

What are best MAC apps for writers?

Speaking of technology, numerous creative content writing apps are available today that provide a seamless writing experience. Each app has its own features and audience. While one app is great for a novice writer, another one works well for seasoned writers.

How to use Typora ?

What is LightPaper ?

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Best free writing app of 2024

Bring your words to life with the best free writing apps

Best overall

Best for markup, best word alternative, best word processor, best for mac, best online.

• How we test

The best free writing apps serve up more than just text tools - they also offer betters ways to manage and organize all your ideas, outlines, and projects. 

1. Best overall 2. Best for markup 3. Best Word alternative 4. Best word processor 5. Best for Mac 6. Best online 7. FAQs 8. How we test

Like the best free word processors , writing apps help you get your thoughts on the page without breaking the bank (or your train of thought). But we’ve also made sure they’ll make it easier to save, share, and sync all your documents and keep them safe, whether you need a desktop writing app for work, school, or play. 

If you struggle to stay focused, we’ve tested some of the best free writing apps come with distraction-free layouts or gamification challenges to keep you in the zone. We’ve also reviewed those built for professional document creation, with advanced business features such as speech-to-text transcription and online collaboration tools. 

Our picks cover the best apps for writing on the web, Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS - so you’re always ready whenever and wherever creativity strikes. 

Scrivener: best writing software for authors Scrivener is packed with all the features a novelist needs, helping you track plot threads, store notes on characters and locations, structure your work and (most importantly) get some serious work done. It's not a free writing app like the tools below, but it's well worth the investment if your budget will allow it.

The best free writing app of 2024 in full:

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

1. FocusWriter

Our expert review:

Specifications

Reasons to buy, reasons to avoid.

FocusWriter helps writers combat one of their biggest challenges: distractions. One of the best free writing software tools out there, it's specifically designed to let you just concentrate on your writing. 

The stripped-back interface is deliciously sparse - ideal for when you just need to get your head down and write - and not dissimilar to a moderately powerful version of Notepad, featuring support for TXT, basic, RTF, and ODT files. 

Even the toolbar is hidden until you actually need it. Just swoop your cursor to the top on the screen to reveal a barren menu, from basic formatting to themes and timers.

Features are light within the software, but FocusWriter isn’t made for heavy editing sessions. It’s designed to make the act of writing flow seamlessly onto the page. 

Elsewhere, the writing app boasts the ability to add themes and your own background images, which can help you stay motivated. 

The Daily Progress tool is a sweet extra, adding Duolingo-style gamification that lets you track your daily writing streak. For when it’s oh-so-easy to slip onto social media when you can’t find the perfect word, it’s a nice way to keep you within the app. 

Available for Windows, Linux, and macOS, the writing software also comes as a portable download, no installation required. So, you can pop it on a USB stick and plug it into any computer you’re working on. 

Read our full FocusWriter review .

• ^ Back to the top

2. WriteMonkey

WriteMonkey is another piece of free writing software that cuts down on the clutter to deliver uninterrupted writing sessions. 

The free word processor, cleverly described as zenware, is unbelievably pared back compared to more traditional writing apps. 

There’s very little in the way of distracting ‘screen furniture’, which means you’re better positioned to concentrate on the writing process. And absolutely nothing else. 

But don’t let that stripped-back approach fool you. As one of the best free writing apps, WriteMonkey is still rich with the sort of core features that matter to writers. 

However, most options are hidden in a context menu (so you’ll need to right-click to view it). It also only supports TXT files, which may limit those looking to read, write, or edit across multiple formats. It is, at least, a portable download, letting you take it wherever you need.

If you’ve enjoyed Markdown, the simplified text-editing language that lets you format, annotate, classify, and link as you type, then great. WriteMonkey’s inner workings will instantly chime. 

First-timers should spend a little time with this free writing software, to uncover that intuitive simplicity. 

Read our full WriteMonkey review .

3. LibreOffice Writer

Writer, the open-source, free writing software, serves almost all general writing needs.

LibreOffice is a near-perfect example of free office software - a familiar, feature-rich take on the office suite. What the veteran software package lacks in Microsoft polish (its interface is undeniably old-fashioned, for starters), it makes up for in its price-point: free. For that, you get access to six tools: Calc, Impress, Draw, Base, Math, and Writer. 

Earning it a slot on our list of best free writing apps is the fact that LibreOffice Writer packs the full editing toolbox. 

This isn’t just a note-taking app for staving off distractions when you’re deep in the zone; it’s for when you’re in pure writer-mode. 

If you’re at all proficient with Microsoft Word, you won’t have any problems using the Writer software. Layouts and functions are almost identical, and there’s support for DOC and DOCX file types, making it efficient to switch out of the Microsoft garden.

This free writing app is ideal if you’re hunting for a tool that almost perfectly replicates the Word experience without the cost. 

Read our full LibreOffice review .

4. Microsoft Word

When it comes to word processors, Microsoft Word is probably the baseline against which all others are compared. It’s the one most of us use at school, home, and work. It’s familiar, comfortable - and it’s available free on the web and mobile devices. 

That may not be the best way to write your masterpiece (unless you’ve hooked up a Bluetooth keyboard). But it’s a great way to jot down ideas on-the-go. When we tested the browser-based version we found it could be a bit slow at first, and we were typing faster than the words appeared on screen. This settles down (mostly) after a minute or so. 

Microsoft’s free writing apps on Android and iPhone had no such issues. Using these was velvety smooth. We especially appreciated the option to switch between mobile view and desktop view, so we could gauge how the document would appear in full-screen. 

As with Google Docs, you’ll need to sign up with a Microsoft account. And, like Google, that also lets you use free versions of PowerPoint, Excel, and the like. While Word offers one of the best free writing app experiences, there’s no denying that the paid-for upgrade is superior, offering more tools, and a true desktop app. 

Read our full Microsoft Word review .

Author promises to make it easier to ‘think, write, and cite’. It’s a promise capably delivered, with a clean interface and bags of writing features designed to make it easy to go from first draft to final copy. 

If you're an Apple user in search of the best free writing apps on macOS, this one demands your attention. 

Concept Maps is one of the best features. It’s a great mind-mapping tool to visualize and lay down all your thoughts while they’re fresh in your head without constraint. You can worry about whipping them into shape later. 

Students and report writers will appreciate Author’s ‘fast citing’ tools - speeding up assignment-writing by correctly adding and formatting citations, references, and contents. 

A paid-for upgrade of the writing software that offers exporting options is available. However, unless you need automatic formatting on export, you can stick with the free version. 

6. Google Docs

Google Docs is a great free writing platform for any writer. It’s an extremely clean, quick word processor available in the browser, on desktop, and phone and tablet apps. So, you can take notes wherever inspiration strikes. 

Docs is more or less Google’s spin on Microsoft Word. The interface is a bit more simple than the professional office software - although it’s no less powerful. 

You’ll find heaps of writing tools, including a pretty accurate speech-to-text transcription tool (just enunciate and don’t talk too fast). Keyboard shortcuts are very well-supported. 

For best results, you’ll need an internet connection, though documents can be used offline. They’ll be synced, and in our experience, that happens swiftly behind the scenes. 

To take advantage of the free writing app, you’ll need a Google account, which may be a deal-breaker for some - but that also opens up the rest of the Google-stuff in the Google-sphere, such as Sheets, Slides, and . With a free account, you get 15GB of storage, which should be more than enough for word documents. A Google One subscription upgrades your storage space, amongst other things. 

Additionally, Google Docs is great if you want to collaborate with one or more other writers. Just be warned to stay in Google Docs for that, because exporting the data into Word or other writing applications can result formatting errors.

Read our full Google Docs review .

Best free writing app: FAQs

What's the difference between a writing app and an ai writer.

AI writers vs writing apps - what's the real difference?

Artificial intelligence is growing in a big way - and when it comes to writing, it's ChatGPT that's been snatching all the headlines of late, with its ability to generate short- and long-form content based on user prompts.

Generally, an AI writer will write your content for you, based on its current learning (although often without 'understanding' the context). A writing app simply lets you write your way, in your own voice. 

Some platforms, such as Canva , have even integrated AI into its Canva Docs and Canva PDF Editor services. However. its Magic Write tool acts as a writing assistant, serving up suggestions and ideas, leaving real writers to work their magic on the content. Though usually hiding in the back-end, you can also find AI integrated in other ways across other the best PDF editor apps (and even the best free PDF editor apps, too).

As always with AI-generated content, whether it's the written word or an artwork masterpiece, human involvement is usually necessary and always desirable. Even if you're using the best AI writers out there, editing and proofreading is essential to give the content accuracy and emotional resonance.

How to choose the best free writing app for you

When deciding which free writing app is best, start by figuring out what sort of writing you want to do. 

Do you need a handy tool for quick scribbles and jotting down ideas here and there, or are you using the writing software to write and edit an epic novel? Tools like FocusWriter and Write Monkey are great for getting thoughts on the page without friction.

It’s also worth considering if you need a writing app with a distraction-free design, so you can concentrate on what really matters to you. Again, FocusWriter performs admirably here, but as a result, you lose core typography and editing functions. Unlike LibreOffice, this isn’t the best Microsoft Office alternative if you need those tools. In that scenario, it may be worth considering looking at some of the best free office software , which includes MS Word-style apps, alongside other tools similar to Excel, PowerPoint, and so on. 

Access is an important factor when using your writing software. A tool like Scribus needs to be downloaded to your machine. Lightweight apps like FocusWriter, however, offer a portable download that can be downloaded to a USB and carried with you. 

Check what file formats your chosen writing app supports, too. While some let you create and edit the common DOC and DOCX files, others only allow TXT or RTF documents.

But most of all, it’s important to choose the best free writing app for your unique creative flow. 

How we test the best free writing apps

Testing the best free writing apps and software, we assess how easy it is to get your words down on the page with the least amount of friction. Portable writing apps rank high, because they let you use the program on whatever computer or laptop you’re using. 

We also look at performance for its intended audience. For distraction-free writing apps, do they really foster focus? For word processor-style software, does it offer good formatting and editing options? 

Most importantly, we expect to see free writing apps that are genuinely cost-free - no-one wants to stumble across hidden fees and charges in the contracts. 

We've listed the best laptops for writers .

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Steve is TechRadar Pro’s B2B Editor for Creative & Hardware. He explores the apps and devices for individuals and organizations that thrive on design and innovation. A former journalist at Web User magazine, he's covered software and hardware news, reviews, features, and guides. He's previously worked on content for Microsoft, Sony, and countless SaaS & product design firms. Once upon a time, he wrote commercials and movie trailers. Relentless champion of the Oxford comma.

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*** Bundle Offer: Buy scene-by-scene outline & analysis of Iron Man, Sixth Sense, Ocean's Eleven, Incredibles, Fugitive, Wall Street. View in-app. Script not included *** Creative writing software for screenwriters, playwrights and novelists to help you plan your outline, develop characters, structure and organize your narrative and professionally format your movie script, stageplay, TV show or manuscript, allowing you to build your screen and stage story beat by beat and your novel chapter by chapter. Key Features • Professional Script Formatting & Automatic Pagination • Designed For Sequence Outlining & Story Planning • Dedicated Novel Mode With Chapter Headings • Powerful Color-Coded Story Structuring With Templates • Story Tasks “To Do” List & Global Scratch Pad • Character Development Tools, Headshot Gallery & Name Wizard • Screenplay, Stageplay, Teleplay & Musical Layout Templates • Reference Library With 12 Hollywood Movie Breakdowns • FeelFactor™ Story Pacing & Audience Engagement Charts • Retina Aware / Night Mode / Full Screen Mode • WYSIWYG Fully Editable Dual Dialogue • Table Read “Text-to-Speech” & Dictation Assistant • Unicode & Right-to-Left Language Support • Import / Export Final Draft & Export For Production Scheduling • Scene Numbering, Continueds, Act Breaks & Auto-Complete • Custom “Courier Nuvo” Font For Writing Screenplays Script Studio® was developed by a produced screenwriter to take the complexity out of the script and novel writing process, allowing you to focus on your story while the software handles the formatting and pagination through auto-complete and keyboard shortcuts. You can color-code your structure into acts and sequences, use templates such as "The Hero's Journey" and classic “3 Act Structure”, and compare the progress of your own story side by side with scene by scene breakdowns and analyses of 12 successful Hollywood movies: • Dead Poets Society • Die Hard • Ghost • Good Will Hunting • Pretty Woman • Scream • Seven • Spider-Man • The Terminator • There's Something About Mary • True Romance • When Harry Met Sally • More available to purchase In-App Script Studio is unique because it offers what no other creative writing software can — an all-in-one story development package that takes your initial idea from concept to professionally formatted script, making it the ultimate writer's tool which is now used by many Hollywood professionals. "As a previous dyed-in-the-wool lover of Final Draft, you need to know, I LOVE Script Studio and will never go back!" — Kieth Merrill - Academy Award® Winning Writer / Producer / Director "Script Studio is an impressive app for professional writers. It has a wealth of features for drafting, plotting, organizing, and writing different kinds of works - 4/5 stars Excellent" — Jill Duffy - PCMag.com Script Studio has a modern, intuitive user-interface with a myriad of helpful writing features and powerful import and export options. It fully supports Unicode text with diacritics and right-to-left text input for languages such as Hebrew. You can also download international dictionaries and thesauri for free to suit your region. Take your writing to the next level and start your next project with Script Studio.

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