Best writing apps for authors: drafting, outlining and grammar

Writing a book takes three kinds of software: a place to draft and organize a full manuscript, a way to plan its structure, and a tool that turns the finished text into ebook and print files. A grammar checker covers a fourth job, catching errors while you write and revise. The novel and long-form writing ranking and the grammar and proofreading ranking cover these jobs, and most authors end up with two or three tools rather than one.

Manuscript apps and formatting tools

Drafting apps hold the whole manuscript in one project. Scrivener is the strongest drafting app in its ranking. Its corkboard and outliner reorder sections, research stays in the project, and its compile step exports Word, PDF and plain text. It is a one-time license per platform with a 30-day trial. Ulysses is a subscription for Apple devices, with iCloud sync, writing goals and export to PDF, Word and ebook formats. novelWriter is free and open source, and its project files are plain text.

Formatting tools focus on the output. Atticus writes and formats in one program, exports EPUB, MOBI, PDF and DOCX, and runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebook. Its listing describes no outlining tools. Vellum is a Mac program that turns a finished manuscript into EPUB ebooks and print PDFs, and it starts from an imported manuscript rather than a draft. Reedsy Studio is a free browser app that drafts and exports EPUB files and print-ready PDFs.

Drafting in one program and formatting in another is a common setup. The Vellum listing says drafting happens in a different app, because Vellum starts from a finished manuscript. For the drafting side, the Scrivener vs Ulysses comparison shows how a desktop program and an Apple subscription differ, and the Atticus vs Scrivener comparison sets a formatting-first app beside a drafting app.

Outlining and goal tracking

Planning tools differ in shape. Plottr is the visual outliner in its ranking, with timelines, scene cards and a series bible. Its listing says it does not draft text, and it exports the outline to Word and Scrivener. Dabble combines a plot grid with daily word count goals, and it runs in a browser and on iOS and Android. Novelcrafter offers a Codex for characters and places, plus an outline view, and it has no free plan, only a 21-day trial. yWriter breaks a novel into chapters and scenes, with goal and conflict fields for each scene, and it is free on Windows. novelWriter takes a plainer route, keeping synopsis, comment and cross-reference metadata with its plain text files, so planning notes stay with the chapters they describe.

Goal tracking is built into a few drafting apps. Ulysses includes writing goals and statistics, and Dabble sets daily word count goals. To check a chapter against a target, the word counter counts words and characters. To estimate how long a finished book takes a reader, the reading time calculator works from pages or words and a reading speed.

Free and open-source options

Free options are real but narrow. Reedsy Studio is free to write in, with EPUB and print export. novelWriter is open source under GPL-3.0 and runs on Linux, Windows and macOS. Its listing shows no mobile app and says macOS users install it through Python. yWriter is free on Windows, and its Mac version is still in progress.

Grammar checkers: broad reach, open source and on-device

Grammarly is the broadest tool in the grammar ranking. It has a browser extension, apps and a free plan that covers spelling and grammar. Its listing places tone and AI rewrites on the paid Pro plan. LanguageTool has an open-source core under LGPL-2.1, browser add-ons, Office plugins and support for many languages, and its paraphrasing is limited on the free tier. The Grammarly vs LanguageTool comparison sets those two side by side. Harper is free and Apache-2.0 licensed, but it covers grammar and spelling only, with no AI rewriting, and the Harper vs LanguageTool comparison shows the open-source choices next to each other.

Developers and documentation teams have their own option. Vale is an open-source command-line linter that applies style rules to text, and it suits technical documentation rather than fiction.

Other tools have narrower jobs. ProWritingAid reports on style and pacing for book-length drafts, and it has a free plan for light use. Antidote is a deep corrector for French and English, sold as a yearly subscription per user. Microsoft Editor checks grammar inside Word and Outlook on the web. Hemingway Editor offers a free online proofreader and readability reports. If you want drafting help rather than checks, see how to choose an AI writing assistant before you pick a grammar tool.

Privacy and where your manuscript lives

Two questions matter: where your text is checked and where your drafts are stored. The Harper listing says its checks run on your device, with no telemetry. The listings for Grammarly and QuillBot do not say where text is processed, so read their privacy terms before you paste unpublished pages. QuillBot's listing also warns that AI rewrites can change meaning. Local-first software explains why a file on your own disk behaves differently from a synced account.

For storage, Scrivener keeps local project files, with Dropbox sync on iOS. Ulysses syncs through iCloud across Apple devices. Atticus has cloud backups and works offline, and Reedsy Studio uses a browser app with account sync.

Quick picks

• Long manuscript with research and structure: Scrivener.
• Apple devices on a subscription: Ulysses.
• Free drafting in a browser with ebook and print export: Reedsy Studio.
• Ebook and print formatting on Windows, Mac or Linux: Atticus.
• Mac-only ebook and print formatting: Vellum.
• Visual outlining: Plottr.
• Free open-source drafting: novelWriter.
• Grammar checks with a free plan: Grammarly.
• Open-source grammar checks in many languages: LanguageTool.
• Grammar checks that run on your device: Harper.

How to decide

Start by naming the job you need first: drafting, planning or formatting. Then trial the one app you would use every day, since the trial periods here range from 14 days to 30. Export a sample chapter to the format your publisher or ebook store expects, and open the file to check it. For a grammar checker, paste a sample chapter with your own dialogue and style, and compare what each tool flags. Then ask whether the tool's suggestions match how you write, since a checker that flags every sentence fragment will slow a fiction draft down. Check which features sit above the free tier, since the Grammarly listing places tone and AI rewrites on its paid plan.

Related rankings and guides

• Best AI writing assistants for drafting help beside a grammar checker.
• Writing and publishing category for every ranking in this area.
• How to choose an ebook reader app for checking how your ebook looks on a reader.