The Best Scrivener AlternativesTop Novel Authoring & Note-taking Tools like Scrivener
Scrivener is described as 'Typewriter. Ring-binder. Scrapbook. Scrivener combines everything you need to craft your first draft, from nascent notion to final full stop' and is a very popular Novel Authoring tool in the news & books category. There are more than 100 alternatives to Scrivener for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Web-based and iPhone apps. The best Scrivener alternative is Manuskript, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Scrivener are yWriter, Zettlr, bibisco and Microsoft Word.
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Scrivener alternatives are mainly Novel Authoring Tools but may also be Note-taking Tools or Story Writing Tools. Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Scrivener.- Novel Authoring Tool
- Paid • Proprietary
107 Manuskript alternativesManuskript is an open-source tool for writers, with outliner, character management, plot development, distraction-free editor, etc.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Flathub
Top Manuskript Features
- Outliner
- Tree structure
- Tracking of plots
- Distraction-free Writing
- Tracking of characters
- Ad-free
- Works Offline
- No registration required
- Dark Mode
- No Tracking
- Support for MarkDown
- File Versioning
Manuskript VS Scrivener
Is Manuskript a good alternative to Scrivener?
65 yWriter alternativesyWriter is a writing tool that uses "scenes" as a unit of text and allows you to associate that text with all manner of story elements (characters, locations, items) as well as place it and rearrange it within...
License model
- Freemium • Proprietary
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Android
- Android Tablet
yWriter Features
- Lightweight
- Portable
- Outline mode
- Tracking of plots
- Project Organization
- Track Characters
- Scene Management
- Plot visualisation
- Character database
yWriter VS Scrivener
Is yWriter a good alternative to Scrivener?Comments about yWriter as an Alternative to Scrivener
robyellow95For some reason, this reminds me of my high school notebooks: Flipping through pages trying to find crap.
1MachiTamagonovel writing and organization software
0I hated it. It kept trying to force me to follow its workflow (invented by the author, I think), and I use a different one. Scrivener suits my workflow, and yWriter does not. It is still on my hard drive, however, just in case.
1Written and maintained by a novellist/software developer, yWriter is free to use, has a no-frills UI, supports cloud saving/device sync via Dropbox and Google Drive, takes automatic backups, and has an Android app (my main dealbreaker with Scrivener).
0Free, reliable, logical layout. It also has a phone app that can sync with the desktop app if you use a cloud drive. Lots of other great features.
0
153 Zettlr alternativesZettlr is a one-stop publication workbench that combines many writing features and collects them in one application. It aims at speeding up your workflow and help you write without any interruptions.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Flathub
Top Zettlr Features
- Support for MarkDown
- Zettelkasten note method
- File Tagging
- Multiple export options
- Zotero integration
- Note organization
- Link files
- Ad-free
- Privacy focused
- Syntax Highlighting
- Works Offline
- Hierarchical Structure
Zettlr VS Scrivener
Is Zettlr a good alternative to Scrivener?Comments about Zettlr as an Alternative to Scrivener
RCLeahcarZettlr is more of a general note-taking app, and doesn't have the author-oriented features of Scrivener
4C.A.Doesn't really serve the same purpose in the same way.
1Zettlr is a fantastic alternative to Scrivener - give it a go. It's brilliant.
-4
44 bibisco alternativesbibisco is a novel writing software that helps you to write your story, in a simple way.
License model
- Freemium • Open Source
Application type
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Electron / Atom Shell
- Node.JS
Top bibisco Features
- Character development
- Timeline
- Ad-free
- Distraction-free
- WYSIWYG Support
- No Tracking
- Spell Checking
- Dark Mode
- Privacy focused
- Works Offline
- Hierarchical Structure
- Portable
bibisco VS Scrivener
Is bibisco a good alternative to Scrivener?Comments about bibisco as an Alternative to Scrivener
callywIt is actually a better alternative to Scrivener because of its clear, organisation features. I wish I would have discovered this before I purchased Scrivener. Bibisco is much easier to use: You don't need lengthy tutorials to read just to get started. Hands down this is better.
4laurafeccosimple and very useful to know your characters!
1Bibisco keeps getting in the way. No, dude. I don't want to outline your way. Not only does it insist to make you fill in stuff you don't want to, it doesn't even offer a way to disable it!
3LapoMelziToo strict in his structure and the same time not thorough enough so that the boxing in would by uselful
8thatmasquedgirlI used bibisco briefly a few years ago, and I remember it being packed to the brim with useful features. It's great for fiction writers because it gives them a variety of fields for defining their character. I felt the software was a bit too bulky for what I wanted, though. The best thing about bibisco is that it's 100% free, which is nice if your funds are limited, or if you aren't making a profit from your writing.
-5
96 Microsoft Word alternativesMicrosoft Word, part of the Microsoft 365 (Office) but also sold as a standalone application, is Microsoft's word processor. Its proprietary (but open-specification) DOC format ...
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Application type
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- Windows Phone
- iPad
Top Microsoft Word Features
- Convert Word documents to PDF
- Document structure management
- Ribbon Interface
- Text to Speech
- Real time collaboration
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Dark Mode
- Spell Checking
- Cloud Sync
- Full-Text Search
- Works Offline
- PDF annotation
Microsoft Word VS Scrivener
Is Microsoft Word a good alternative to Scrivener?Comments about Microsoft Word as an Alternative to Scrivener
MS Word is a word processor, not an authoring tool. It has no knowledge of scenes, let alone characters or locations or items. It has very limited ability to handle text that is about the document but not part of the document and attaches to no specific point, or multiple specific points, in the document.
15LordMaxword if for office works not narrative works
0its just a word processor and formatting tool and not like scrivener.
0MS Word is a nice text editor, but it really doesn't have the ability to make ebooks that stand out like Scrivener does. Scrivener is a complete author's workshop.
1Word has none of the benefits Scrivener brings for organisation, research, collecting and so forth. They couldn't be much more different really.
4
60 Quoll Writer alternativesFocus on your words not the interface. Quoll Writer is a writing application that helps you focus on your words. Clean and uncluttered. Feature rich. Features are where you would expect them to be.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Windows
Top Quoll Writer Features
- Track Characters
- Character database
- Outliner
- Distraction-free Writing
- Dark Mode
- WYSIWYG Support
- Works Offline
- No registration required
- Ad-free
- Writing statistics
- Writing assistance
- Export to EPUB
Quoll Writer VS Scrivener
Is Quoll Writer a good alternative to Scrivener?Comments about Quoll Writer as an Alternative to Scrivener
Clean interface. No non-sense kind of software that has some of the same features of Scrivener. One particular feature I like is the software's ability to automatically link items, characters, places etc. to scenes, chapters, ideas, etc. so you know where every character, item, and place is. Great for keeping track of things in your novel. Has a few bugs here and there, but the developer is friendly, helpful, and responds back in a timely fashion.
4shallNo cost. Really solid features for writing novels or short stories. It's what I consider a Scrivener-like program without having the (sometimes obtuse and sometimes odd) interface that plagues Scrivener. Cards (corkboard), character/item tracking, notes, full-screen minimal mode, nice editing features, and no format lock-in make this a must-try. I will say it's not a pretty as Scrivener.
0RemovedUserFree; solid; several features; customizable; new versions released quickly and with new features; developer very receptive; great for writing novels.
1- free -clean, uncluttered interface
- easy and intuitive to use
2Shares many features, but little of the clutter.
1
188 Dendron alternativesDendron is an open-source, local-first, markdown-based, note-taking tool built on top of VSCode. It supports all the usual features you would expect like tagging, backlinks, a graph view, split panes, and so forth.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Visual Studio Code
Top Dendron Features
- Local Storage
- Support for MarkDown
- Hierarchical Structure
- Block reference
- Graph view
- VSCode
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Privacy focused
- Backlinks
- Quick reference lookup
- Publishing
- Tagging
Dendron VS Scrivener
Is Dendron a good alternative to Scrivener?
Comments about Manuskript as an Alternative to Scrivener
Mostly because it's opensource but also because the interface and features are very similar !
I own Scrivener for Windows and iOS, but my favorite writing machine is a Linux laptop, so here I am. I like that Manuskript closely parallels Scrivener features, throws in a good timeline function that Scrivener doesn't have, but is a lighter, less feature-congested utility. I'm having a great time writing with Manuskript.
Right now, Manuskript is too unreliable to use. On Windows, it won't even start (on my system). Maybe we should all wait for 1.0.0 before we actually try it.
Much more efficient than Scrivener because it's way easier to use and everything is where you expect it to be. The worldbuilding tool is simple but enough and it incorporates the snowflake method flawlessly. But you can ignore it just as easily if you wish. The only aspect where it's lacking compared to Scrivener is in the compile options, but you can always compile as docx and use a text editor to get the standard manuscript format right.
It's a very efficient alternative to Scrivener. It does not require long, lengthy tutorials. If there's one thing I don't like, it's that it's pretty slow. It lags a lot. Another is that it's not an app. And it's hard to look for it if you forgot where you stored it. The third is you can't add images and it's not very customizable like Scrivener is. Those are probably the only three things I don't like. Otherwise, it's extremely easy to use :)