Cost / License
- Freemium (Pay once)
- Proprietary
Platforms
- Mac




True Novelist is described as 'Provides a way for authors to write their novel online, organize their story, view statistics about their project and writing habits, set goals, keep track of related research, and more' and is a Novel Authoring tool in the news & books category. There are more than 50 alternatives to True Novelist, not only websites but also apps for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, iPad and Linux apps. The best True Novelist alternative is Manuskript, which is both free and Open Source. Other great sites and apps similar to True Novelist are Scrivener, Dendron, Bear and bibisco.




Folia is the professional way to share documents for feedback and discussion. Stop printing, avoid lengthy email threads, modernize meetings, and more. Our state of the art annotation and commenting tools enable deep conversations, so you can be more effective with your content.




Persona is an innovative character development tool for fiction writers. Persona aids you in crafting archetypal themed characters and plots by using time-honored psychological principles to describe the motivations and interactions between different characterizations of people.

Allegory is a powerful notes app with a beautiful iOS-centric UI. The minimal and focused writing experience, combined with an impressive set of powerful features, makes this the ideal choice for everyone.




A professional writing and editing solution, Adobe InCopy tightly integrates with Adobe InDesign software. Enable a parallel workflow between design and editorial staff, precisely fit copy to layout, and efficiently meet editorial deadlines.
Character Notes is an excellent tool for developing characters for novels and stories. There are five different areas of traits to build on: physical, personality, history, relationships, and character development.




WebODF is a JavaScript library that makes it easy to add Open Document Format (ODF) support to your website and to your mobile or desktop application. It uses HTML and CSS to display ODF documents.

WebODF is the most popular Self-Hosted alternative to True Novelist.
Scritika is a powerful solution that helps writers build amazing stories. Write faster and smater with a kit of features like character and location management, sticky notes, chapter editor with linking between chapters and locations, distraction-free and much more.




With anywhere online access you can work on your novel wherever the mood strikes you. Now you can continue where you left off at the library, your friend's house, and during your lunch break at work.




Verbum is a simple, user friendly word processor that works with a wide selection of file formats. When working with Verbum, do not expect to find fancy ribbon menus or lots of tools, like in Microsoft Office.


Writing on paper, you let go and just get your idea out. You don't get caught up perfecting the words too early. Rough Draft is like writing with pen and paper, so you can't delete words, only cross them out.




First Draft, developed by a 15-year professional writer, is an offline, artificially intelligent writing tool that assists a huge number of literary tasks.
