

Ulysses is described as 'Text editor for creative writers. Used by bloggers, poets, students and published novelists all over the world, it offers an integrated environment to brainstorm, draft, revise and even submit text on a professional level' and is a popular Novel Authoring tool in the news & books category. There are more than 100 alternatives to Ulysses for a variety of platforms, including Mac, Windows, Linux, Web-based and iPhone apps. The best Ulysses alternative is Typora. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Zettlr or CherryTree. Other great apps like Ulysses are Microsoft Word, Scrivener, Manuskript and Trudido.


Notes is an open source and cross-platform note-taking app that is both beautiful and powerful.




Liquid Story Binder XE is a uniquely designed word processor for professional and aspiring authors, poets, and novelists. Writing software for those who require the editing ability of a commercial text editor as well as a document tracking system.



Visual story plotting software for planning novels with drag and drop scenes, timeline and outline views, centralized notes, features for making characters and locations, color coding, tagging, syncing across devices, and exporting to multiple formats.




NovelPad's online and offline novel writing software helps you organize, write, and edit your novel anywhere, on any device, from start to finish.




Write styled Markdown notes, sync across Mac, iPhone and iPad add to-dos and tags, export to a variety of formats and choose your favourite style from a variety of colourful themes.




For Mac users to write without distractions. WriteRoom is a full screen writing environment. Unlike the cluttered word processors you're used to, WriteRoom lets you focus on writing. Requires Mac OS X 10.

Capture's intuitive interface and smart features turn your mobile device into a powerful thought organizer, letting you seize, sort, and execute your ideas with unprecedented ease.




CrabPad is a fast, free Markdown editor built with Rust. Local-first, keyboard-driven, with Zen Mode, Command Palette, live preview, and support for KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, and GFM. Available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.








Minimal - Writing & Notes is a writing app inspired by meditation. It includes features such as note lifetime, collaborative writing, note-to-website publishing, Todo integration, and cross-device syncing, with a focus on spacious and modern design.




Calmly Writer is a professional text editor designed to focus on what you want to tell, with a simple, unobtrusive and distraction-free user interface.



Quilter is free, uses markdown, has two modes: editor and preview, several themes: light, sepia, moon (blue), and dark (black), it does NOT seem to support footnotes, which is unfortunate, it also does not include a sidebar for notebooks/pages the way Ulysses does. That said, it isn't a memory hog, and it's free.