TRY OUR FREE APP

Write your book in Reedsy Studio. Try the beloved writing app for free today.

Craft your masterpiece in Reedsy Studio

Plan, write, edit, and format your book in our free app made for authors.

DIRECTORY

Best Outlining Writing Apps in 2025

Showing 38 writing apps that match your search.

A powerful writing tool from Reedsy. Write and export a beautifully typeset book. This is the beloved app made for authors, by authors.

Platforms: Online, Chrome

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, Editing, Proofreading, Publishing, Book, Poetry, Story, Free, and Worldbuilding

Website: https://reedsy.com/write-a-book

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$5.00

Distraction-free interface for writing

Collaborative editing

Export for instant distribution

Track changes & statistics

Performance

Features

Accessibility

Value

Lists for Writers is a great addition to any writer’s toolbox. Helpful to both novice and expert writers alike, this app delivers list after list of prompts and ideas for your brainstorming sessions: names, character traits, plot lines, occupations, obsessions, action verbs, and much more!

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android

Best for: Note-taking, Outlining, Drafting, Book, Story, and Essay

Website: https://thinkamingo.com/lists-for-writers/

Base price:

$2.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

Easily navigable

Dozens of lists for settings and names

★★★★ Performance

★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★ Value

Also rated 4.7 on the App Store

Plot your next masterpiece with Pluot, the writing planner packed with features and there for you whenever inspiration strikes.

Platforms: Android

Best for: Outlining, Worldbuilding, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://pluotstudios.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Plot template

Character profiles

Location template

Interlink elements

★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.3 on Google Play

Mind mapping starts with a main idea in the center of your mind map. As your map takes shape, add context to topics with attachments, embedded media and more. MindMeister’s features guide you through your first mind maps onto maximum creativity.

Platforms: Online, iPhone, iPad, Android

Best for: Outlining, Journal, Poetry, and Free

Website: https://www.mindmeister.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$8.25 monthly

Outline mode & focus mode

Comments and notifications

Collaboration

★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★ Value

Also rated 4.7 on Capterra

Storyline Creator is an elegant writing tool that helps you streamline your writing process. It's incredibly fun to draft ideas, to visualize, enhance and organize your stories - so you can focus on your plot and the creativity instead of the paper war.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Outlining, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://www.storylinecreator.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$66.98 yearly

Timeline

Notebook

Character profiles

Random prompt generator

★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★ Accessibility

★★★ Value

With our writing tools you can track your progress thus far, plan your novel, write your novel and be able to focus on what matters for you the most: FINISHING THE DAMN BOOK!

Platforms: Android

Best for: Outlining, Worldbuilding, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.ajp_gam...

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Writing log

Progress stats & timeline

Character profile

Writing goals

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.0 on Google Play

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.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, PC

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, Editing, Publishing, Book, and Story

Website: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview

Base price:

$59.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

Flexible corkboard

Structure outliner

Metadata and target setting

Print and export functionalities

★★★★ Performance

★★★★★ Features

★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.0 on Reedsy

The Novel Factory helps guide new writers through the novel writing process - while completing your first manuscript.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Online, PC

Best for: Book, Drafting, Outlining, and Story

Base price:

$75.00

Premium price:

Plot templates

Plot manager

Character development prompts

Track your statistics

★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★ Value

ApolloPad is a feature-packed online writing environment that will help you finish your novels, ebooks and short stories.

Platforms: Online

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

Website: https://apollopad.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Project outlining & timelines

Notes in context

To-do lists

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

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/

Base price:

$8.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

Search your handwriting

Annotate PDFs

Organize with folders and subfolders

Personlize notebooks

★★★★ Performance

★★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.8 on the App Store

You have a story to tell, article to publish, or class notes to take. Scrivo Pro can help you organize your writing, research, generate ideas, and remove distractions so you can focus on the most important thing: writing.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

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

Website: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scrivo-pro-for-scriveners-a...

Base price:

$9.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

Organize projects in tree-like structure

Live counters

Works offline

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★ Value

Also rated 4.4 on the App Store

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

Platforms: Online

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

Website: https://novelpad.co/

Base price:

$120.00 yearly

Premium price:

Drag and drop scene cards

Distraction-free editor

Visual progress timeline

Character tracking

★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★ Accessibility

Value

Bring your stories to life

Our free writing app lets you set writing goals and track your progress, so you can finally write that book!