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 Writing Apps for PC

Showing 48 writing apps that match your search.

LanguageTool’s multilingual grammar, style, and spell checker is used by millions of people around the world.

Platforms: Online, Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, PC

Best for: Editing, Proofreading, Essay, Blog, and Free

Website: https://languagetool.org/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$6.66 monthly

Personal dictionary

Distraction-free writing experience

Quality scoring for your texts

★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.8 on the App Store

yWriter is a word processor which breaks your novel into chapters and scenes, helping you keep track of your work while leaving your mind free to create. yWriter was designed by an author, not a salesman!

Platforms: Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, and Free

Website: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter7.html

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Track progress

Organize by scenes and chapters

Storyboard view

★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★★ Value

Also rated 3.5 on PC Magazine

The human brain is non-linear: we jump from idea to idea, all the time. Your second brain should work the same. In Obsidian, making and following connections is frictionless. Tend to your notes like a gardener; at the end of the day, sit back and marvel at your own knowledge graph.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, PC

Best for: Note-taking, Outlining, Journal, Book, Story, Essay, Poetry, Blog, and Free

Website: https://obsidian.md/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$25.00 one-time payment

Link pages

Graph view

Customizable with backlinked notes

★★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.5 on TechRadar

Craft your masterpiece in Reedsy Studio

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

Learn more about Reedsy Studio.

Elevate your writing, create beautiful documents, and collaborate with others—anywhere, anytime.

Platforms: Online, Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Chrome, PC

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

Website: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/word

Base price:

$6.99 monthly

Premium price:

$9.99 monthly

Sharing and real-time collaboration

Premium templates and stickers

Dictation and transcription

★★★★ Performance

★★★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.5 on TechRadar

Unload your thoughts by creating a personal layout with notes, links and media in a second to visualize your creative process and move forward faster.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android, Online, PC

Best for: Note-taking, Journal, Blog, Essay, Story, Book, and Free

Website: https://xtiles.app/en

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$8.00 monthly

Realtime collaboration

Visual search

Organize visually

★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★ Value

Also rated 4.9 on Capterra

Campfire is a versatile writing tool organized into modules, each one offering a different type of story element you can create. Keep track of each character's motives, history, eye color, and more. The Characters Module gives you an easy way to make quick notes or detailed character sheets about anyone in your story. Upload your map to the Maps Module, add pins to integrate it with the rest of your story, and nest other maps to keep things organized.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Online, PC

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

Website: https://www.campfirewriting.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$2.00 monthly

Character Modules & Maps Modules

Flexible panel system

Create customizable DIY themes

★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.0 on Reedsy

Whatever kind of writer you are, ProWritingAid will help you improve your writing and get your ideas across more clearly. Our grammar and style checker contains over 3,000 explanations and videos written by our experts, so you don't need to remember all those crazy rules.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Online, PC, Chrome

Best for: Drafting, Editing, Proofreading, Book, Essay, Story, Blog, and Free

Website: https://prowritingaid.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$10.00 monthly

In-depth writing reports

Style and grammar suggestions

Built-in thesaurus

Multiple app and browser integrations

★★★★★ Performance

★★★★★ Features

★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.5 on Reedsy

Dropbox Paper is more than a doc — it’s a co-editing tool that brings creation and coordination together in one place.

Platforms: Online, Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Chrome, PC

Best for: Note-taking, Essay, Blog, and Free

Website: https://www.dropbox.com/paper/start?no_redirect=1

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Collaborative editing and commenting

Pre-made templates

App integrations

Turn docs into presentations

★★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.5 on TechRadar

FreeOffice 2021 is a complete Office suite with a word processor, a spreadsheet application and a presentation program – all seamlessly compatible with their counterparts in Microsoft Office.

Platforms: Mac, PC, Windows

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

Website: https://www.freeoffice.com/en/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Full feature word processor

Create and open PDFs

Track changes

★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.0 on TechRadar

Hemingway makes your writing bold and clear. It's like a spellchecker, but for style. It makes sure that your reader will focus on your message, not your prose.

Platforms: Windows, PC, Mac

Best for: Editing, Proofreading, Book, Essay, Story, Blog, and Free

Website: https://hemingwayapp.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$19.99 one-time payment

Grammar and spell checker

Readability score

Style checker

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.0 on Reedsy

Create professional print books and eBooks easily with the all-in-one book writing software.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Chrome, PC

Best for: Drafting, Publishing, Book, and Story

Website: https://www.atticus.io/

Base price:

$147.00 one-time payment

Premium price:

Book level goal tracking & word count

Drag and drop chapters

Customizable formatting templates

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Compose bold, clear, mistake-free writing with Grammarly. Work with an AI writing partner that helps you find the words you need⁠—⁠to write that tricky email, to get your point across, to keep your work moving.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, Chrome, Online, PC

Best for: Editing, Proofreading, Book, Essay, Story, Blog, and Free

Website: https://www.grammarly.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$12.00 monthly

Grammar & plagiarism checker

Tone detector

Citation generator

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★ Value

Also rated 4.4 on the App Store

What makes a good writing app?

Put simply, what makes a writing app good for you will depend on the kind of writer that you are. 

  • If you’re an author, you might be interested in a writing app with outlining, planning, and formatting functionalities.
  • If you’re a student, you’re probably in the market for a writing app that blocks out distractions while you’re writing.
  • If you’re a screenwriter, you’ll want a writing app that’s specifically dedicated to writing screenplays.

Or, if you’re none of the above, worry not: that’s why we built this directory of writing apps. Whatever you need, we’ve gathered the outstanding writing apps of 2024 across multiple categories (drafting, editing, note-taking, etc) and platforms (Android, iOS, online browsers, etc) in one place. Feel free to use the filters to make your quest for the perfect writing app even easier!

So what are the best writing apps of 2024?

We can now put an end to the age-old debate of which writing app is best: Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs

The answer, of course, is neither! Hopefully, this directory will point you towards a much better match that actually fulfills your writing needs. We objectively evaluated each writing app based on four metrics.

  • Performance: How seamlessly does the writing app do what it’s purported to do? How good is the user experience, from top to bottom?
  • Features: How many bells and whistles are built into the app to augment its use?
  • Accessibility: Is it widely available on many different operating platforms (e.g. iOS, Windows, mobile, desktop, etc)?
  • Value: Is it worth the cost that it would take to download it?

Here are some general recommendations to give you a headstart.

The best writing app for authors

If you’ve been searching for an all-in-one outlining, writing, formatting, and typesetting tool, look no further than Reedsy Studio. Used by over 50,000 authors every month, it’s publishing’s most trusted companion to take them from a first draft to a professionally exported manuscript.

💰 Price:  Free

🚉 Runs on: Web

The best writing app for note-takers

Evernote is the king of written organization. In addition to its free organizational templates, Evernote also gives you impressive tagging capabilities, an omnipresent Web Clipper, and the ability to share notes with collaborators, so that you’ll never forget anything again.

💰 Price:  Free basic plan, $4.99/month for premium

🚉 Runs on: Mac, iOS, Windows, and Android

The best writing app for screenwriters

Along with standard scriptwriting features, Final Draft enables you to measure character traits using its inclusivity analysis feature, and tweak your “beat board” until you find your perfect arrangement. And when you’re ready to bring in editors, you can all work simultaneously in real time.

💰 Price: Free trial for 30 days, $249.99 license fee

🚉 Runs on: Mac, iOS, and Windows

I’ve found the perfect writing app. What next?

Congratulations! Now the fun part begins: actually writing the project that you’ve got in mind.

For authors, this means that you have a long and exciting road ahead. In addition to a writing app, we recommend that you arm yourself with some writing knowledge before you embark on it: whether it’s an understanding of story structure or careful thought put into your character creation, all of it can help you realize your goal of a novel.

If you don’t know where to start, check out the list of free resources below. Good luck, and happy writing!

Free online materials

💡 Shortlist apps to save them.