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.

Traditional notes apps are great for writing, but getting things done requires something more. Clover’s Daily Notes introduce a new way of documenting thoughts, keeping track of tasks, and planning work within the context of your daily agenda.

Platforms: PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Note-taking, Journal, and Free

Website: https://cloverapp.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$8.00 monthly

Rich text with rich media

Networked notes

Whiteboarding

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Performance

β˜…β˜…β˜… Features

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Accessibility

β˜…β˜…β˜… Value

Also rated 4.6 β˜… on the App Store

Ever scribbled ideas on a piece of paper and drawn lines between related thoughts? Then you already know what Scapple does. It's a virtual sheet of paper that lets you make notes anywhere and connect them using lines or arrows.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, PC

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

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

Base price:

$20.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

–

Write notes anywhere

Connect notes using drag and drop

Completely freeform

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Performance

β˜…β˜… Features

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Accessibility

β˜…β˜… Value

Also rated 5.0 β˜… on TechRadar

Whether you’re brainstorming ideas, presenting in meetings, or managing tasks, Ayoa provides you with flexibility and intuitive working methods every step of the way.

Platforms: Online, Mac, Windows, Android, PC

Best for: Outlining, Blog, and Essay

Website: https://www.ayoa.com/

Base price:

$10.00 monthly

Premium price:

$13.00 monthly

Collaborative online whiteboard

Mind mapping

Focus on progress

Idea bank

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Performance

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Features

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Accessibility

β˜…β˜…β˜… Value

Also rated 4.1 β˜… on Google Play

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

The most enjoyable desktop app for writing a thesis or paper.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, PC

Best for: Drafting and Essay

Website: https://www.monsterwriter.app/

Base price:

$34.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

–

Distraction free

Insert citations and cross-references

Automatic typesetting

β˜…β˜…β˜… Performance

β˜…β˜…β˜… Features

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Accessibility

β˜…β˜…β˜… Value

Also rated 3.8 β˜… on the App Store

Scribus is an Open Source program that brings professional page layout with a combination of press-ready output and new approaches to page design.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, PC

Best for: Publishing, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://www.scribus.net/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

–

RBG and CMYK

Versatile PDF creation

Vector drawing tools

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Performance

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Features

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Accessibility

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Value

Also rated 4.5 β˜… on TechRadar

Cold Turkey Writer transforms your computer into a typewriter, which forces you to do nothing but write.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://getcoldturkey.com/writer/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$9.00 one-time payment

Distraction-free writing

Timer block

Word count block

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Performance

β˜…β˜…β˜… Features

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Accessibility

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Value

Also rated 4.0 β˜… on TechRadar

Outline faster, organize smarter, and turbocharge your productivity today with the #1 visual book planning software for writers.

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

Best for: Outlining, Book, and Story

Website: https://plottr.com/

Base price:

$99.00 one-time payment

Premium price:

$149.00 one-time payment

Visual timelines

Series planning

Starter templates & story bibles

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Performance

β˜…β˜…β˜… Features

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Accessibility

β˜…β˜…β˜… Value

Also rated 3.0 β˜… on Reedsy

Typing Chimp Character is designed to help fiction writers create better characters, stories, and worlds fast.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, PC

Best for: Outlining, Worldbuilding, Book, and Story

Website: http://www.typingchimp.com/

Base price:

$29.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

–

Enneagram tools

Story generator

World generator

β˜…β˜…β˜… Performance

β˜…β˜… Features

β˜…β˜…β˜… Accessibility

β˜… Value

Create documents, make impact. When your work needs to wow, Craft gives you the tools to make it magnificent.

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

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

Website: https://www.craft.do/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$5.00 monthly

AI writing assistant

Document structuring

Customizable

Collaboration

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Performance

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Features

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Accessibility

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Value

Also rated 4.9 β˜… on the App Store

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

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Performance

β˜…β˜…β˜… Features

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Accessibility

β˜…β˜…β˜… Value

Also rated 4.9 β˜… on Capterra

FocusWriter is a simple, distraction-free writing environment. It utilizes a hide-away interface that you access by moving your mouse to the edges of the screen, allowing the program to have a familiar look and feel to it while still getting out of the way so that you can immerse yourself in your work.

Platforms: Windows, PC

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

Website: https://gottcode.org/focuswriter/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

–

Full screen hide-away interface

Timers & daily goals

Customizable themes

Live statistics

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Performance

β˜…β˜…β˜… Features

β˜…β˜…β˜… Accessibility

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Value

Also rated 4.0 β˜… on TechRadar

Elevate your writing, create beautiful documents, and collaborate with othersβ€”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

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Performance

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Features

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Accessibility

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… Value

Also rated 4.5 β˜… on TechRadar

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.

πŸ’° Price:  Free

πŸš‰ 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.

πŸ’° Price:  Free basic plan, $4.99/month for premium

πŸš‰ 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.

πŸ’° Price: Free trial for 30 days, $249.99 license fee

πŸš‰ 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

πŸ–₯️

Which writing app is best for you?

Take our 1 minute quiz to find out.