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DIRECTORY

Best Writing Apps for Windows

Showing 46 writing apps that match your search.

Don't let your word processor drag your process down. Ironically enough, traditional word processors weren’t designed for writers. Dabble’s book-writing software was developed for writers, by a writer.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Chrome, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, and Story

Website: https://www.dabblewriter.com/

Base price:

$96.00 yearly

Premium price:

$192.00 yearly

Cloud storage

Word counts & goals

Co-authoring

★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

Value

SSuite WordGraph is a free and very useful alternative to Microsoft's Word, OpenOffice's Writer, or anything else out there claiming to be the latest and greatest. You don't even have a need for .NET or even JAVA to be installed. This will save you a lot of hard drive space and precious computer resources.

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

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

Website: https://www.ssuiteoffice.com/software/wordgraph.htm

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Text editor

Free Microsfot Word alternative

Export files as .doc and more

★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★ Value

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

★★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.0 on TechRadar

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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

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.9 on the App Store

WriteItNow is designed to help anyone writing a novel. Keep the novel text and all the background information in one place. Each novel is saved in a single file, and the program has two main sections: one for chapters and scenes and the other for background details

Platforms: Windows, Mac, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, and Story

Website: https://www.ravensheadservices.com/about.html

Base price:

$59.95 one-time payment

Premium price:

Storyline editor

Word count and writing targets

Background details

★★★ Performance

★★ Features

★★★★ Accessibility

★★ Value

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

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

★★★★ Performance

★★ Features

★★★★ Accessibility

★★ Value

Also rated 5.0 on TechRadar

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

So, You’re looking to write a book. Well, wavemaker is here to help. It’s much much more than a text editor.

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

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

Website: https://wavemaker.cards/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Connects to Google Docs

Mind maps

Timelines

★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★★ Accessibility

★★★ Value

Also rated 3.7 on Google Play

We’re more than a doc. Or a table. Customize Notion to work the way you do.

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

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

Website: https://www.notion.so/product

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Create wikis

Link to different pages

Hundreds of pre-made wikis

Create table of contents

★★★★ Performance

★★★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.0 on TechRadar

Manuskript is a perfect tool for those writer who like to organize and plan everything before writing. The snowflake method can help you grow your idea into a book, by leading you step by step and asking you questions to go deeper.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, PC

Best for: Outlining, Story, Book, and Free

Website: https://www.theologeek.ch/manuskript/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Index cards

Outliner

Frequency analyzer

★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

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

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.5 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.

💰 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

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