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Inkwell

Last updated: · 9 min read

Best Writing Apps: Choose by What You Write

The best app for writing depends on the job: a book, a screenplay or a document other people review. What to look for, which apps fit each job, and where Inkwell fits.

Step 1 of 8 · Match the job

What makes a good writing app?

A good writing app keeps you writing, keeps every version of the work, and hands the finished draft to whoever needs it in the format they expect. Choose by the job, not by a feature list. A novelist needs a long manuscript that is easy to move around in. A screenwriter needs industry format without thinking about margins. A team writing a proposal needs comments, review and a history everyone can read. One app rarely does all three well, so start with what you write most.

Check four things before you commit a project: how the app saves earlier drafts, whether you can compare two of them, which files it exports (Word, PDF, Final Draft, Markdown), and where it runs. An app that locks your writing into one device or one file format costs you later, when a reader, an agent or a production office asks for something else.

Four checks before you commit a projectAn app that fails one of these costs you later, when someone asks for a different file.
Earlier drafts
How the app saves them
Comparison
Whether two drafts can be compared
Exports
Word, PDF, Final Draft, Markdown
Where it runs
Browser, desktop or tablet

Step 2 of 8 · Match the job

What is the best app for writing a book?

For a novel or a long nonfiction book, use an app that lets you work in chapters or scenes and still read the book as one document. Scrivener is the long-standing desktop choice for solo novelists who like a binder of scenes and research. Word and Google Docs work for many authors because agents and editors already use them, but a 90,000-word file gets slow to navigate. Whichever you pick, keep a copy of each finished draft before the next revision pass.

Whatever you use, keep each finished draft rather than writing over it, so a cut you regret can come back. Agents and editors usually ask for a .docx, which Word, Google Docs and Scrivener all write. If your book becomes a screenplay later, Plot can import the Word file and keep the prose beside the script pages.

A book, from scenes to an agent's inbox

  1. Write in scenes

    Move chapters around and still read one book

  2. Keep each draft

    So a cut you regret can come back

  3. Send a .docx

    The file agents and editors ask for

Step 3 of 8 · Match the job

What is the best app for writing a screenplay?

Use a screenwriting app, not a word processor. Screenplay format has fixed margins, character cues, dialogue blocks and page breaks that a word processor makes you fake by hand. Plot, Inkwell's screenplay editor, formats as you type in the browser, exports production-ready PDF and Final Draft (.fdx) files, and keeps every draft as a save point you can compare scene by scene. Final Draft is the long-time industry standard, sold as a paid desktop license; Plot exports its file format when a production office asks for one.

Many scripts start as a treatment or an outline in prose. In Plot, prose, outline and script sections can sit in one draft, so you write a scene in screenplay form when it is ready and leave the rest as notes. Plot can also import a script written in Word as screenplay pages.

A treatment that becomes a script, in one draftIn Plot, each scene moves into screenplay form when it is ready.

  1. Treatment

    The story in prose

  2. Outline

    Scenes as beats

  3. Script

    Scenes in screenplay form

  4. Export

    PDF and Final Draft (.fdx)

Step 4 of 8 · Match the job

What is the best app for documents other people review?

For a proposal, a spec, a report or a long draft that goes through rounds of review, the app has to handle the rounds, not just the typing. Word's Track Changes and Google Docs' suggesting mode work for one pass of edits. Notion suits team wikis and task databases. Whichever you use, name the version you send before each round, keep a rewrite apart from the main draft until it earns its place, and compare what came back against what you sent.

The Word comparison linked below goes through the switch in detail: what Plot does with a .docx, and how Track Changes maps to save points.

One round of review

  1. Name the version

    Before the round goes out

  2. Try a rewrite

    Apart from the main draft

  3. Compare

    What came back against what you sent

Step 5 of 8 · Check the details

Which writing apps keep every draft?

Most apps keep an automatic history: a list of times the file changed. That helps recover a lost paragraph, but it does not tell you which version went to your editor or what changed between the draft you liked and the one you have now. Inkwell keeps writing history the way writers talk about it. A save point is a draft you name, a draft line is an alternate version in the same project, and a comparison shows what changed scene by scene or paragraph by paragraph.

If you stay in another app, save a named copy of the file before each major revision and keep the copies in one folder. It is slower, but you will always be able to answer "what did I send?"

Step 6 of 8 · Check the details

Which writing apps have AI built in?

Many apps now offer AI, from a chat panel beside the document to tools that rewrite a selection. What matters is control: whether you see each change before it lands, and whether you can undo it. In Inkwell, AI skills such as a dialogue pass or a period-language check show their edits as markup you accept or skip one at a time, and Agent Mode can take on a larger revision across a scene or an act while you review every change it makes.

Look for AI that understands the form you write in. An assistant that treats a screenplay as plain text will break character cues and scene headings; one that knows the format edits within it.

You decide every AI edit

  1. Run a skill

    A dialogue pass, a period-language check

  2. Read the markup

    Each edit shows before it lands

  3. Accept or skip

    One change at a time

Step 7 of 8 · Check the details

Are there good free writing apps?

Yes. Google Docs and the web version of Word are free with a Google or Microsoft account and cover ordinary documents. For screenplays, Plot has a Free plan with the full screenplay editor and a monthly AI allotment, with no trial clock. Free tiers usually limit projects, history or export formats, so check what you will need when the draft is finished, not only what you need to start.

Paid plans earn their cost when a project runs long or involves other people: more projects, more history, Final Draft export, collaboration. Start free, and upgrade when the work asks for it.

Step 8 of 8 · Check the details

Which writing apps work on Mac, Windows and iPad?

Browser apps run anywhere you can sign in, which is the simplest way to write on a Mac at home, a Windows laptop at work and an iPad on the train. Inkwell runs in the browser today; a desktop app for offline writing and iPhone and iPad apps for reading and review are on the way. Desktop apps such as Final Draft and Scrivener install on each computer, and moving a draft between machines means syncing its files.

On an iPad, an external keyboard makes any browser editor feel like a laptop. Check that the app saves while you are briefly offline, and that the draft you open on the next device is the one you finished on the last.

One draft on four devicesSigned in, the draft you open next is the one you finished last.
At home
A Mac
At work
A Windows laptop
On the train
An iPad with a keyboard
At a library
Any computer with a browser

Find the right app for your next project

Start from what you write or what you are leaving. Each link goes to the page that covers that job in detail.

Writing jobs mapped to Inkwell pages and comparisons
What you are writingWhere to startWhat you get
A book with a deadlineTurn a word-count goal into daily targetsWriting goal plannerA finish date with buffer weeks
A feature, a pilot or a short filmWrite it in Plot, formatted as you typePlotProduction-ready PDF and Final Draft files, every draft kept
A treatment that is turning into a scriptKeep prose, outline and script sections in one draftProse and script in one draftScenes move into screenplay form when they are ready
Scripts in Final DraftCompare Plot with Final DraftPlot vs Final DraftThe same file format, with version control and AI review
Documents that live in WordCompare Plot with Microsoft WordPlot vs WordWhat imports, what exports and how review works

Common questions

What is the best app for writing a book?

One that lets you work in chapters or scenes and keeps every finished draft. Scrivener, Word and Google Docs all serve book writers. When an agent or editor asks for a .docx, Word, Google Docs and Scrivener write one directly.

Is Microsoft Word good for writing a book?

It works, and publishing runs on .docx files. Long manuscripts get slow to move around in. Many writers draft elsewhere and export to Word when someone asks for it.

Can I write a screenplay in Google Docs?

You can, with a template, but you format every element by hand and page counts drift. A screenwriting app such as Plot formats as you type and exports a production-ready PDF or a Final Draft file.

What is the best app for writing stories?

For short stories, any editor that saves earlier drafts will do. If the story might become a screenplay, start it in Plot: prose and script sections can sit in one draft.

Do I need to pay for writing software?

Not to start. Free tools cover most first drafts, and Plot's Free plan includes the full screenplay editor. Paid plans add room for longer projects, more history, Final Draft export and collaboration.

What writing app do professional screenwriters use?

Many productions exchange Final Draft files, so professionals need an app that writes .fdx. Plot exports Final Draft and PDF while keeping every draft as a save point you can compare scene by scene.

Related reading

Start writing in PlotStart writing with Inkwell