1. Home
  2. 📊 Productivity
  3. Essayist
Essayist: Academic Writing App

Essayist: Academic Writing App

APA, MLA, Chicago & More

398 ratings
174 reviews
📚 Education
📊 Productivity
Free
In-App Purchases

Details

  • Released
  • Updated
  • January 11, 2021
  • August 20, 2026

Features

Developer

Essayist Software Inc.
✨Promote your app ✨
Essayist: Academic Writing App screenshot #1 for iPhone
Essayist: Academic Writing App screenshot #2 for iPhone
Essayist: Academic Writing App screenshot #3 for iPhone
Essayist: Academic Writing App screenshot #4 for iPhone
Essayist: Academic Writing App screenshot #5 for iPhone
Essayist: Academic Writing App screenshot #6 for iPhone
Essayist: Academic Writing App screenshot #7 for iPhone
Essayist: Academic Writing App screenshot #8 for iPhone
Essayist: Academic Writing App screenshot #9 for iPhone
Essayist: Academic Writing App screenshot #10 for iPhone
iphone
ipad
📌Ready
Reviews summary↘︎
⭐174
Reviews↘︎
📝14+ tags
Tags↘︎
🔄6+ apps
Alternatives↘︎
🎪3 available
Events↘︎
❓5 answered
FAQ↘︎
📦~ in 1 week
Updates frequency↘︎
🖼️Get Icon
Icons↘︎

About

This app simplifies academic writing by automatically formatting essays in various styles like APA, MLA, and Chicago. It includes a universal reference manager, citation tools, and equation support, allowing for distraction-free writing and easy export to PDF or Word.

✓Automatic essay formatting
✓Universal reference manager
✓In-text citation and footnote insertion
✓LaTeX equation support
✓Export to PDF and Word
✓Minimalist interface
Show original description

What users say

Summarized from real user reviews of Essayist. Based on 398 reviews and a 4.5/5 average, it highlights the 6 positives and 6 negatives reviewers mention most about this Productivity app.

Positive things

  • 🚀Easy to use
  • 👍Helpful for academic writing
  • 🚀Saves time on formatting
  • 👍Accurate citations
  • 👍Intuitive interface
  • 👍Useful for college students

Negative things

  • 🐛Bugs and crashes
  • 💰Expensive subscription
  • 🔒Privacy concerns
  • 🔒Locked features behind paywall
  • 🔧Limited functionality
  • 🔧Formatting issues
See all reviews

What's New in Essayist

2.0.1

August 20, 2026

Essay writing just got easier! This update fixes a crash. Also, Essayist's OS 27 update is shaping up nicely! Of course, we have to wait until Apple releases the new operating system. From version 2.0.0: Essayist 2.0 is here—our biggest update yet. Write, format, and manage academic papers more easily with powerful new tools: • Choose from more than 10,000 citation styles, including IEEE • Change the language used for citations and bibliographies/references • Enjoy even more control with expanded customization settings • Import references directly from Zotero • Add figures and tables with redesigned, easier-to-use forms • Create cross-references for figures, tables, and equations • Organize your work with bulleted and numbered lists • Automatically number headings • Personalize your workspace with new backgrounds and themes • Interface localization for English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, or Italian Have feedback or found an issue? Email us. We usually respond quickly, and your feedback helps us make Essayist even better.

More

Subscription plans

Monthly Subscription

Essayist Pro Access

$5.991 Month
3 Days trial
Price Updates
August 13, 2026→$5.99
November 20, 2024→$5.99
August 11, 2024→$6.99
How to cancel Essayist subscription ⁉️

Events

Read more about Essayist 2.0
AvailableMajor Update

Essayist 2.0

Our biggest update yet!

Aug 18, 2026 — Sep 18, 2026

Read More

Read more about Back to School with Essayist
Event EndedMajor Update

Back to School with Essayist

New School Year. New Features.

Aug 20, 2025 — Sep 20, 2025

Read More

Read more about Back to School with Essayist
Event EndedMajor Update

Back to School with Essayist

New School Year. New Features.

Aug 7, 2024 — Sep 7, 2024

Read More

See All

User reviews

Most RecentHighest RatedLowest Rated

Perfect for my needs!

I am a new graduate school student so I am getting back into the mode of school work. One thing that I love about this app is the simplicity. It’s an interface that has very little distractions. The reference search within the app is wonderful. No, it’s not a one stop shop, but it cuts down on time creating references from scratch. Also, the auto paper formatting is a plus. That is what I primarily use the app for and everything else is secondary. I don’t want to spend time formatting papers from scratch. I can just open the app and start typing. It is 80 bucks a year, but MS Word is more. Yes, Mose schools offer MS Word for free, but MS Word is overkill and I don’t care to use it. I can export to PDF and keep moving. I will update during the second year of grad school.
Show more
monobe4rmonobe4r

Response from developer

Hi! Thank you very much for your kind words and we're so happy to hear you like Essayist! Please don't hesitate to email us (contact@essayist.app) should you have any feedback or suggestions. Kind regards, Till

Perfect for my needs!

I am a new graduate school student so I am getting back into the mode of school work. One thing that I love about this app is the simplicity. It’s an interface that has very little distractions. The reference search within the app is wonderful. No, it’s not a one stop shop, but it cuts down on time creating references from scratch. Also, the auto paper formatting is a plus. That is what I primarily use the app for and everything else is secondary. I don’t want to spend time formatting papers from scratch. I can just open the app and start typing. It is 80 bucks a year, but MS Word is more. Yes, Mose schools offer MS Word for free, but MS Word is overkill and I don’t care to use it. I can export to PDF and keep moving. I will update during the second year of grad school.
Show more
monobe4rmonobe4r

Test 12 June 2026

Jim
Lambros11Lambros11

Unable to action

Can you help? I’m paying for this app and unable to load content.
MarkCutisMarkCutis

Terrible app Expensive & doesn’t work with college website

Learn from my mistake and Save your money
BeautyandDude2000BeautyandDude2000
See 169 more reviews

User experience

🐞

Reported Bugs

5 issues

App crashes when trying to add references

Bug

Formatting issues when copying and pasting

Bug

Inability to edit title pages and section headings

Bug

Inconsistent behavior across devices (iPad vs. Mac)

Bug

Issues with in-text citations and reference lists

Bug
✨

Requested Features

6 requests

Add more citation styles (e.g. MHRA, Vancouver)

Feature

Improve table and image handling

Feature

Integrate with reference managers like Zotero

Feature

Add grammar and spell check tools

Feature

Allow more customization of templates and formatting

Feature

Improve export functionality to preserve formatting

Feature

FAQ

What does Essayist do?

Essayist is an academic writing application designed to simplify the process of creating essays. It automatically handles formatting for various citation styles, manages references, and allows for easy insertion of citations and footnotes.

What citation styles does Essayist support?

Essayist supports a wide range of citation styles including AMA, APA, Chicago/Turabian, Harvard, MLA, and Vancouver. It also handles in-text citations, footnotes, endnotes, and the final references or works cited list.

How does the reference manager work?

The app features a universal reference manager backed by iCloud, allowing you to store, search, and manage all your references in one place. You can organize them into collections and easily use them across multiple essays. References can be added via Google Scholar, built-in search, URL pasting, or manual entry.

What are the pricing options for Essayist?

Essayist Pro requires a subscription, with options for either a monthly or a yearly subscription plan. The app is available for both iOS and macOS devices with a universal purchase.

What are the common use cases for Essayist?

This app is ideal for students writing research papers, theses, dissertations, or any academic assignment requiring specific citation formats. It's also useful for academics and researchers who need to maintain consistent and accurate referencing across their work.