Ulysses vs Book Writer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ulysses
A distraction-free writing environment for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It offers robust document management, seamless syncing, and flexible export options for writers of all kinds. Includes a proofreader and editing assistant.
- Distraction-free editor
- Unified document library
- Cross-device sync
- Built-in proofreader
- Flexible export options (PDF, DOCX, eBook, HTML)
- Direct publishing to blogs
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Ulysses is your one-stop writing environment for Mac, iPhone and iPad. Its pleasant, focused writing experience, combined with effective document management, seamless sync, and flexible export, make Ulysses the first choice for writers of all kinds. ++ Apple Design Award Winner ++ “The app is amazing. An absolute delight to use. Well done.” – David Hewson, Bestselling Author (The Killing) ### A Text Production Powerhouse Ulysses’ markup-based, distraction-free editor lets you focus on your most important task: Write, edit, and write some more. Formatting is kept for later, so you can completely immerse yourself in the text. Ulysses’ uniquely streamlined toolset covers the entire writing process, and its clean and simple interface will boost your productivity. From first to final draft, from prologue to closing chapter – Ulysses keeps you in the flow, so you can get stuff done. ### All Your Texts, All the Time Everything you’ll ever write is stored in Ulysses’ unified library. You can manage projects of all kinds and sizes, be it novels, diaries or study notes – they are always saved, and automatically in sync. And since Ulysses offers feature parity across macOS and iOS, it doesn’t matter where you are or when inspiration hits: All its tools, and all your texts, are always at your fingertips. ### Built-In Proofreader and Editing Assistant Write with confidence, thanks to Ulysses’ integrated grammar and style check. Available for over 20 languages, it analyzes your text and offers informed suggestions for capitalization, punctuation, semantics, redundancy, style and more. ### Create eBooks, DOCX, PDFs and HTML Ulysses’ export is flexible enough to cover any writer’s needs: Transform your text into beautiful PDFs, Word documents or eBooks. Or export HTML code, ready to be used anywhere on the web. You can even choose between a variety of pre-made formatting styles for all kinds of purposes, or create your own and share it with other users. ### Publish to WordPress, Ghost, Substack & More Do you blog? Ulysses’ offers best-in-class publishing to WordPress, Ghost, and Micro.blog. You can post to WordPress, Ghost and Micro.blog from right within the app – complete with images, tags, categories etc. All offer a built-in preview to proofread before submission. Ulysses also supports copy paste publishing to Substack and Basecamp. ### Pricing Ulysses requires a subscription. We offer monthly and yearly subscription plans. They include a fully functional trial, so you can test Ulysses (including export and sync). There’s also a special discount for students. All plans unlock the app on Mac, iPhone and iPad, and feature full synchronization. ### Questions Please visit ulysses.app for more information. You can also reach us via help@ulysses.app or on Twitter @ulyssesapp – we’re happily awaiting your feedback! Terms of Use: https://ulysses.app/app-terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://ulysses.app/app-privacy-policy
Book Writer
This app helps aspiring authors and writers organize their ideas, characters, and drafts into a complete book. It offers tools for efficient writing, editing, and managing story elements to bring creative projects to life.
- Book creation and organization
- Character creation and notes
- Draft management
- Side note functionality
- Fast editing tools
- Cloud saving
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MAKE YOUR BOOK A REALITY WITH THE #1 BOOK CREATOR AUTHOR APP Have everything you need to write your book in 1 app with -- Book Write - Extensive Writer--. Our easy to use and yet exceptionally efficient book creator app organizes your writings into a great book. Turn yourself into a quick, efficient and skillful writer in a faster and easier way. Understanding the need for organization, linking subjects, notes & characters, we specifically made our book creator as a simple notes & book writing tool for all authors and aspiring writers. Finally, you have 1 app with intuitive UI and features to turn your ideas and creativity into a book! ADD CHARACTERS, DRAFTS, AND SIDE NOTES Create quality and consistent book with an easy to use book creator app. Add text and let the book writing app organize everything you write beautifully and productively. Edit the lines you write, add side notes, and organize everything endlessly until you are completely satisfied. All our tools make the writing easier and consistent, which is especially important for character development, story flow and ending. For a neater experience, we made sure that each line you write within the book creator is accompanied by tiny glowing stars. Use this as an inspiration to create magic writing. BOOK WRITE FEATURES: - Detailed yet easy app to create a book - Character creation and taking notes about characters - Detailed book and line organization - Creating drafts for books - Keyboard bar for fast editing - Quick add and Quick copy features Whether you want to write a novel, short story or you just want to try your creative writing skills, this app is just the tool you need for writing. Don’t miss one of the best book writer apps to write a book. Subscription Service: 1. Required to access the app's capabilities 2. Creating books, characters, drafts and book chapters 3. Exporting books 4. Saving books to cloud, to reach them from all your devices. Payment models for Book Write Subscription • Book Write Monthly Subscription: $1.99 per month, • Book Write Yearly Subscription: $11.99 per year Terms of Use: https://hiappsco.wordpress.com/2020/12/03/book-write-terms-of-use/ Privacy Policy: https://hiappsco.wordpress.com/2020/02/27/book-write/ • Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. • Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current subscription period. • Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. • Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication. Download Book Write - Extensive Writer
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Ulysses at 67% against Book Writer's 20%. Ulysses also leads on rating (4.6 vs 3.9) and ratings volume (2.1K vs 78). Book Writer's advantage is iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Ulysses sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and Book Writer sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Ulysses holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ulysses has 2.1K ratings behind it against 78, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Ulysses's written reviews are positive against 20% of Book Writer's.
Ulysses ships an update every 3 weeks, Book Writer every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ulysses | Book Writer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (2.1K ratings) — better | 3.9 (78 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 67.1% of reviews — better | 19.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2.1K — better | 78 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 274 MB | 104 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ulysses GmbH & Co. KG | Kaan Yildiz |
Customer experience
Ulysses
Book Writer
Bugs and requests
Ulysses
Reported bugs
4 issues- Unexpected data loss or file corruption
- Slow performance on older devices
- Unreliable iCloud sync
- Formatting issues when exporting to other formats
Requested features
5 requests- Improved collaboration and sharing features
- Better integration with reference managers and citation tools
- More flexible export options and compatibility
- Customizable keyboard shortcuts
- Ability to hide Markdown syntax
Book Writer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Ulysses
- Monthly Plan7 Days trial$5.991 Month
- Yearly Plan$29.991 Year
- Yearly Plan7 Days trial2 variants$39.991 Year
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- Yearly Plan1 Year trial$39.991 Year
- Student Offer$10.99
- Perpetual License$199.99
Book Writer
- Book Writer Weekly$6.997 Days
- Book Write Monthly$7.991 Month
- Book Write Monthly$12.991 Month
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Book Writer Yearly$24.991 Year
- Book Write Yearly Subscription$49.991 Year
- Book Write Lifetime$99.99









