Ulysses vs TypePress
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 effective document management, seamless sync, and flexible export options for writers of all kinds. Includes a built-in proofreader and editing assistant.
- Distraction-free editor
- Unified library for all texts
- Seamless sync across devices
- Built-in proofreader and editing assistant
- Flexible export to PDF, DOCX, HTML
- Publishing to WordPress, Ghost, Substack
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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
TypePress
Experience distraction-free writing with a realistic typewriter simulation. Enjoy tactile key presses, authentic sounds, and a variety of fonts. Archive your work, track statistics, and export documents in multiple formats.
- Realistic animated typewriter simulation
- Authentic mechanical key sounds and carriage return bell
- Seven selectable fonts across four categories
- Auto-saving and document archiving with search
- Red ink option for highlighting
- iCloud sync across devices
- Export as PDF or plain text
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Write like it’s 1962. A typewriter for your words, on iPhone, iPad and Mac. TypePress puts a typewriter on your iPhone and iPad and lets you write on it. Press a key and it sinks. The type bar swings up and strikes the ribbon. The carriage slides with every letter, the paper creeps upward, and the bell rings near the end of the line. Pull the lever or turn the knob and the page feeds up one line. No notifications, no toolbars, no autocorrect. Just you, a sheet of paper and the sound of your own words landing. A KEYBOARD THAT FEELS LIKE KEYS On iPhone, a touch typewriter keyboard sits under the paper, so every thought is a few taps from the page. On iPad, the machine fills the bottom of the screen and its round keys are tappable right on the illustration. Using a hardware keyboard? The matching key dips under your fingers. Swipe the carriage either way to return it, or grab the knob and roll the paper yourself. FIVE MACHINES, DRAWN BY HAND Classic, Mehano, Mint, Coral and Hermes, with more on the way. Each one has its own keys, lever, knobs and personality, and every part moves on its own. You write on the machine, not beside it. INK THAT BEHAVES LIKE INK Black, red and blue ribbons. Switch colors mid-sentence and only the letters you type next change. Set the ink heavy, normal or light, crisp or soft, and change it for a single word whenever you like. Light ink fades unevenly from word to word, the way a tired ribbon really does. Make a mistake and type over it, or strike a letter through and keep it on the page as part of the story. PAPER YOU WANT TO TOUCH Vintage, Modern and Minimal come free. With Pro, six textured stocks join them. Cotton, Laid, Onionskin, Aged 1962, Kraft and Handmade, each with its own grain and fibre, carried right into your PDF exports. Set the left and right margins in centimetres or inches with a tap, choose how wide the line runs, and the page follows. NINE TYPEFACES Courier Prime and Special Elite for the classic look. Cutive Mono, Anonymous Pro, IBM Plex Mono, JetBrains Mono and Lekton for clean monospace. Cutive for an elegant serif and Limelight for Art Deco headlines. Every page remembers its own font. SOUNDS THAT MAKE YOU WANT TO WRITE Four key sounds rotate so no two strokes are identical. The bell rings, the carriage return slides, the paper feed rolls. All of it is synthesized, warm and analog. Prefer silence? Turn it off. ARCHIVE, FOLDERS AND TAGS Every page is saved as you write. Press and hold a page to pin it, put it in a folder or give it a tag, then find anything with search. Deleted pages wait 30 days in Recently Deleted. Your stats keep a quiet count of pages and words, and never a streak. YOURS, EVERYWHERE Turn on iCloud Sync and your pages, folders and tags follow you across iPhone, iPad and Mac. No account, no server, just your own iCloud. Lock the app with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. Both stay off until you switch them on. EXPORT AND SHARE Export a page as a PDF or as plain text and send it anywhere from the share sheet, or save it straight to Files. Your first export is free. TYPEPRESS PRO After your free export, Pro unlocks unlimited exports, extra sounds, typewriter machines, textured papers and wide pages. · Monthly, $2.99 · Yearly, $19.99 (save 44%) · Lifetime, $49.99 one time One purchase works on your iPhone, iPad and Mac. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple ID settings. WHO IT IS FOR Journalers who want a ritual instead of an app. Poets who want constraint. Novelists doing morning pages. Students who would like their tabs to stop watching. Anyone who has ever thought, I just want to write. TypePress does not suggest, correct or nag. It gives you a machine, a page and a reason to keep going. Start typing. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Ulysses at 4.6 against TypePress's 2.5. Ulysses also leads on ratings volume (2.2K vs 2). TypePress's advantage is monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs subscription) and update cadence (every 6 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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 TypePress sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Ulysses holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ulysses has 2.2K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Ulysses ships an update every 3 weeks, TypePress every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ulysses | TypePress |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (2.2K ratings) — better | 2.5 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 67.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2.2K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 272 MB | 149 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ulysses GmbH & Co. KG | Ezgi Acar |
Customer experience
Ulysses
TypePress
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
TypePress
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
TypePress
- TypePress Monthly3 Days trial$2.991 Month
- TypePress Yearly$19.991 Year
- TypePress Lifetime$49.99









