Ulysses vs ScrollMind
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
ScrollMind
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You meant to scroll for five minutes. Somehow, much longer went by. A small boundary can help you find your way back, without being hard on yourself. ScrollMind helps you manage screen time for short videos, social feeds, games and other distracting apps. Choose your apps, set a time budget and active hours, and let a friendly dragon encourage your next small step. A PLAN THAT FITS YOUR DAY • Choose the apps you want to manage. • Set a shared budget, or use Plus to give selected apps separate budgets. • Choose weekdays and active hours for work, study and downtime. • Get a heads-up before the budget is reached. Finish early or use the remaining time. • At the limit, choose reminder-only mode or protection according to your plan. • With Plus or Family, temporarily pause an individual app's restriction when you need it. • See plan status, pause and stop controls in Today. NOTICE YOUR SMALL STEPS After Screen Time authorization, Recap's Time trends shows usage for selected apps today, yesterday and over the last seven days. When complete data is available, compare two seven-day periods. Devices remain separate, system data may be delayed, and missing data is never treated as zero usage. In Plan results, review choices you make at reminders and recorded budget thresholds. These records are not a budget-compliance score. Create a yesterday poster, choose whether to display counts, and pick a destination in the system share sheet. Poster counts describe reminder choices, not measured time saved or proof that you stopped using your phone. Choice history starts with this update. An optional reflection journal lets you note how you felt and one small change to try next. CLEAR BOUNDARIES FOR FAMILIES Family supports a child's own device or a shared family iPhone or iPad. Parents set apps, time rules and an independent parent passcode on the protected device. Shared-device mode supports switching between adult and child use. Face ID or Touch ID does not replace the parent passcode. Family controls work on the protected device. They do not provide remote control, member invitations or subscription sharing across accounts. Shared-device usage is not attributed to an individual child. PRIVACY FIRST No ScrollMind account is required. Settings, reflections and reminder-choice records stay on the device. Apple displays actual usage in a system-isolated report; we do not upload those durations to our servers. Shared posters exclude app names and usage durations. ScrollMind does not read your messages, videos, contacts, payments, posts or browsing content. For multifunction apps, it manages the whole app's usage time and cannot distinguish working from scrolling. No advertising tracking or sale of personal data. MEMBERSHIP Free: manage one app. Plus: multiple apps, shared or separate budgets, and flexible temporary pauses. Family: Plus features with on-device child/shared-device controls, a parent passcode and school-time/bedtime protection. Plus and Family offer monthly and annual subscriptions. Eligible new subscribers can receive a seven-day free trial. Prices, billing periods and eligibility are shown by the App Store at purchase. Manage or cancel automatic renewal in your Apple subscription settings. Privacy: https://getscrollmind.com/privacy.html Terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Small steps count. Your companion is here to cheer you on.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: ScrollMind at daily against Ulysses's every 3 weeks. ScrollMind also leads on iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.0). 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 ScrollMind sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Ulysses ships an update every 3 weeks, ScrollMind daily. The most recent releases landed on November 13, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ulysses | ScrollMind |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (2.2K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 67.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2.2K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 272 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ulysses GmbH & Co. KG | DEHUO SUN |
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
ScrollMind
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
ScrollMind
- ScrollMind Plus Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- ScrollMind Family Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
- ScrollMind Plus Annual7 Days trial$19.991 Year
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- ScrollMind Family Annual7 Days trial$29.991 Year









