Comparison

Writing Challenge vs Scrivener

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Writing Challenge

Overcome writer's block with creative story prompts. Generate new ideas, embrace freewriting, and build a consistent writing habit. Perfect for aspiring authors and creative individuals seeking inspiration.

Highlights
  • Tap for new story prompts
  • Customizable prompt settings
  • Daily writing challenges
  • Home screen widgets for challenges
  • Share challenges with others
  • Freewriting exercises
Features
Read full description

Stuck in front of a blank page? Need a boost of inspiration? Join us to overcome blocks and push your creativity to the max. With Writing Challenge, you will brainstorm new and fresh ideas and embrace freewriting in the funniest way ever. *** TAP AND SPARK *** · Get new prompts to start writing your story with just a touch on your screen. · Pick the prompts that better suit you from our mix of trigger words, characters, actions, settings, sentences, items, and dialogue. · Take control of your experience with the prompt settings. · Set the number of prompts for each writing session to get an ending for your story. · Add a timer between prompts if you wish for an extra challenge. *** THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX *** · Check the Daily Challenge Prompts that encourage you to create original stories and keep the writing habit alive. · Get the Daily Challenge on your home screen with the app widgets. · Mark the challenge as completed for a more engaging experience. · Schedule up the reminder to keep up the challenge every day. *** SHARE YOUR CREATIVITY *** · Share the Daily Challenges with friends and colleagues. · Increase fun & engagement in your writing classes, workshops, and writing group sessions. Whether you are a writer looking for ideas or just want to have fun, this app will help you out. Dare yourself to experience freewriting, and express your creativity without restrictions. —— —— ——  *** DOUBTS? *** Please visit the site writingchallengeapp.com for more information. You can also contact us via info@liternauts.com. We are happily awaiting your feedback and will get back to you! Thank you, and happy writing!

About

Scrivener

This app is a comprehensive writing tool designed for long-form manuscripts. It allows users to compose text in any order, manage research materials alongside their writing, and export to various formats. It supports flexible outlining and restructuring of content.

Highlights
  • Manuscript composition in sections
  • Research material integration
  • Flexible outlining and reorganization
  • Export to multiple formats
  • Interactive tutorial
  • Project-wide search
Features
Read full description

“The biggest software advance for writers since the word processor.” —Michael Marshall Smith, bestselling author Typewriter. Ring-binder. Scrapbook. Scrivener combines all the writing tools you need to craft your first draft, from nascent notion to final full stop. Tailor-made for creating long manuscripts, Scrivener banishes page fright by allowing you to compose your text in any order, in sections as large or small as you like. Got a great idea but don’t know where it fits? Write when inspiration strikes and find its place later. Grow your manuscript organically, idea by idea. Whether you plan or plunge, Scrivener works your way: meticulously outline every last detail first, or hammer out a complete draft and restructure later. Or do a bit of both. All text sections in Scrivener are fully integrated with its outlining tools, so working with an overview of your manuscript is only ever a tap away, and turning Chapter Four into Chapter One is as simple as drag and drop. Need to refer to research? In Scrivener, your background material is always at hand. Write a description based on a photograph. Reference a video or PDF. Check for consistency with an earlier chapter. On the iPad, open two documents side-by-side; on the iPhone, flip between research and writing with just two taps. Once you’re ready to share your work with the world, simply compile everything into a single document for printing, or export to popular formats such as Word, PDF, Final Draft or plain text. You can even share using different formatting, so that you can write in your favorite font and still keep your editor happy. FEATURES Get Started • Interactive tutorial project • Keep each manuscript and supporting materials in a self-contained project • Import Word, RTF, Final Draft and plain text files • Easily split imported text into separate sections Get Writing • Write your manuscript in sections of any size • View all sections as a single text using the “Draft Navigator” (iPad only) • Quickly navigate sections using the “binder” sidebar • Format with fonts and presets • Comments, footnotes, links and highlights • Simple bullets and lists • Insert images • Pinch-zoom to resize text • Full-screen mode (iPad only) • Typewriter scrolling mode keeps typed text center-screen (iPad only) • Write a screenplay using scriptwriting mode • Live word and character counts • Set word and character count targets • Find and replace • Customizable keyboard row provides quick-access buttons for formatting, navigation and punctuation • Comprehensive keyboard shortcuts for external keyboard users • Dark mode Find Your Structure • Write in any order and reorganize later • Write a synopsis for any text section and see it in the outline • Expand, collapse and drill down into sections of your project • Rearrange sections as index cards on the corkboard (iPad only) • Project-wide search • Track ideas using labels and status • Apply custom icons to your sections Refer to Research • Import research material such as image, PDF and media files • View research files or other sections right alongside your writing (iPad only) • Every section has its own notes area for jotting down ideas • Supports multitasking split screen mode (supported devices only) Share Your Work • Compile to a single document for sharing or printing • Use different formatting in your exported or printed document • Export to Word, RTF, Final Draft, PDF or plain text • Convert rich text to Markdown for sharing with Markdown apps • Create and email zipped backups of your projects Work Anywhere • Use Dropbox to sync between devices and with the macOS and Windows versions of Scrivener* • Copy projects between devices via iTunes * Requires a Dropbox account (not compatible with iCloud). SUPPORT You can contact us at ios.support@literatureandlatte.com, visit our forums at http://www.literatureandlatte.com/forum, or find us @scrivenerapp on Twitter.

Screenshots

Writing Challenge4 screens
Scrivener4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Writing Challenge at $2.99 against Scrivener's $23.99. Writing Challenge also leads on rating (4.4 vs 4.2) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 3 months). Scrivener's advantage is ratings volume (2.6K vs 60) and chart position (#8 vs unranked). On review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Writing Challenge costs $2.99 and Scrivener $23.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Writing Challenge holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Scrivener has 2.6K ratings behind it against 60, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Writing Challenge's written reviews are positive against 46% of Scrivener's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Writing Challenge ships an update every 6 weeks, Scrivener every 3 months. Both last shipped on October 22, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Writing Challenge versus Scrivener: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWriting ChallengeScrivener
Price$2.99 — better$23.99
Rating4.4 (60 ratings) — better4.2 (2.6K ratings)
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews — better45.6% of reviews
Number of ratings602.6K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#8 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size43 MB27 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperBartolome Masco LopezLiterature & Latte

Customer experience

Writing Challenge

All ratings60 ratings
Positive85.0%
Neutral5.0%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral9.4%
Negative40.6%

Scrivener

All ratings2,595 ratings
Positive77.6%
Neutral6.9%
Negative15.6%
Written reviews722 reviews
Positive45.6%
Neutral16.8%
Negative37.7%

In-app purchases

None

Writing Challenge

No in-app purchases

None

Scrivener

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Writing Challenge free?
Writing Challenge costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Scrivener free?
Scrivener costs $23.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Writing Challenge or Scrivener?
Writing Challenge is rated higher. Writing Challenge averages 4.4 out of 5 from 60 ratings, while Scrivener averages 4.2 from 2.6K ratings.
Do Writing Challenge or Scrivener have ads?
Neither Writing Challenge nor Scrivener shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Writing Challenge or Scrivener?
Writing Challenge ships an update every 6 weeks, and Scrivener every 3 months. Most recently, Writing Challenge was updated on October 22, 2026 and Scrivener on October 22, 2026.

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