Highland Pro vs Open Draft Screenwriting
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Highland Pro
This writing application offers a streamlined and distraction-free environment for crafting screenplays, scripts, and novels. It provides innovative tools for organization, research, and formatting, ensuring a focus on creativity. Available across Mac, iPad, and iPhone, it supports professional writing workflows.
- Distraction-free writing environment
- Integrated lookup for quick research
- Organize notes and ideas with The Shelf
- Professional title page and custom page creation
- Overview of entire document structure
- Grammar and character highlighting
- Import/export Fountain, Final Draft, and PDFs
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Highland Pro is a better screenwriting app — one you’ll want to use for everything you write. Highland’s clean design and innovative writing tools help you focus on your story, not formatting. With full support for Mac, iPad, and iPhone, you can write scripts, screenplays, and novels anytime, anywhere. “Highland is just a cleaner, purer way to be creative.” — Phil Lord, Writer/Director of The Lego Movie, 21 & 22 Jump Street . . . . . F E A T U R E S . . . . . Created by screenwriter and novelist John August, Highland Pro is built by writers, for writers. Its distraction-free tools help you get things written: •/Lookup. (NEW!) Get quick answers — definitions, rhymes, world facts — without leaving your draft. •The Shelf. (NEW!) Store snippets, notes, and ideas. Afraid to cut dialogue? Save it while you write. •Title Page Builder. (NEW!) Build professional title pages that meet script formatting standards. •Custom Pages. (NEW!) Add prefaces, cast lists, or production breakdowns to any screenplay or script. •Overview. (NEW!) See your entire screenplay, script, or novel in one view. Highlight characters, scenes, and more. •Grammar Highlight. (NEW!) Strengthen writing by exploring nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in your document. •The Navigator. (Improved!) Track your story’s structure — what you’ve written and what’s next. •Headers and Footers. (Improved!) Add custom headers and footers to your script or draft. •Templates. (Improved!) Choose from 14 writing templates, including Screenplay, Multi-Cam, and Manuscript. •Themes. (Improved!) Customize your writing environment with 12 themes or build your own. •Revision Mode. Track changes with color and margin stars. •Writing Sprints. Boost output with timed, focused writing sessions. •Full Screen Mode. Create in a clean, distraction-free environment. •In-line Notes & Synopses. Keep beats and screenplay notes inside your draft. . . . . . S C R E E N W R I T E R S . . . . . Highland Pro is made for screenwriters working on film, TV, or any professional writing project. •Compatibility. Import/export Fountain, Final Draft (.fdx), and PDFs, perfect for studio workflows. •Autocomplete. Type faster with smart suggestions for character names and scene headers. •Character Highlighting. Organize characters visually in the writing interface and exports. •Gender Analysis. Analyze gender representation across your script or novel. •Scene Numbering. Automatic scene numbering, including custom ranges, essential for professional scripts. •PDF Melting. Highland’s exclusive tool “melts” Final Draft and Fountain PDFs for full editing. . . . . . A D V A N T A G E S . . . . . Highland Pro is built for today’s professional writers, whether writing a first screenplay or polishing a production draft. •Excellent Performance. From scrolling to previews, Highland is fast, using native Apple technologies. •Great Typography. Beautiful, readable fonts optimized for screenwriting and long-form writing. •Standards-Leading. From the creators of Fountain, Highland speaks Fountain and Markdown fluently. . . . . . S U B S C R I P T I O N . . . . . After a free 30-day trial, your subscription unlocks ALL FEATURES and supports Highland’s development. If your subscription lapses, Highland Pro still opens, prints, and exports documents in compatible formats. You’re never locked in. . . . . . S U P P O R T . . . . . The in-app “Welcome to Highland” tutorial walks you through the features. We also have an extensive FAQ available in-app and online: http://quoteunquoteapps.com Questions? Use the Help menu or email: support@quoteunquoteapps.com . . . . .P R I V A C Y . . . . . We’re fully committed to respecting your privacy and your content. For details, visit:https://support.quoteunquoteapps.com/privacy-policy . . . . . E U L A . . . . . https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Open Draft Screenwriting
This free, open-source application offers professional screenplay formatting, real-time collaboration, and visual story planning tools. It allows for easy export to various formats and works across multiple platforms, providing a modern alternative to traditional screenwriting software.
- Professional screenplay formatting
- Real-time collaboration
- Beat boards and index cards
- Version history with Git
- Character profiles and production tools
- Export to PDF, FDX, Fountain, and text
- Cross-platform compatibility (macOS, iOS, Windows, Linux)
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OpenDraft is a free, open-source screenwriting app for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Write, outline and hear your screenplay, with no subscription and no account. MADE FOR IPHONE DUO Folded, your script fills the cover screen. Opened like a book, the script takes one page and your panels the other. Half open like a laptop, it stands on its own with your panels below the script. OpenDraft remembers the layout you choose for each. PROFESSIONAL FORMATTING, AUTOMATICALLY Scene headings, action, characters, dialogue, parentheticals and transitions format themselves as you type. SmartType completes the character names, locations and times of day you have already used. Templates cover film, one-hour drama, sitcom, stage play, radio, podcast, comics and AV scripts. TABLE READ Hear your script read aloud, with a different voice for each character. The line and the word being spoken are highlighted, so you can follow along or catch a clumsy line by ear. PLAN THE STORY Index cards show every scene with its synopsis, colour, page count and running time. The Outline lays out acts, sequences and scenes: drag a scene to move it. A beat board and a story timeline give you the big picture, and the Navigator jumps to any scene. KNOW YOUR SCRIPT Script Health finds empty scene headings, unfinished dialogue and notes you haven't dealt with. Reports cover scenes, characters, cast and locations, with CSV and PDF export. Character profiles, tags and a location list keep the details in one place. REVISE WITH CONFIDENCE Version history keeps your saved drafts. Compare two of them to see rewritten lines and moved scenes, and restore any version. Revision colours, locked pages and scene numbers are there when you go into production. WRITE TOGETHER Co-write in real time with live cursors, or turn on Suggest Changes and review each edit before it lands. IMPORT AND EXPORT Open Final Draft (.fdx), Fountain, Word and PDF scripts. Export to PDF, Final Draft, Fountain, Fade In and Word, with watermarks, scene ranges and sides when you need them. IN YOUR LANGUAGE Menus and dialogs come in 19 languages, right-to-left ones included, and spellcheck can check several languages in one script. YOURS TO KEEP - Free and open source (MIT licence) - No subscription and no ads - Privacy-first: no tracking, no analytics - Works fully offline: your scripts stay on your device unless you choose to share them - Optional add-ons such as Dictation stay off until you turn them on
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Open Draft Screenwriting at none against Highland Pro's 2. Open Draft Screenwriting also leads on review sentiment (80% vs 45%) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 3 weeks). Highland Pro's advantage is ratings volume (28 vs 5). On price, rating, ads 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. Highland Pro sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Open Draft Screenwriting asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Highland Pro against 4.4 for Open Draft Screenwriting. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Highland Pro has 28 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 45% of Highland Pro's written reviews are positive against 80% of Open Draft Screenwriting's.
Highland Pro ships an update every 3 weeks, Open Draft Screenwriting every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Highland Pro | Open Draft Screenwriting |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (28 ratings) — better | 4.4 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 45.1% of reviews | 80.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 28 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 58 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Quote-Unquote LLC | Base Information Management Pvt. Ltd. |
Customer experience
Highland Pro
Open Draft Screenwriting
Bugs and requests
Highland Pro
Reported bugs
3 issues- Sync deleting draft documents
- Preview mode not remembering last position
- Crashes and data loss on iPad
Requested features
3 requests- Customizable color themes
- Export options beyond PDF
- Retain free version for students
Open Draft Screenwriting
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Highland Pro
- Monthly1 Month trial$9.991 Month
- Yearly1 Month trial$59.991 Year
Open Draft Screenwriting
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Highland Pro free?
Is Open Draft Screenwriting free?
Which has better reviews, Highland Pro or Open Draft Screenwriting?
Do Highland Pro or Open Draft Screenwriting have ads?
Which is updated more often, Highland Pro or Open Draft Screenwriting?
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