Comparison

Plot Flow vs Novalist

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

Head to head
About

Plot Flow

Features
Read full description

Plot Flow - Making Story Planning and Writing Simple Plot Flow is a story planning and writing application designed for writers and creators, helping you efficiently organize, build, and write your stories through an intuitive interface and powerful features. Key Features: • Easy Story Outline Planning • Use kanban view to intuitively organize story structure • Drag and drop cards to reorder • Quickly adjust story node hierarchy • Build Your Story World • Create and link characters, scenes, props, and other story elements • Connect elements with outline nodes • Build a complete story world system • Focus on Writing • Clean writing interface • Access directory anytime • Quick chapter switching • Real-time word count tracking Whether you're a professional writer, screenwriter, or writing enthusiast, Plot Flow helps you better organize your thoughts and focus on creation. Download now and start your creative journey! Supports iPad and iPhone.

About

Novalist

A dedicated writing environment for novelists to plan, build worlds, and write manuscripts. It offers a clean editor with advanced features, a comprehensive world-building codex, and flexible organizational tools. Your writing is stored in plain files on your device, ensuring ownership and longevity.

Highlights
  • Clean writing editor with formatting and comments
  • World-building codex for characters, locations, and lore
  • Plotting tools: Grid, Timeline, Calendar, Relationships
  • Multi-book projects with shared World Bible
  • Plain file storage for project ownership
  • Themeable interface and keyboard navigation
Features
Read full description

Novalist is a writing environment built for novelists — a single, focused workspace where you plan your story, build your world, and write the manuscript, instead of bending a general-purpose word processor to the task. WRITE A clean editor with real formatting, paragraph styles, inline comments, and footnotes. Focus Mode hides everything but the page; the split editor lets you work on two scenes at once. Every scene auto-saves with its own snapshot history, so you can compare versions and revert a single scene without disturbing the rest of the book. Smart quotes, em-dashes, and dialogue punctuation are handled as you type, with presets for ten languages, alongside grammar and spelling checks and live word count, reading time, and readability. BUILD YOUR WORLD A full Codex keeps your characters, locations, items, and lore in one place — with images, relationships, custom fields, and long-form notes. Define your own entity types, such as factions, spells, vehicles, or races, each with its own fields. Character details can change per act, chapter, or scene, so someone can age, move, or transform across the story without losing their earlier state. PLAN AND SEE THE SHAPE Plot Grid: toggle which scenes belong to each plotline in a spreadsheet view. Timeline: acts, chapters, scenes, and events in chronological order. In-world Calendar: place scenes on the dates they happen in your story. Relationships: a living map of who knows whom, with automatic inverse roles. ORGANIZE WITHOUT LOCK-IN Work in multi-book projects with a shared World Bible for a series. Chapters carry status, acts, and colors; Smart Lists save the scene queries you return to. And your project is simply plain files on disk — add, rename, move, or delete scenes in Finder and Novalist keeps up. Your writing stays in a format you can read forever. MAKE IT YOURS A themeable interface, keyboard-driven navigation with a command palette, and an extension system for adding new tools. Novalist keeps your manuscript on your Mac, in files you own. Write the book.

Screenshots

Plot Flow4 screens
Novalist4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Novalist at none against Plot Flow's 2. Plot Flow's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 27.0). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Plot Flow sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Novalist asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Plot Flow versus Novalist: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPlot FlowNovalist
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.5 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequency—Every 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.1 — better27.0
Further details — not scored
Size36 MB190 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer晓璐 王Dominik Goblirsch

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Plot Flow

Subscriptions2
  • Unlimited Access7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Unlimited Access7 Days trial$34.991 Year
None

Novalist

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Plot Flow free?
Plot Flow is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Novalist free?
Novalist is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Plot Flow or Novalist have ads?
Neither Plot Flow nor Novalist shows ads.

Other comparisons