Comparison

Writing App vs Novalist

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

Head to head
About

Writing App

This app helps authors plan stories and track writing progress. Organize plot details, set word goals, and monitor daily achievements with insightful statistics and a visual calendar. Stay motivated throughout your writing journey.

Highlights
  • Create and manage writing projects
  • Set word count goals
  • Log writing sessions
  • Organize plot notes and worldbuilding
  • Track writing statistics
  • Calendar view of writing sessions
  • Home screen widgets
Features
Read full description

PlotWords takes you from your first idea to your finished manuscript. Plan your story, develop your characters, write your book, and stay on top of your writing goals. PlotWords keeps everything in sync across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Created by a writer, for writers. WRITE YOUR MANUSCRIPT Turn your ideas into a story. With the built-in text editor, you can write and edit your manuscript directly in PlotWords – whether you're on the go with your iPhone, working on your iPad, or writing at home on your Mac. • Organize your manuscript into chapters and plan your plot wherever you are. • Format your text and easily navigate your manuscript using the table of contents. • Keep everything at your fingertips while writing by accessing your custom character, location, and note cards. DEVELOP CHARACTERS, PLOTS & WORLDS • Bring your characters to life with detailed profiles and create family trees on your Mac. • Build locations and settings for your stories. • Structure your plot with plot cards and notes, and assign point-of-view characters and locations. • Keep your research, notes, and ideas in one place, whether you're at home or on the go. ORGANIZE PROJECTS & BOOK SERIES Keep all your writing projects organized, from the first spark of inspiration to the final revisions. Group your books into series and give each project its own cover in your personal library of stories. SET WRITING GOALS & TRACK YOUR PROGRESS Every word brings you one step closer to finishing your book. Set word count goals and deadlines, track your writing sessions, and watch your project grow. • Track your word count and overall project progress. • Discover your writing habits with clear, easy-to-read statistics. • Keep an eye on your writing streaks and average word counts. • Use the writing calendar to see when you wrote and how much you accomplished. STAY FOCUSED ON YOUR WRITING Make time for your story. Writing Focus comes with a built-in timer to help you plan distraction-free writing sessions and track your progress afterward. YOUR GOALS ON YOUR HOME SCREEN With iOS widgets, you can keep track of your writing progress and upcoming deadlines right from your Home Screen. KEEP WRITING ON IPHONE, IPAD & MAC Sync your projects and manuscripts across your Apple devices with iCloud. Capture an idea on the go, work on your next chapter on your iPad, and pick up right where you left off on your Mac. Some features require PlotWords Premium. You can find details about the available purchase options in the app. Privacy Policy: https://bookpairs.de/plotwords-datenschutzerklaerung.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

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

Writing App4 screens
Novalist4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Writing App at 5.0 against Novalist's 4.5. Novalist's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Writing App sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. Novalist asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Writing App holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 2 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Writing App ships an update every 3 days, Novalist every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Writing App versus Novalist: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWriting AppNovalist
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better4.5 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings3 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size100 MB167 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAnnika ReineckeDominik Goblirsch

Customer experience

Writing App

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Novalist

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Writing App

Subscriptions1
  • Premium$0.997 Days
One-time2
  • Premium$6.99
  • Premium$14.99
None

Novalist

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Writing App free?
Writing App is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Novalist free?
Novalist is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Writing App or Novalist?
Writing App is rated higher. Writing App averages 5.0 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Novalist averages 4.5 from 2 ratings.
Do Writing App or Novalist have ads?
Neither Writing App nor Novalist shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Writing App or Novalist?
Writing App ships an update every 3 days, and Novalist every 5 days. Most recently, Writing App was updated on October 12, 2026 and Novalist on October 10, 2026.

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