Comparison

Open Draft Screenwriting vs Codictate

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

Head to head
About

Open Draft Screenwriting

This free, open-source application offers professional screenplay formatting, real-time collaboration, and visual planning tools. It supports multiple export formats and is available across all major operating systems, providing a privacy-first writing experience.

Highlights
  • Professional screenplay formatting
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Beat boards and index cards
  • Version history tracking
  • Character profiles and production tools
  • Export to PDF, FDX, Fountain, and TXT
  • Cross-platform availability
Features
Read full description

OpenDraft is a free, open-source screenwriting application — a modern alternative to Final Draft. PROFESSIONAL SCREENPLAY FORMATTING Write in industry-standard format with automatic element formatting for scene headings, action, character names, dialogue, and parentheticals. What you see is what you export. REAL-TIME COLLABORATION Co-write with your writing partner in real time with live cursors, just like Google Docs. No account required — just share a link and start writing together. BEAT BOARDS & INDEX CARDS Plan your story visually. Drag and drop scene cards, color-code acts, and restructure your screenplay without losing a single word. VERSION HISTORY Every save is tracked with Git-based version control. Compare drafts side by side, see exactly what changed, and restore any previous version instantly. CHARACTER PROFILES & PRODUCTION TOOLS Build character bibles, track dialogue stats, tag scenes for production, and manage your entire project from one place. EXPORT ANYWHERE Export to PDF, Final Draft (.fdx), Fountain, and plain text. Your work is never locked into a proprietary format. WORKS EVERYWHERE Available on macOS, iOS, Windows, Linux, and Android. Run it as a desktop app or self-host in your browser. WHY OPENDRAFT? - 100% free and open source (MIT license) - No subscription, no cloud lock-in - Works fully offline — no internet required - Privacy-first: no tracking, no analytics - Import from Final Draft, Fountain, and PDF

About

Codictate

Read full description

Press a button, speak, and your words are transcribed and pasted into whatever app you're using. No internet required. No account. No data leaves your phone. Codictate is AI dictation that runs entirely on your device. The AI models run locally on your iPhone's Neural Engine and CPU, so your voice is never used to train AI models. HOW IT WORKS Codictate installs a system keyboard with a Dictate button. Tap it, speak, and on-device AI transcribes your speech in real time. The transcript is then inserted into your current text field. Two AI speech engines are included: - Parakeet TDT v3: Runs on the Neural Engine. Fast, lightweight, 95.7% accuracy on clean English audio. - Whisper base (quantized): Runs on CPU as a fallback. Multilingual support with a 57 MB model. You pick which AI model fits your needs. Switch anytime in settings. PRIVACY Everything runs on-device. Audio is never uploaded. There is no server, no analytics, no telemetry. Your recordings stay on your phone and are discarded after transcription. AI dictation without the cloud. FEATURES - On-device AI transcription (no internet needed) - System keyboard with one-tap dictation - Parakeet TDT v3 (Neural Engine, fast) - Whisper base-q5_1 (CPU, multilingual) - Works in any app that accepts keyboard input - Live Activity indicator while recording - Action Button and Shortcuts support REQUIREMENTS - iPhone with iOS 17.0 or later - Apple Silicon (Neural Engine required for Parakeet) - Approximately 57 MB for Whisper model or 500 MB for Parakeet model

Screenshots

Open Draft Screenwriting4 screens
Codictate4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Open Draft Screenwriting at every 6 days against Codictate's every 2 months. Open Draft Screenwriting also leads on device support (4 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Open Draft Screenwriting ships an update every 6 days, Codictate every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Open Draft Screenwriting versus Codictate: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOpen Draft ScreenwritingCodictate
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB82 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBase Information Management Pvt. Ltd.Emil Lykke Grann

In-app purchases

None

Open Draft Screenwriting

No in-app purchases

None

Codictate

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Open Draft Screenwriting free?
Open Draft Screenwriting is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Codictate free?
Codictate is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Open Draft Screenwriting or Codictate have ads?
Neither Open Draft Screenwriting nor Codictate shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Open Draft Screenwriting or Codictate?
Open Draft Screenwriting ships an update every 6 days, and Codictate every 2 months. Most recently, Open Draft Screenwriting was updated on October 9, 2026 and Codictate on October 13, 2026.

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