Zoho Writer vs Ulysses
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Zoho Writer
Create and edit documents with a clean, distraction-free interface. Collaborate with others in real-time, import and export various file formats, and access your work across all devices. Your changes are automatically saved and synced.
- Create and edit documents
- Real-time collaboration
- Import/export MS Word, PDF, ODT
- Sync across devices
- Offline access
- Automatic saving
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Simple, slick word processing app to create and edit documents, and collaborate on them with your friends. Sync docs across devices and access them wherever you go. Writer is carefully designed to create a clean, blank paper-esque writing experience across your smartphone, tablet and computer. And it's free forever! Collaborate with your team - Join discussions, even when you're away from your desk. Add your thoughts to documents, reply to friends' comments, or just appreciate them by clicking "like." Work with multiple formats - Import and edit your existing Microsoft Word documents. Take stories off your world by exporting it as an MS Word, PDF, ODT, HTML, or TXT file. Get access to the full-blown web version - One of the best advantages of using Writer is that it features a powerful word processor on the web. It's incredibly easy to jot down notes on the move, and continue working on it on the web when you're back to your desk. Create beautiful looking documents - Format your documents. Add images, tables, and more. Work offline - Apart from a "Make available offline" option, 20 of your most recent documents will available offline by default too! Forget saving documents - Forget clicking save, and manual back up. Your changes are saved and synced across all your devices as you make them. What's stopping you now? Get started. Write away!
Ulysses
A distraction-free writing environment for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It offers robust document management, seamless syncing, and flexible export options for writers of all kinds. Includes a proofreader and editing assistant.
- Distraction-free editor
- Unified document library
- Cross-device sync
- Built-in proofreader
- Flexible export options (PDF, DOCX, eBook, HTML)
- Direct publishing to blogs
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Ulysses is your one-stop writing environment for Mac, iPhone and iPad. Its pleasant, focused writing experience, combined with effective document management, seamless sync, and flexible export, make Ulysses the first choice for writers of all kinds. ++ Apple Design Award Winner ++ “The app is amazing. An absolute delight to use. Well done.” – David Hewson, Bestselling Author (The Killing) ### A Text Production Powerhouse Ulysses’ markup-based, distraction-free editor lets you focus on your most important task: Write, edit, and write some more. Formatting is kept for later, so you can completely immerse yourself in the text. Ulysses’ uniquely streamlined toolset covers the entire writing process, and its clean and simple interface will boost your productivity. From first to final draft, from prologue to closing chapter – Ulysses keeps you in the flow, so you can get stuff done. ### All Your Texts, All the Time Everything you’ll ever write is stored in Ulysses’ unified library. You can manage projects of all kinds and sizes, be it novels, diaries or study notes – they are always saved, and automatically in sync. And since Ulysses offers feature parity across macOS and iOS, it doesn’t matter where you are or when inspiration hits: All its tools, and all your texts, are always at your fingertips. ### Built-In Proofreader and Editing Assistant Write with confidence, thanks to Ulysses’ integrated grammar and style check. Available for over 20 languages, it analyzes your text and offers informed suggestions for capitalization, punctuation, semantics, redundancy, style and more. ### Create eBooks, DOCX, PDFs and HTML Ulysses’ export is flexible enough to cover any writer’s needs: Transform your text into beautiful PDFs, Word documents or eBooks. Or export HTML code, ready to be used anywhere on the web. You can even choose between a variety of pre-made formatting styles for all kinds of purposes, or create your own and share it with other users. ### Publish to WordPress, Ghost, Substack & More Do you blog? Ulysses’ offers best-in-class publishing to WordPress, Ghost, and Micro.blog. You can post to WordPress, Ghost and Micro.blog from right within the app – complete with images, tags, categories etc. All offer a built-in preview to proofread before submission. Ulysses also supports copy paste publishing to Substack and Basecamp. ### Pricing Ulysses requires a subscription. We offer monthly and yearly subscription plans. They include a fully functional trial, so you can test Ulysses (including export and sync). There’s also a special discount for students. All plans unlock the app on Mac, iPhone and iPad, and feature full synchronization. ### Questions Please visit ulysses.app for more information. You can also reach us via help@ulysses.app or on Twitter @ulyssesapp – we’re happily awaiting your feedback! Terms of Use: https://ulysses.app/app-terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://ulysses.app/app-privacy-policy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Ulysses at 4.6 against Zoho Writer's 2.9. Ulysses also leads on review sentiment (67% vs 30%) and ratings volume (2.1K vs 140). Zoho Writer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 7) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, 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. Ulysses sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Zoho Writer asks for nothing beyond the download.
Ulysses holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ulysses has 2.1K ratings behind it against 140, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 30% of Zoho Writer's written reviews are positive against 67% of Ulysses's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Zoho Writer | Ulysses |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.9 (140 ratings) | 4.6 (2.1K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 29.8% of reviews | 67.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 140 | 2.1K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 132 MB | 272 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Zoho Corporation | Ulysses GmbH & Co. KG |
Customer experience
Zoho Writer
Ulysses
User reviews
Zoho Writer
From 140 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Clean and intuitive interface design
- 🔒 Privacy-focused alternative to Google Docs
- 📝 Good font variety and formatting options
- 💾 Automatic document saving
- 🌐 Cross-platform functionality (desktop, mobile, web)
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezing
- ⚠️ Severe data loss issues
- 🐢 Significant lag and slow typing response
- ❌ Missing core formatting features on mobile
- 🔐 Permission and access errors
Ulysses
From 2.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Seamless syncing across devices
- 👍 Simple, distraction-free writing experience
- 💡 Powerful organization and formatting features
- 🦋 Beautiful, customizable interface
- ✨ Excellent for focused writing
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive subscription model
- 🐛 Occasional sync issues
- 🔒 Concerns about data privacy and lock-in
- 📚 Limited support for advanced formatting (tables, formulas, etc.)
- 🤔 Steep learning curve for some users
Bugs and requests
Zoho Writer
Reported bugs
23 issues- App crashes on document open
- Cursor jumps randomly in document
- Keyboard disappears during typing
- Punctuation disappears after saving
- Text erased or goes missing
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- Undo function behaves erratically
- Diacritics cause app crashes and data loss
- Apple Pencil input causes immediate crashes
- Documents fail to load with permission errors
- Data migration errors on new accounts
- Offline mode loses documents on sync
- Lag increases with document size
- Copy-paste corrupts text formatting
- App freezes on tutorial screen
- Documents deleted after app update
- Sync fails to reflect web version changes
- Microphone input text disappears
- App locks up during formatting operations
- Blank page display in read mode
- Random extra spaces between words
- Cursor placement in middle of words
- Update failure notifications
- App crashes when using WorkDrive integration
Requested features
18 requests- Dark mode for mobile app
- Text wrapping around images
- Adjustable image sizing
- Cover page and page formatting options
- Document list view (not just icon view)
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- Search within document contents
- Ability to save to specific folders
- Multi-select for batch operations
- Select all functionality
- Landscape view support
- Split-screen iPad support
- Cloud import from Dropbox/OneDrive
- Track changes feature
- Outline navigation on mobile
- Font size customization
- Margin adjustment controls
- Document templates
- Alphabetical document sorting
Ulysses
Reported bugs
4 issues- Unexpected data loss or file corruption
- Slow performance on older devices
- Unreliable iCloud sync
- Formatting issues when exporting to other formats
Requested features
5 requests- Improved collaboration and sharing features
- Better integration with reference managers and citation tools
- More flexible export options and compatibility
- Customizable keyboard shortcuts
- Ability to hide Markdown syntax
In-app purchases
Zoho Writer
No in-app purchases
Ulysses
- Monthly Plan7 Days trial$5.991 Month
- Yearly Plan$29.991 Year
- Yearly Plan7 Days trial2 variants$39.991 Year
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- Yearly Plan1 Year trial$39.991 Year
- Student Offer$10.99
- Perpetual License$199.99








