Compare the Top Writing Software for Mac as of November 2026 - Page 2

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    Essayist

    Essayist

    Essayist Software

    Upon starting a new essay it sets up the title section/page, margins, font, line spacing, alignment, page headers/footers, etc. It formats your references, in-text citations, footnotes/endnotes, figures, tables, table of contents and more. Add in-text citations and footnotes/endnotes with ease. Simply click the insert citation button and select the reference you wish to cite. An in-text citation/footnote/endnote is automatically created for you. Add references quickly and easily using Google Scholar, Essayist’s built-in search, by pasting a URL or manual entry forms. Once added, references are automatically formatted and added to your essay’s references/works cited list.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 2
    Atticus

    Atticus

    Atticus

    Atticus is an all-in-one writing and formatting tool designed specifically for authors who want to create, edit, and publish books from a single platform. It combines a full writing editor with professional formatting tools, allowing users to draft their manuscript, organize chapters, and track writing goals within an interface built by authors for authors. It simplifies the publishing process by enabling users to import existing documents and quickly transform them into professionally formatted ebooks or print-ready files using customizable templates and design options. Atticus includes features such as drag-and-drop chapter organization, word count tracking, and preview tools that show how a book will appear across different devices before publication. It supports exporting to multiple formats, including EPUB, PDF, and DOCX, ensuring compatibility with major publishing platforms and marketplaces.
    Starting Price: $147 one-time payment
  • 3
    Writer Studio

    Writer Studio

    Writer Studio

    Writer Studio is a free, offline desktop app for fiction authors on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It organizes manuscripts into scenes, chapters, and parts, with a Book Wiki for characters, locations, and story knowledge beside the text. Authors can plan books and series, track revisions, and export to DOCX, EPUB, FB2, PDF, and Markdown. Manuscript files stay on the author’s computer; autosave, local backups, and version history support recovery. AI is optional and author-controlled. Core desktop features are free, while optional Authr Plus server services cover managed AI, hosted publications, and reader analytics. Writer Studio is currently in public alpha.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 4
    Zettlr

    Zettlr

    Zettlr

    Writing is an essential part of our everyday life. Why make it complicated? Zettlr redefines what writing means. It is slim, fast, and versatile. Focus on what matters to you. Publish, not perish. In modern times, getting a hold of the flood of information is almost as hard as inserting a USB drive the right way on the first attempt. Zettlr allows you to connect pieces of information using state of the art Zettelkasten methodology. And the best is: Unlike many competitors, Zettlr never locks you in. Zettlr supports almost every conceivable way to create links and identify your files. In other words: No matter where you come from — all Zettelkästen are beautiful and supported by Zettlr. Out of the box. Due to its designing flexibility, Zettlr supports dark mode out of the box, as well as many different themes, suited to your needs. Switching is as easy as pressing a button.
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    yWriter

    yWriter

    Spacejock Software

    yWriter is a word processor which breaks your novel into chapters and scenes, helping you keep track of your work while leaving your mind free to create. It will not write your novel for you, suggest plot ideas or perform creative tasks of any kind. yWriter was designed by an author, not a salesman! yWriter7 is free to download and use, but you're encouraged to register your copy if you find it useful. If you're just embarking on your first novel a program like yWriter may seem like overkill. I mean, all you have to do is type everything into a word processor! Sure, but wait until you hit 20,000 words, with missing scenes and chapters, notes all over your desk, characters and locations and plot points you've just added and which need to be referenced earlier ... it becomes a real struggle. Now imagine that same novel at 40,000 or 80,000 words! No wonder most first-time writers give up.
  • 6
    Script Studio

    Script Studio

    Script Studio

    Plan your story beat by beat, drag 'n' drop scenes or chapters to re-organize your narrative, and color-code your structure. Let Script Studio professionally format your script as you type to industry standard so you can focus on the story. Create in-depth three-dimensional character profiles, analyze dialogue and develop their story arcs step by step. View scene-by-scene breakdowns and analyses of successful Hollywood movies like Die Hard and compare your story structure with the pros. Keep track of character ideas, plot points, draft script scenes and research, and build a checklist of story objectives. International text support for diacritics and right-to-left scripts. Script Studio was developed by a produced screenwriter and its intuitive and unique design helps you break your story down into sequences so you can build your script or novel step by step, chapter by chapter or scene by scene.
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    JotterPad

    JotterPad

    JotterPad

    From reed and papyrus to pen to keyboard, to now our smartphones, our way of writing has evolved. With JotterPad, you can make your writing process streamlined, fluid, flexible, and highly personalized to writers of all kinds, Regardless of whether you’re an aspiring novelist, screenplay writer, journalist, or blogger. Equipped with a versatile editor, JotterPad supports both Markdown and Fountain syntax and has a “What You See Is What You Get” (WYSIWYG) element. For beginners, you are able to change from plain text to rich text format with a simple click or highlight. For experienced users, you will find it more convenient to write by using syntax. Additionally, with the WYSIWYG element, you will get a better representation of the final outcome and look of your work. JotterPad is the only writing assistant you’ll ever need. Search up word definitions, synonyms, and antonyms with our built-in dictionary and Thesaurus.
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    ghostwriter

    ghostwriter

    ghostwriter

    Enjoy a distraction-free writing experience, including a full screen mode and a clean interface. With Markdown, you can write now, and format later. The built-in light and dark themes provide an aesthetic writing experience out of the box. If the these are not enough, you can create your very own! Preview your Markdown document in HTML. With the live preview, you can copy the HTML to paste into your blog, or export to another format. The live preview is optimized for large documents, so you can work carefree without worrying about the application freezing as you type. In addition to displaying a live word count at the bottom of the window, ghostwriter displays even more live statistics in its Document Statistics and Session Statistics sidebar tabs. Easily create image URLs within your Markdown document by dragging and dropping an image from your file system into ghostwriter's editor.
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    Story Planner

    Story Planner

    Story Planner

    Plot your stories and organize your writing. Story Planner helps you outline any of your fiction stories and keep your writing projects together. Whether you want to plan a story or only need to write down the first notes of an idea, Story Planner gives you the tools you need to build your novels and screenplays step by step. An intuitive and focused writing experience to enjoy on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. This app is a versatile and intuitive tool that speeds up your writing process, and it works great for different kinds of storytellers. Whether you are a fiction author, screenwriter, aspiring writer, hobbyist writer, creative writing student, or RPG master, this app offers you quick and intuitive story organization. Script and book planning has never been this easy. Get Story Planner today and start writing your best stories!
    Starting Price: $7.99 once-off
  • 10
    Canva Enterprise
    Canva Enterprise is a premium design solution tailored for large organizations seeking to streamline their branding and content creation processes. It offers a collaborative platform where teams can create, edit, and share professional-grade visual content, including presentations, social media posts, and marketing materials, all while maintaining brand consistency. With features like advanced team management, approval workflows, and customizable brand kits, Canva Enterprise empowers teams to work efficiently and creatively without requiring extensive design expertise. It also provides robust integrations with tools like Slack, Google Drive, and Dropbox, along with enterprise-grade security to ensure data protection. This solution is ideal for organizations aiming to scale their design efforts while fostering collaboration and upholding their visual identity.
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    Byword

    Byword

    Byword

    Draft a blog post, write that story or complete a school report wherever you are. Use Markdown to format text with easy keyboard shortcuts, subtle syntax highlighting, word counters with live update, and much more. All your documents, on all your devices. With iCloud and Dropbox, you can create documents in Byword on your Mac and access them on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. And vice versa. You can edit them from anywhere, on any device you use. Byword includes complete Markdown support. Preview your documents in app, export to HTML, PDF, rich text, or publish directly to Medium, WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr and Evernote. The lack of support for rich text is due to technical limitations and limited development resources. We are evaluating the cost/benefit of investing in rich text support of iOS. Meanwhile, we strongly recommend opting for plain text and markdown format for your documents. Macworld has a great article explaining why opting for plain text today is a good idea.
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    WhiteSmoke

    WhiteSmoke

    WhiteSmoke

    WhiteSmoke Writing Solution. We produce an all-in-one English writing tool that provides grammar, spelling, punctuation and style checks. Our software is activated in a single click from any text application and browser, pointing out potential errors for consideration and offering suggestions for improvement. We believe that users that have little or no experience with WhiteSmoke software can use our solution to quickly begin writing, editing, translating and enhancing their English documents. WhiteSmoke renders you with the highest quality proofreading abilities available, correcting not only simple spelling mistakes like old-fashioned word processors but everything from grammar, word choices and even style mistakes, all without breaking a sweat. Grammar plays an important role in what kind of impression you give.
    Starting Price: $6.59/month/user
  • 13
    Editpad

    Editpad

    Editpad

    Open Editpad Wordpad and start creating the notes online. You can also copy-paste to edit text and save it for later use. You can also check the plagiarism, grammar, and punctuation of edited text in our online editor. If you’re writing plain text in our Online Notepad, you also have the option to paraphrase & summarize it on the same typing pad. Directly share your notes with others by using our “share note” option. To generate a conclusion or abstract of your written text, an abstract generator, and a conclusion generator are developed. Essay generator by Editpad quickly creates unique and plagiarism-free essays. Our AI essay maker will generate an engaging and informative essay. You can use our free essay writer for writing your assignments within seconds without any signup or registration. Plagiarism checker by Editpad is a free online tool to check plagiarism in the text. Find duplicate content, add sources of non-quoted text and download plagiarism reports.
    Starting Price: Free