Plotiar is the best free app for planning and writing a novel in one place. The free plan never expires, needs no card and holds five projects, each with real pages, the Lore story bible, plot grids, corkboards, maps and family trees, in any browser or the desktop app. LivingWriter's free plan covers one book, Novlr's two projects and Campfire's 25,000 words. Reedsy Studio is the better free choice for PDF and EPUB files.
The whole desktop word processor, with the Navigator, master documents for long books, and PDF and EPUB export
Price (as of 2026-10)
Free; donations welcome
Platforms
Windows, Mac and Linux; no web version, and only a viewer on Android
How to choose
What to check in a free novel writing app
Five questions show whether a free app or plan is enough for a novel:
How much does the free plan hold: a number of projects, one manuscript, or a word limit?
Are the planning tools free too, or only the editor?
Can you export your book for free, and in which formats?
Is it a free plan that stays free, or a trial that ends?
Does it run on every device you write on, and does it work offline?
The options
Each option, honestly
Best free app for planning and writing
Plotiar
Best for: novelists who want the planning tools and the manuscript in one place without paying.
Plotiar's free plan is not a trial, and it needs no card. Each of its five projects holds a whole book: chapters on real pages, plot grids, corkboards, flowcharts, maps, family trees and story calendars. A Lore story bible tracks where each character and place is mentioned. Comments and templates are included too.
Where it falls short: The free plan exports DOCX, TXT and Fountain files. PDF and EPUB export, co-authors and more than five projects need Plus.
Lore story bible entries in Plotiar, included on the free plan.
Reedsy Studio
Best for: writers who want a free path from first draft to a formatted ebook or print file.
Reedsy Studio is free for writing, formatting and export, including professional PDF and EPUB files. Planning happens on card Boards, and collaboration is free.
Where it falls short: On the free plan, planning Boards show cards only. Reedsy Studio doesn't work offline, and anyone you invite gets full edit rights.
Best for: planning and writing a novel on your phone.
Novelist is a free novel writing app built for phones. It organizes a book in acts, parts and chapters, with a plot board, notes on characters and places, word-count or deadline goals and revision history. Backups go to your device or your own cloud storage.
Where it falls short: It's built for phones first, and its site doesn't mention co-authors or sharing a book with an editor.
Best for: Windows writers who plan scene by scene and want every file on their own computer.
yWriter, by Simon Haynes, splits a novel into chapters and scenes and tracks the characters, locations and items in each one. It needs no internet connection and keeps all your files on your computer. It exports RTF, EPUB and other formats.
Where it falls short: The Mac version is a beta that will become paid software, the phone apps cost extra, and there is no co-editing.
Best for: trying a board-based plotting app on a first book before paying.
LivingWriter combines a manuscript with a Planning Board, story elements that track characters, places and objects, and genre templates. It has apps on every major device.
Where it falls short: The free plan covers your first book only and exports PDF only, and there is no Linux app.
Best for: writers who want a calm, focused drafting space with strong writing statistics.
Novlr focuses on the daily writing session: distraction-free drafting, sprints, streaks, goals and analytics, with notes and a planning grid. Exports cover DOCX, PDF, ODT and RTF, plus EPUB on Studio.
Where it falls short: The free plan stops at two projects, and planning is a grid of notes rather than flowcharts or freeform boards.
Best for: worldbuilders who want to try linked worldbuilding modules before paying for them.
Campfire is a writing and worldbuilding suite of linked modules: characters, an encyclopedia, maps, timelines, cultures, magic systems and a manuscript. Its desktop app works offline.
Where it falls short: The free plan stops at 5 encyclopedia articles, 10 characters, 2 maps, 2 relationship webs and 25,000 words of manuscript, which a fantasy series outgrows quickly.
Best for: drafting without distractions on a Windows or Linux computer.
FocusWriter is a free, open-source word processor that hides everything but your text. It has daily goals, writing statistics, timers and a scene list, and works with plain text, RTF, ODT and basic DOCX files.
Where it falls short: It has no planning tools or character notes, and its site offers no Mac download.
Best for: writers whose editor or publisher works in Word.
Word for the web lets several people write, read and collaborate in real time from any device, with Word's comments and track changes. The free version needs only a Microsoft account.
Where it falls short: Live co-editing works on files stored in OneDrive or SharePoint (and some partner services), and like Google Docs it has no planning tools for a novel.
Best for: writers who want a free word processor that works offline.
LibreOffice Writer is a free desktop word processor. The Navigator jumps between chapters and headings, master documents join chapter files into one book, and it exports PDF and EPUB files.
Where it falls short: It has no planning tools for a novel, no web version or phone editor, and no co-editing in the desktop app.
You need free PDF or EPUB files now. Reedsy Studio formats and exports both on its free plan, and Plotiar needs Plus for them.
You only need a document to share with a co-author. Google Docs and Word for the web are free, and most people already know them.
You often write offline. Plotiar is cloud-based, and only documents you have already opened keep working offline. yWriter, FocusWriter and LibreOffice Writer are desktop apps that need no connection, and Campfire's desktop app also works offline.
Questions
Questions about free novel writing apps
Short answers, with the facts as of October 2026.
For planning and writing in one place, Plotiar. Its free plan gives you real pages, the Lore story bible, plot grids, corkboards, maps and family trees for up to five projects, in any browser or the desktop app. Reedsy Studio is better if you need free PDF and EPUB files now, yWriter if you want a free offline app on Windows, and Novelist if you write on a phone.
Plotiar, Reedsy Studio, LivingWriter, Novlr and Campfire have free plans. Novelist and FocusWriter are free apps, yWriter is free on Windows, and Google Docs, Word for the web and LibreOffice Writer are free word processors. Dabble and Novelcrafter offer free trials instead of free plans.
Yes. The free plan never expires and needs no card. It covers up to five projects with the page editor, the Lore story bible, plot grids, corkboards, flowcharts, maps, family trees and calendars. Plus ($5 a month or $50 a year) adds unlimited projects, co-authors, and PDF and EPUB export.
Reedsy Studio exports professional PDF and EPUB files on its free plan. yWriter exports EPUB, and LibreOffice Writer exports PDF and EPUB. LivingWriter's free plan exports PDF only. Plotiar's free plan exports DOCX, TXT and Fountain files, and Plus adds PDF and EPUB, with print presets for KDP and IngramSpark.
A free plan stays free, with limits such as Plotiar's five projects or Novlr's two. A trial gives you the full app for a set time and then asks you to pay: Dabble's trial lasts 14 days and Novelcrafter's 21.
Plotiar includes its planning tools on the free plan: a story bible, plot grids, corkboards, flowcharts, maps and family trees. Campfire's free plan has planning modules with small limits, and Reedsy Studio's free plan has Boards in card view only.
Start your novel for free
Write on real pages with your story bible, plot grids and maps beside them, free for up to five projects.