The best story bible software for a fantasy series
Plotiar's Lore is a free story bible for a fantasy series: custom entry types, labeled relationships shown as a graph and mention detection. Keep the whole series in one project, one folder per book, and every book shares the same Lore. If you want separate books sharing one bible and will pay from $4/month, Novelcrafter's Codex is the most series-focused. Plottr suits visual plotters, and Campfire and World Anvil suit deep worldbuilding.
Lore on every plan, including Free: custom entry types, a graph of labeled relationships and mention detection; one Lore per project, shared by every book in it
Free (5 projects); Plus $5/month or $50/year (unlimited projects); Pro $12/month or $120/year (adds AI)
Any web browser on a computer, tablet or phone; desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux
Lore on every plan, including Free: custom entry types, a graph of labeled relationships and mention detection; one Lore per project, shared by every book in it
Price (as of 2026-09)
Free (5 projects); Plus $5/month or $50/year (unlimited projects); Pro $12/month or $120/year (adds AI)
Platforms
Any web browser on a computer, tablet or phone; desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux
No dedicated story bible: notes, research, and character and location sheet templates in the binder
Price (as of 2026-09)
$59.99 one-time for Mac or Windows; iOS $23.99; 30-day trial
Platforms
Mac, Windows, iPhone and iPad; no web version
How to choose
What matters when you choose
Four questions decide which story bible fits your series:
Can one bible serve every book in the series, or do you copy entries from book to book?
Does it find where each character or place is mentioned in the manuscript?
Can you define your own entry types, and see how entries relate?
Where does it run, and what will it cost once the series grows?
The options
Each option, honestly
Plotiar
Best for: writers who want the story bible, the manuscript and visual planning in one project, free to start.
Lore is Plotiar's story bible. You define your own entry types, not a fixed list, and connect entries with labeled relationships you can see as a graph. Plotiar detects where each entry is mentioned across your manuscript, renames an entry across your whole Lore with one find and replace, and keeps private notes, tags and images on each entry. On Pro, the AI assistant reads your Lore as context. Lore belongs to a project, so a series kept in one project, one folder per book, shares one bible.
Where it falls short: Lore belongs to one project. You can link an entry to your other projects to record where it is reused, but it stays one entry in its home project and has no per-book versions.
Lore in Plotiar: characters, places and the labeled relationships between them.
Novelcrafter
Best for: series writers who want one shared Codex and optional bring-your-own-key AI.
Novelcrafter's Codex is a structured story bible for characters, locations and lore, and one Codex can be shared across the books in a series. It indexes every mention of an entry in your manuscript automatically, and progressions track how entries change over time.
Where it falls short: There is no free plan, it only works online, and its entry types are fixed, with no relationship labels or graph view.
Best for: plotters who want the series bible tied to a visual outline.
Plottr is a visual plotting tool with a timeline of scenes and plotlines, and its series bible organizes the characters and places across every book in a series. Plottr has said that AI is not coming to the app.
Where it falls short: It is built for planning rather than drafting, and the browser version needs Pro.
Best for: fantasy writers who want many linked worldbuilding modules next to the manuscript.
Campfire builds a story bible from linked modules: characters, an encyclopedia, cultures, magic systems, maps and timelines, alongside a manuscript. Its desktop app works offline.
Where it falls short: The free plan stops at 5 encyclopedia articles and 10 characters, which a fantasy series outgrows quickly.
Best for: worlds bigger than the books, with nations, religions and history of their own.
World Anvil is a world encyclopedia: an article for every person, place, nation and religion, all cross-linked, with maps and timelines. Its Manuscripts feature lets you write, edit and export novels connected to that world.
Where it falls short: Manuscripts need a paid plan, and reviewers describe a steep learning curve.
Best for: writers who want the bible and the draft in one simple app, including offline.
Dabble keeps Story Notes beside the manuscript, where you can store worldbuilding details such as lore, maps, history and rules. The installed app keeps working offline, and Dabble is AI-free.
Where it falls short: There is no free plan after the 14-day trial, and the cheapest plan is $19/month.
Best for: desktop writers who prefer a one-time purchase and keep the bible as notes.
Scrivener's binder holds your manuscript together with research files, notes, and character and location sheets, so everything stays at hand while you draft. It is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription.
Where it falls short: It has no relationship graph, mention detection or AI integration, no web version, and each platform is a separate purchase.
You want one shared series bible with a single Codex across all the books. Novelcrafter is built around exactly that.
You plan visually on a timeline first and draft elsewhere. Plottr's series bible sits next to its plot timeline.
You often write offline. Campfire's desktop app and Dabble's installed app keep working without a connection.
Your world is bigger than the books, with nations, religions and history of its own. World Anvil's linked encyclopedia goes deeper.
Questions
Questions about story bible software
Short answers, with the facts as of September 2026.
A story bible is the reference for everything that must stay consistent in your books: characters, places, history, the rules of magic, and how they connect. In a series it matters more with every book, because readers notice when an eye color or a date changes.
Novelcrafter shares one Codex across the books in a series, on every plan from $4/month. Plottr includes a series bible on all its plans, and World Anvil keeps everything in one world that several books can draw on. In Plotiar, Lore belongs to a project, so you keep the series in one project, one folder per book, and every book shares the same entries. You can also link an entry to another project to record that it is reused there, but the entry itself stays in its home project. Scrivener keeps its notes inside each project.
Yes. Plotiar's Lore is included on every plan, and its free plan covers five projects. Campfire's free plan covers 5 encyclopedia articles and 10 characters. Novelcrafter, Plottr, Dabble and Scrivener are paid, with free trials of 21, 30, 14 and 30 days respectively. Prices and trials as of September 2026.
Novelcrafter and Plotiar both detect where each entry is mentioned in the manuscript, and Plotiar can also rename an entry across your whole Lore with one find and replace. In Scrivener, you search for names yourself.
Scrivener can hold a story bible in its binder, with research files and character and location sheet templates, and it is a one-time $59.99 purchase for Mac or Windows. It has no relationship graph, mention detection or web version, so if you want those, keep the bible in a dedicated tool and keep drafting in Scrivener.
Keep your series consistent
Lore, Plotiar's story bible, is free on every plan, in the same project as your manuscript.