Best Drafting Writing Apps in 2026

Hanx Writer expands recreating the permanence of a typewriter with the convenience of your iPad and iPhone. As ever, the report of SHOOK SHOOK and KLOCK-KLOCK is mated with the luxuries of the DELETE key.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, Poetry, and Free

Website: http://hanxwriter.com/

Also rated 3.7 ★ on the App Store

Still looking for the perfect app to write your novel? Novelist might just be the perfect tool for the job!

Platforms: Android, iPhone, iPad, Online

Best for: Outlining, Worldbuilding, Drafting, Story, Book, and Free

Website: https://www.novelist.app/

Mellel is a word processor designed from the ground up to be the ultimate writing tool for academics, technical writers, scholars and students. Mellel is strong, stable and reliable, and is the ideal companion for working on documents that are long and complex, short and simple, or anything in between.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, and Essay

Website: https://mellel.com/

Also rated 3.2 ★ on the App Store

SSuite WordGraph is a free and very useful alternative to Microsoft's Word, OpenOffice's Writer, or anything else out there claiming to be the latest and greatest. You don't even have a need for .NET or even JAVA to be installed. This will save you a lot of hard drive space and precious computer resources.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Chrome, Android, PC

Best for: Drafting, Story, Book, Essay, and Free

Website: https://www.ssuiteoffice.com/software/wordgraph.htm

Writing can be so much fun when our creative juices are flowing. Cultivating this flow is why ilys exists -- to release within you a gushing torrent of latent creative-potential as your writing explodes through the box that once constrained it.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, and Poetry

Website: https://www.ilys.com/welcome

The simplest way to keep notes. All your notes, synced on all your devices.

Platforms: Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, PC, Chrome, PC

Best for: Note-taking, Drafting, Book, Story, Journal, and Free

Website: https://simplenote.com/

Also rated 4.0 ★ on TechRadar

Lists for Writers is a great addition to any writer’s toolbox. Helpful to both novice and expert writers alike, this app delivers list after list of prompts and ideas for your brainstorming sessions: names, character traits, plot lines, occupations, obsessions, action verbs, and much more!

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android

Best for: Note-taking, Outlining, Drafting, Book, Story, and Essay

Website: https://thinkamingo.com/lists-for-writers/

Also rated 4.7 ★ on the App Store

Enjoy a distraction-free writing experience, including a full screen mode and a clean interface. With Markdown, you can write now, and format later.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, Poetry, Journal, Blog, Essay, and Free

Website: https://ghostwriter.kde.org/

ApolloPad is a feature-packed online writing environment that will help you finish your novels, ebooks and short stories.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, Story, Book, and Free

Website: https://apollopad.com/

Create professional print books and eBooks easily with the all-in-one book writing software.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Chrome, PC

Best for: Drafting, Publishing, Book, and Story

Website: https://www.atticus.io/

You have a story to tell, article to publish, or class notes to take. Scrivo Pro can help you organize your writing, research, generate ideas, and remove distractions so you can focus on the most important thing: writing.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, Journal, Book, Story, Essay, Poetry, and Blog

Website: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scrivo-pro-for-scriveners-a...

Also rated 4.4 ★ on the App Store

FreeOffice 2021 is a complete Office suite with a word processor, a spreadsheet application and a presentation program – all seamlessly compatible with their counterparts in Microsoft Office.

Platforms: Mac, PC, Windows

Best for: Drafting, Book, Essay, Journal, Poetry, Story, Blog, and Free

Website: https://www.freeoffice.com/en/

Also rated 4.0 ★ on TechRadar