Best Drafting Writing Apps in 2026

Made by writers, for writers, Novlr is the writing platform that will have you achieving your writing goals.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://www.novlr.org/

Also rated 3.0 ★ on Reedsy

Writemonkey is a Windows zenware writing application with an extremely stripped down user interface, leaving you alone with your thoughts and your words. It is light, fast and free.

Platforms: Windows, PC, Mac

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

Website: https://writemonkey.com/

Also rated 4.0 ★ on TechRadar

Build your best ideas together, in Google Docs. Create, edit, and collaborate with others on documents from your Android phone or tablet with the Google Docs app.

Platforms: Online, Chrome, iPhone, iPad, Android

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

Website: https://www.google.com/docs/about/

Also rated 4.0 ★ on TechRadar

A focused environment where you can write freely. With iA Writer, you can gain unparalleled insight into your writing structure, detect superfluous words and clichés, and navigate through your documents and notes with ease.

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

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

Website: https://ia.net/writer

Also rated 4.0 ★ on PC Magazine

A minimalist writing zone, where you can block out all distractions and get to what's important. The writing! To get started, all you need to do is delete this text (seriously, just highlight it and hit delete), and fill the page with your own fantastic words. You can even change the title!

Platforms: Online, Chrome

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

Website: https://zenpen.io/

Whatever kind of writer you are, ProWritingAid will help you improve your writing and get your ideas across more clearly. Our grammar and style checker contains over 3,000 explanations and videos written by our experts, so you don't need to remember all those crazy rules.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Online, PC, Chrome

Best for: Drafting, Editing, Proofreading, Book, Essay, Story, Blog, and Free

Website: https://prowritingaid.com/

Also rated 4.5 ★ on Reedsy

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

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

Step-by-step guided essay-writing directions written by a college English professor and includes explanations and examples to help you write a college-level essay including the following: introduction paragraph, supporting paragraphs, and conclusion paragraph.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, and Essay

Website: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/guided-essay-writer/id11731...

Also rated 5.0 ★ on the App Store

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. yWriter was designed by an author, not a salesman!

Platforms: Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, and Free

Website: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter7.html

Also rated 3.5 ★ on PC Magazine

WriteItNow is designed to help anyone writing a novel. Keep the novel text and all the background information in one place. Each novel is saved in a single file, and the program has two main sections: one for chapters and scenes and the other for background details

Platforms: Windows, Mac, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, and Story

Website: https://www.ravensheadservices.com/about.html

Are you using the right tool to get your novel written? If you want a finished manuscript, you need intuitive novel writing software that keeps you on track and helps you write more novels. Writing a novel is not easy, but it should be simple. Novelize has all the features you need while minimizing distractions. Just write!

Platforms: Online, Chrome

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, Book, and Story

Website: https://www.getnovelize.com/

Also rated 3.5 ★ on PC Magazine