Best Free Writing Apps in 2026

iWriter Pro is elegant and minimalist text editor with built-in MultiMarkdown support. Distraction-free and subscription-free.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

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

Website: https://serpensoft.info/

Also rated 4.8 ★ on the App Store

Campfire is a versatile writing tool organized into modules, each one offering a different type of story element you can create. Keep track of each character's motives, history, eye color, and more. The Characters Module gives you an easy way to make quick notes or detailed character sheets about anyone in your story. Upload your map to the Maps Module, add pins to integrate it with the rest of your story, and nest other maps to keep things organized.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Online, PC

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

Website: https://www.campfirewriting.com/

Also rated 4.0 ★ on Reedsy

Unload your thoughts by creating a personal layout with notes, links and media in a second to visualize your creative process and move forward faster.

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

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

Website: https://xtiles.app/en

Also rated 4.9 ★ on Capterra

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

The Internet's best write-reward system! Write one hundred words, get an image of a kitten!

Platforms: Online

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

Website: https://writtenkitten.co/

FocusWriter is a simple, distraction-free writing environment. It utilizes a hide-away interface that you access by moving your mouse to the edges of the screen, allowing the program to have a familiar look and feel to it while still getting out of the way so that you can immerse yourself in your work.

Platforms: Windows, PC

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

Website: https://gottcode.org/focuswriter/

Also rated 4.0 ★ on TechRadar

Grammarlookup.com uses artificial intelligence to check grammar and punctuation mistakes in your writing, eliminate spelling errors and highlight 1000s of style issues to make your writing exceptional among other writers.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Editing, Proofreading, Essay, and Free

Website: https://www.grammarlookup.com/

Also rated 4.7 ★ on Capterra

Dropbox Paper is more than a doc — it’s a co-editing tool that brings creation and coordination together in one place.

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

Best for: Note-taking, Essay, Blog, and Free

Website: https://www.dropbox.com/paper/start?no_redirect=1

Also rated 4.0 ★ on TechRadar

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/

Drafts opens to a new page with the keyboard ready so you can type immediately. Go hands-free with Dictation. Drafts lets you get things down before you forget without fiddling folders, naming, etc.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac

Best for: Note-taking, Journal, Essay, Blog, and Free

Website: https://getdrafts.com/

Also rated 4.8 ★ 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/