Best Outlining Writing Apps in 2025

Note down, shape, & share your ideas with the world's best loved digital paper. Fall in love with handwriting all over again with Goodnotes’ digital ink.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

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

Website: https://www.goodnotes.com/

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

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/

So, You’re looking to write a book. Well, wavemaker is here to help. It’s much much more than a text editor.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Chrome, Android, Online, PC

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

Website: https://wavemaker.cards/

Also rated 3.7 ★ on Google Play

NovelPad's online and offline novel writing software helps you organize, write, and edit your novel anywhere, on any device, from start to finish.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, Editing, Proofreading, Book, and Story

Website: https://novelpad.co/

Ignite your creativity. Coach your brain to think creatively & spark brilliant ideas at work and in life.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad

Best for: Outlining, Journal, and Free

Website: https://brainsparker.com/

Also rated 4.7 ★ on the App Store

Gingko is a new kind of tool, that lets you shape your ideas with lists, outlines and cards, all in the same clean interface.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Outlining, Essay, Book, Story, and Blog

Website: https://gingkowriter.com/

We’re more than a doc. Or a table. Customize Notion to work the way you do.

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

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

Website: https://www.notion.so/product

Also rated 4.0 ★ on TechRadar

All great writing begins with inspiration. The writing process, however, begins with an unyielding blank page. You could keep battling it. Or you could organize your research snippets on it. So you fill the page with your ideas, data and inspiration. And write a world-class piece that's supported by cited research.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, and Essay

Website: https://www.airstory.co/

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/

Mind mapping starts with a main idea in the center of your mind map. As your map takes shape, add context to topics with attachments, embedded media and more. MindMeister’s features guide you through your first mind maps onto maximum creativity.

Platforms: Online, iPhone, iPad, Android

Best for: Outlining, Journal, Poetry, and Free

Website: https://www.mindmeister.com/

Also rated 4.7 ★ on Capterra

Remember everything and tackle any project with your notes, tasks, and schedule all in one place.

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

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

Website: https://evernote.com/

Also rated 4.4 ★ on the App Store