Best Writing Apps in 2026

Freedom blocks distractions across all your Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, and Chrome devices so you don’t have to fight off the temptation of distracting pings, notifications, headlines, and emails.

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

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

Website: https://freedom.to/

Also rated 4.4 ★ on Google Play

Notes is the best place to jot down quick thoughts or to save longer notes filled with checklists, images, web links, scanned documents, handwritten notes, or sketches. And with iCloud, it's easy to keep all your devices in sync, so you’ll always have your notes with you.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

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

Website: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/notes/id1110145109

Also rated 3.3 ★ on the App Store

Built for teams and individuals to create, collaborate, and organize all your knowledge in one place from anywhere in the world. Create fast dynamic notes, documents, wikis, knowledge bases, and projects while integrating across the apps you work with.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Productivity, Blog, and Free

Website: https://bit.ai/

Also rated 5.0 ★ on Capterra

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

In Outline you can create notebooks for your personal needs of widest range: travel or recipe book, any kind of journal or diary, photo album, daily planner, and so on and so forth. Just everything you could imagine!

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac

Best for: Note-taking and Journal

Website: https://outline.app/

Also rated 4.2 ★ on the App Store

The most enjoyable desktop app for writing a thesis or paper.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, PC

Best for: Drafting and Essay

Website: https://www.monsterwriter.app/

Also rated 3.8 ★ on the App Store

Do you have a story to tell? Unlike conventional word processors, Storyist helps you track your plot, characters, and settings, and keeps all of your writing organized and accessible—so you can focus on telling your story.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, Book, and Story

Website: https://storyist.com/

Also rated 4.0 ★ on PC Magazine

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

Stuck in front of a blank page? Need a boost of inspiration? Join us to overcome blocks and push your creativity to the max. With Writing Challenge, you will brainstorm new and fresh ideas and embrace freewriting in the funniest way ever.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android

Best for: Brainstorming, Story, Book, and Poetry

Website: https://www.writingchallengeapp.com/

Also rated 4.4 ★ on the App Store

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

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

QuillBot offers you top-notch tools for perfecting your writing, from our Paraphraser and Summarizer to our Plagiarism Checker. At QuillBot, we’re committed to making writing painless by building the most robust writing and research platform in the world.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Editing, Proofreading, Essay, and Free

Website: https://quillbot.com/

Also rated 4.6 ★ on Capterra