Best Writing Apps in 2026

Polish & improve your novel. Identify word and phrase over-use. Monitor adverbs and clichés, crutch words and phrases. Improve sentence structure and punctuation.

Platforms: Windows, PC

Best for: Editing, Proofreading, Book, and Story

Website: https://smart-edit.com/

Capture what’s on your mind. Add notes, lists, photos, and audio to Keep.

Platforms: Online, iPhone, iPad, Android

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

Website: https://www.google.com/keep/

Also rated 4.0 ★ on TechRadar

LibreOffice is a free and powerful office suite, and a successor to OpenOffice.org (commonly known as OpenOffice). Its clean interface and feature-rich tools help you unleash your creativity and enhance your productivity.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, PC

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

Website: https://www.libreoffice.org/

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

Chapters lets you manage multiple notebooks, each fully searchable and with its own settings. Keep a personal journal, a photo diary, notes about that project at work, and a travel journal in a single app.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac

Best for: Note-taking and Journal

Website: http://slidetorock.com/apps/Chapters-iPad-notebooks.html

Also rated 4.0 ★ on the App Store

Terminology is a browser for the English language – part dictionary, part thesaurus and part research tool. Terminology makes it easy to explore words and phrases, diving down to more and less specific terms - accessing the web and other apps for more detail and sharing.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Editing, Proofreading, and Essay

Website: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/terminology-dictionary/id68...

Also rated 4.7 ★ on the App Store

Cold Turkey Writer transforms your computer into a typewriter, which forces you to do nothing but write.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://getcoldturkey.com/writer/

Also rated 4.0 ★ on TechRadar

Bear is a beautiful, flexible writing app for crafting notes and prose.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

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

Website: https://bear.app/

Also rated 4.3 ★ on the App Store

The Novel Factory helps guide new writers through the novel writing process - while completing your first manuscript.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Online, PC

Best for: Book, Drafting, Outlining, and Story

A reliable proofreading tool and essay editor for any writer or student.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Editing, Proofreading, Essay, Blog, and Free

Website: https://typely.com/

Also rated 4.3 ★ on Capterra

Scrivener is the go-to app for writers of all kinds, used every day by best-selling novelists, screenwriters, non-fiction writers, students, academics, lawyers, journalists, translators and more.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, PC

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

Website: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview

Also rated 4.0 ★ on Reedsy

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