Best Story Writing Apps in 2026

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

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/

Create ebooks for every platform: Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, and more. Each specialized file can guide readers to buy your next book in their favorite store.

Platforms: Mac

Best for: Publishing, Story, and Book

Website: https://vellum.pub/

Also rated 3.0 ★ on Reedsy

Most writers have at least one old notebook lying around somewhere, full of old story ideas, interesting characters, enchanting locations, or a myriad of other margin-scribbled thoughts. Notebook.ai is a worldbuilding tool that organizes, saves, and helps in fully fleshing out your fictional world, your way.

Platforms: Online, Chrome

Best for: Worldbuilding, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://www.notebook.ai/

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

Writing can be so much fun when our creative juices are flowing. Cultivating this flow is why ilys exists -- to release within you a gushing torrent of latent creative-potential as your writing explodes through the box that once constrained it.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, and Poetry

Website: https://www.ilys.com/welcome

The best outlining app for your best work. Where brilliant ideas are captured, fleshed out, and realized.

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

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

Website: https://dynalist.io/

Also rated 4.2 ★ on Google Play

Storyline Creator is an elegant writing tool that helps you streamline your writing process. It's incredibly fun to draft ideas, to visualize, enhance and organize your stories - so you can focus on your plot and the creativity instead of the paper war.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Outlining, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://www.storylinecreator.com/

Werdsmith turns your iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch into a powerful writing studio that inspires you to write. With features to motivate you and help you break through writer‘s block, you‘ll find yourself writing more than ever.

Platforms: iPad, Mac, iPhone

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

Website: https://werdsmith.com/

Also rated 4.7 ★ on the App Store

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

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

Elevate your writing, create beautiful documents, and collaborate with others—anywhere, anytime.

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

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

Website: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/word

Also rated 4.0 ★ on TechRadar