Book Writing Software Without a Subscription
You can write and publish a novel without paying monthly. Scrivener (about $59.99 per platform), Vellum ($199.99 to $249.99, Mac only), Atticus (about $147) and Galley (€199) are all one-time purchases, and Reedsy Studio and LibreOffice are free. Dabble and Novlr are subscriptions but sell lifetime licences too.
A novel takes a year, or three, or five. Some months you write every day, and some months the manuscript doesn’t move because life got in the way. Paying a monthly fee through all of that adds up, and I think it’s the wrong model for a tool you use in bursts. (I would say that, I sell one of these. But I’d say it anyway.)
The good news is there are plenty of tools you can buy once.
One-time purchases
| Tool | What it does | Price | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scrivener | Drafting and organising | ~$59.99 once per platform | Mac, Windows, iOS |
| Vellum | Formatting a finished manuscript | $199.99 ebooks, $249.99 with print | Mac only |
| Atticus | Writing and formatting | ~$147 once | Browser |
| Galley | Writing and formatting on the real page | €199 once | Browser: Mac, Windows, Linux |
A few things to check with any one-time licence:
- Are updates included? Some one-time licences cover the current version only, and a major new version costs extra. Scrivener has done paid upgrades between major versions.
- Per platform or per person? Scrivener’s Mac and Windows licences are sold separately.
- What happens if the company closes? For a desktop app, it keeps running. For a web app, it doesn’t, so look for a commitment about exports and notice.
Free
- Reedsy Studio writes and formats a simple book, free. Fewer design options, and you’re tied to Reedsy’s platform. Comparison.
- LibreOffice is a free word processor that can make a print PDF with some work.
- Google Docs is free and fine for drafting, but formatting a print book in it is painful.
Subscriptions with a lifetime option
Some subscription tools also sell a lifetime licence, which works out cheaper if you’ll use it for more than a few years:
- Dabble is $9 to $29 a month, or around $699 for lifetime. Comparison.
- Novlr is $8 to $16 a month, or $499 for lifetime, and it’s writer-owned with no AI. Comparison.
And some have no alternative to the subscription. Microsoft 365 for Word, Ulysses (about $5.99 a month), and AI tools like Sudowrite, which charge by usage.
How Galley does it
Galley is €199 once. That includes every feature, every export format and every future update, and the licence doesn’t expire. There’s no free tier and no upgrade fee, and there’s a 14-day refund if it isn’t for you.
Because it’s a web app, the honest question is what happens if I stop. The Terms commit to at least six months’ notice, full exports the whole time, and open-sourcing the code. You can also download your whole library as a zip whenever you want. The reasoning is on why Galley is buy once, and everything the licence covers is on the buy page.
More on guides
- Vellum on Windows: Your Actual OptionsVellum only runs on a Mac and its makers have said that won't change. Here are the real options if you're on Windows: renting a Mac, buying a cheap one, or using a formatting tool that runs anywhere.
- The Best Book Writing Software for Self-Publishing Novelists (2026)A no-hype guide to the writing tools novelists actually use (Scrivener, Vellum, Atticus, Ulysses, Dabble, Reedsy, and Galley), sorted by what you need each one to do.
- How to Back Up a Novel ProperlyWhy a single copy in the cloud isn't a backup, the 3-2-1 rule in plain terms for a novelist, and the formats your manuscript should be saved in so you can open it in twenty years.