---
title: "Book Writing Software Without a Subscription"
description: "Every serious book writing and formatting tool you can buy once instead of renting, what each one costs, and the subscription tools that also sell a lifetime licence."
source: https://usegalley.com/blog/writing-software-without-subscription
---
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# Book Writing Software Without a Subscription

August 18, 2026 [Guides](https://usegalley.com/blog/tag/guides)

![Handwritten sums on squared paper: Scrivener ~$59.99; Atticus ~$147; Galley €199; Vellum $249.99, total all once](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/thumbs/writing-software-without-subscription.png) TLDR 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](https://usegalley.com/compare/reedsy-studio).

- **LibreOffice** is a free word processor that can make a [print PDF](https://usegalley.com/glossary#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](https://usegalley.com/compare/dabble).

- **Novlr** is $8 to $16 a month, or $499 for lifetime, and it’s writer-owned with no AI. [Comparison](https://usegalley.com/compare/novlr).

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](https://usegalley.com/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](https://usegalley.com/blog/why-galley-is-buy-once), and everything the licence covers is on the [buy page](https://usegalley.com/buy).

## More on guides

- [Vellum on Windows: Your Actual Options](https://usegalley.com/blog/vellum-on-windows)Vellum 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)](https://usegalley.com/blog/best-book-writing-software)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 Properly](https://usegalley.com/blog/back-up-a-novel)Why 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.

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## Go on, write a page in it.

Opens straight into a book. Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.

[Open the demo](https://demo.usegalley.com) [See what €199 gets you](https://usegalley.com/buy?from=site)