Galley as a Novlr alternative
Last reviewed July 2026
The facts first: Novlr is a browser-based writing platform ($8–16/month, $499 lifetime, free tier of two projects) that is owned in part by the writers who use it, with courses, a community and writing sprints. Its export is deliberately plain — manuscripts, not designed books. Galley (€199 once) has no community and no courses, and ends with a print-interior PDF and a store-ready EPUB. Both refuse generative AI.
This is the friendliest comparison on this site, because Novlr and Galley disagree about almost nothing that matters morally. They are anti-AI and say so loudly. They think your words are yours. They are trying to build something durable for novelists rather than flipping a writing app to an ad network. I'd rather you used Novlr than half the alternatives.
The difference is where each one stops. Novlr is where you write. Galley is where you write and where the finished file comes out. Everything below is downstream of that.
| Feature | Galley | Novlr |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | €199 once | $8–16/month · $499 lifetime · free tier |
| Print-interior PDF | Yes, mirrored margins, gutter, KDP preflight | Plain PDF only |
| Store-ready EPUB | EPUB 3 with cover and accessibility metadata | Basic EPUB, paid tiers |
| Front & back matter design | Title, copyright, dedication, acknowledgements | No, auto table of contents only |
| Draft on a true trim-size page | Yes, six trim sizes | No |
| Generative AI in your prose | Never | Never — stated publicly |
| Grammar & spell checking | No, your browser's | Yes, self-hosted, on paid tiers |
| Story bible | Characters, places, timeline, glossary, references | Notes sidebar |
| Writing courses | No | Yes, included |
| Community | No | Yes, active |
| Writing sprints | No, refused on purpose | Yes |
| Co-ownership of the company | No | Yes, that's the whole idea |
| Works offline | Writing, in Beta: syncs when you reconnect | No, browser-based |
What Novlr does that I can't match
Writer-ownership. Novlr's lifetime members become co-owners with a say in what gets built. That isn't a feature I can copy — it's a company structure, and it's a real answer to the fear that the tool you build your life's work in gets acquired and ruined. Galley's answer to the same fear is different and smaller: buy it once, export everything at any time, no account required to keep what you've made. Both are honest. Theirs is more ambitious.
Courses and community. If this is your first novel and you want to be taught, Novlr teaches. Galley assumes you already know how you write and gets out of the way. That's a posture, not a boast, and it's the wrong posture for a lot of people.
Sprints. Novlr has them and writers love them. Galley refuses them deliberately — a timer that scores your afternoon is a productivity app wearing a novel's clothes, and it isn't what this is. You may think that's precious. If sprints are what gets you writing, take the sprints.
Where the two part company
A novel doesn't end at the last sentence. It ends at a file a printer will accept: a PDF with mirrored margins and a gutter that grows with page count, a copyright page set the way copyright pages are set, running heads, folios, a table of contents that renumbers when you move a chapter.
Novlr doesn't do that part, and doesn't claim to — their own public roadmap carries "publisher-ready manuscript export" as a feature writers have asked for. So the honest Novlr path is Novlr plus a formatter: another tool, another learning curve, and usually another bill. Galley is the same book from the first sentence to the upload.
There's a subscription question too, but it's the smaller one. Studio at $16/month passes €199 in about a year, and $499 lifetime is two and a half Galley licences — though for a platform you partly own, that's a defensible price, and I won't pretend otherwise.
Choose Novlr if…
- Being a part-owner of the tool you write in genuinely appeals — it should
- You want courses and a community around the writing, not just a place to put words
- Sprints, streaks and a writing habit are what get the book done
- You want to start free, today, and worry about publishing later
Choose Galley if…
- You intend to publish the book yourself and don't want to learn a second tool to do it
- You want to see the real page — your trim size, your typeface — while you draft
- You want a story bible with characters, places, a timeline, a glossary and real endnotes
- You'd rather pay once than rent the place your novel lives
Common questions
Is Novlr cheaper than Galley?
Month to month, yes: Novlr starts at $8/month and there is a genuinely useful free tier of two projects. Over time, no. Novlr Studio at $16/month passes a €199 Galley licence inside about a year, and Novlr’s lifetime tier is $499. But price is not really the difference — what you get at the end is.
Does Novlr use AI?
No, and they are clearer about it than most. Novlr has publicly stated they do not and will not build generative AI into the platform, and their proofreader runs a self-hosted open-source grammar tool rather than sending your text to an AI service. If avoiding AI is why you are here, both tools pass — pick on other grounds.
Can Novlr produce a print-ready book?
Not really. Novlr exports DOCX, PDF, ODT and EPUB, but the output is plain: no front and back matter formatting, no interior design, an auto-generated table of contents and little else. Their own public roadmap lists publisher-ready manuscript export as a requested feature. Most Novlr writers add a formatter afterwards.
What does Novlr do that Galley does not?
Four things, and none of them are small: writers can become co-owners of the company, there are writing courses built in, there is an active community, and there are writing sprints. Galley has none of those and is not planning to. If community and craft teaching are what you want from a writing tool, Novlr is the better answer.
Competitor details are from public pricing and policy pages, checked July 2026. Verify at novlr.org. I've tried to be fair; if I've got something wrong, email me and I'll correct it.
Write it and publish it in the same place. €199, once.
Launch Galley