Galley vs. Sudowrite
Last reviewed July 2026
The facts first: Sudowrite (subscription, roughly $10–$44/month billed annually depending on how much AI you use; browser-based) is an AI writing partner that generates, rewrites, and describes prose, with story-development tools around it. Galley (€199 one-time, web app) never touches your prose — no generation, no rewriting, no training on your words — and instead turns the manuscript into a book: story bible, trim-size page, print PDF and EPUB. These aren't two versions of the same tool. They're opposite answers to whether AI should write with you.
This is the one comparison on the site where the two tools barely overlap, so I'll be straight about it. Sudowrite is good at what it does: it will draft a passage, rephrase a clumsy line, or brainstorm where a scene goes next. If that's what you want, it's a capable tool and you should try it.
Galley is built on the opposite conviction — that the prose should be entirely yours — and it takes the other half of the job instead: the story bible that keeps a series consistent, the finished page you write on, and the export a printer or Kindle store accepts. Sudowrite helps you produce words. Galley helps you produce the book. The real decision isn't Galley-or-Sudowrite; it's whether you want AI in your drafting at all.
| Feature | Galley | Sudowrite |
|---|---|---|
| Price | €199 once | ~$10–$44/mo subscription, by AI usage |
| Generates / rewrites your prose with AI | Never, by design | Yes, its core purpose |
| Your words used to train AI | Never | Check their current terms |
| Write on a true trim-size book page | Yes, six trims, 35 book typefaces | No |
| Print-interior PDF & EPUB export | Direct, with KDP preflight included | No, not a publishing tool |
| Story bible (characters, places, timeline) | Built in, attached to the book | Yes, AI-assisted |
| Revision analytics (overused words, name consistency) | Built in, non-AI | Feedback tools are AI-driven |
| Runs on | Any desktop browser | Any desktop browser |
Why Galley keeps AI out of the prose
It's not a feature I haven't gotten to; it's a line I won't cross. When a tool can generate or "improve" your sentences, three things follow: your voice starts sounding like the model's, your manuscript becomes training data for someone, and the authorship of the book gets murky in a way that matters legally and personally. Galley's smart tools count and check — they never write. If you want that guarantee in writing, it's the first thing on the pricing page.
What Sudowrite does that Galley won't
Draft prose from a prompt, rewrite a paragraph in a different register, expand a beat, describe a room in five ways. If those are the moves you want from software, Galley genuinely doesn't make them and never will. I'd rather tell you that here than have you buy the wrong tool.
What Galley does that Sudowrite won't
Set the book. Sudowrite ends at text; Galley ends at a print-interior PDF with mirrored margins and a real gutter, a store-ready EPUB, a KDP preflight, a story bible you can trust across a series, and versioning on every chapter. That back half of self-publishing — the part that usually eats a week or a freelancer — is the whole reason Galley exists.
Choose Sudowrite if…
- You want AI to draft, rewrite, and brainstorm prose alongside you
- Your bottleneck is generating words, not formatting the book
- You're comfortable with a subscription that scales with how much AI you use
Choose Galley if…
- You want every word to be yours, with a hard guarantee no AI touches or trains on your prose
- You need the finished book: trim-size page, print PDF, EPUB, KDP preflight
- You'd rather pay once for the publishing half than rent an AI by the month
Common questions
Is Galley an AI writing tool like Sudowrite?
No, and deliberately. Sudowrite writes and rewrites prose with you. Galley has a firm rule that no AI ever generates, edits, suggests, or trains on your words. Its smart tools only count and check — overused words, name consistency, margins — and its whole job is turning the manuscript you wrote into a printable book. If you want the machine to draft sentences, Galley is the wrong tool and I won’t pretend otherwise.
Can I use both?
Some people do. Brainstorm or unstick a scene in Sudowrite, then write and typeset the book in Galley. They’re not really rivals — one helps you generate text, the other builds the object a reader holds. The honest question is whether you want AI in your drafting at all.
Does Sudowrite make a print-ready book?
No. Sudowrite is focused on drafting and story development; it isn’t a typesetting or publishing tool, so it won’t produce a print-interior PDF with correct margins and a real trim size, or a store-ready EPUB. That’s the half Galley is built for.
Competitor details are from public pricing pages, checked July 2026. Sudowrite's plans and terms change often, so verify on sudowrite.com — especially its current stance on training. I've tried to be fair; if I've got something wrong, email me and I'll correct it.
Every word yours, and the finished book to show for it. Paid for once.
Launch Galley